System Requirements

Third party software that is recommended by the project is not supported directly by the project. If you have any trouble using the software in relation to the project, ask on the opensiddur-tech mailing list and we will try to help.

=Scanning Texts=

Any scanner and scanning software should be able to produce documents suitable for the project. (We have no specific recommendations of what scanning software to use.) See the following guidelines for scanning texts:


 * scanning software settings

=Viewing the website=

Fonts
To get the most out of the website, you will need a font that supports the full Biblical Hebrew Unicode vowel set (Unicode 4.1 or above). While other fonts may work, the following fonts are recommended for this project:


 * Ezra SIL (Unicode Hebrew), produced by SIL International and licensed under the SIL Open Font License.
 * Cardo (Unicode Hebrew), created by David J. Perry.
 * Keter YG (Unicode Hebrew), part of the Culmus Ancient Hebrew Scripts package and licensed under the GNU General Public License v.2, with the font exception.

=Transcribing Hebrew Texts=

Keyboard Layout
Besides Unicode fonts, you will also need a bit of software called a keyboard layout.

For Windows and Macintosh users, we recommend the following Hebrew keyboard layout that supports diacritical marks (vowels, cantillation marks, etc.) with keyboard shortcuts.


 * Tiro keyboard layout

(Note: Although SBL's fonts and keyboard layout software are free to download they are not freely licensed. They are licensed gratis for non-commercial use only. Commercial use licenses may be purchased.)

For Linux/BSD users, a free and compatible keyboard layout, the "Biblical" variant of the "Israeli" (il) keyboard is distributed with xkb (on X.org systems).

More detailed instructions for how to setup your keyboard are available on our Hebrew keyboard layout setup page.

(When the Open Siddur interface is built, it will contain a virtual keyboard for folk who prefer to click at letters and vowels with their mouse cursor.)

If you're already familiar with a Hebrew keyboard layout and simply want to begin typing Hebrew in your browser, you should definitely check out Ze'ev Clementson's open source Hebrew keyboard layout bookmarklets. All you'll need is a modern browser that includes a bookmarks bar (like, for instance, Firefox).

=Software development=

For information on requirements for development, see Intro to hacking.