Urdu Blogging Resource

I started blogging in Urdu almost a year ago. I haven’t written much in Urdu, but it has been a good experience. Two of my posts about blogging in Urdu have been among the most popular posts here.

The Urdu blogosphere is extremely small right now. There aren’t even a lot of Urdu websites. Also, most Urdu websites do not use Unicode text, but use images for their Urdu content.

Therefore, I thought it might be a good idea to create a website which collects together all sorts of information and instructions about Urdu blogging. For that purpose, I think these items should be present:

An Urdu Bloggers directory: It should have a list of all Urdu weblogs. These might be divided into categories based on language (monolingual, bilingual, etc.), topic, frequency of Urdu posts or other such stuff. We can even have RSS syndication of the recent posts from Urdu blogs. Is there a way to do that so that we syndicate only the Urdu language posts for multilingual blogs?
An Urdu Bloggers webring: Right now, we have a webring here. It would, however, be better to integrate the webring with the directory since then the blogger list wouldn’t need to be maintained in two places. Can anyone point to any Perl or PHP code which we could use?
Instructions on how to blog in Urdu for blogger.com, WordPress and Movable Type.
Regarding the previous point, one option could be to provide some basic templates which work well for Urdu, preferable for bilingual (Urdu as major and English as minor language).
Links and instructions for setting up one’s computer (Windows XP and Windows 2000 at the very least, but preferably other operating systems too) to read/write Urdu.
A package of Urdu fonts.
Links to Urdu related web resources.
Links to websites that use Urdu Unicode text.
Links to good and useful in content Urdu websites which use images.

Is there anything else that you would like to suggest?

All these pages (or at least most) should be bilingual (Urdu and English). One option could be to have two columns, one in each language. The other option could be to have 2 versions of the same page. Which would be better?

Now some of the items in the list above are available here and there on Asif’s blog and mine as well as elsewhere. The purpose is to collect these things, make them concise and clear and create THE Urdu blogging resource.

I suggested this to Asif who posted about it here asking for suggestions and help from readers. He also suggested translating some bulletin board software, like phpBB, to Urdu.

Danial proposed in the comments there that we should start a blog dedicated to this effort. That is now done. An Urdu Blogging Weblog is online where we’ll discuss what we want to do and how as well as put up updates and drafts.

So, if you are interested in Urdu blogging in any way, we would like your help. There is lots of stuff to do, like site design, php/perl coding, blogging software hacking, etc.

Cross-posted to Urdu Blogging weblog.

UPDATE: Asif has created an Urdu Wiki for the purpose.

13 comments

Task List — First Draft

I started blogging in Urdu almost a year ago. I haven’t written much in Urdu, but it has been a good experience. Two of my posts about blogging in Urdu have been among the most popular posts here. The Urdu…

Would you be doing it in the Urdu script or using words? I’d love that…maybe i could finally pick up the language…

Would you be doing it in the Urdu script or using words?

Do you mean Roman Urdu, like using the English alphabet to write Urdu?

The “Urdu Blogging” weblog is bilingual, but the Urdu part of it would be in the Urdu script, just like it is on this blog.

why not jump on the bandwagon with the little project we’re doing with the Muslim blog directory (so far English blogs… but why not head the urdu section?)

Assalamoalaykum w.w.!!

Remarkable work … as Personally I’m not in much favour of image-based urdu blogging or websites … as on some ISP’s atleast here in pakistan … these sites take ages to show up … while unicode shows up quite efficiently!

So Three cheers To Urdu Blogging!!

yeah, i was talking about using the alphabet. I’m not even attempting the script yet. I looked at it and how it was three different ways per letter whether it’s in the beginning middle or end of the word is just too much for this slow learner 😉

Leila: Why not, indeed. Email me with the details.

Asma: Thanks.

renee: We usually call that Roman Urdu. For someone who’s not used to it, it can be difficult. The three character forms are easy, the lack of short vowels is a much bigger issue.

Zack,

first Urdu, now Math! are you trying to scare away the english readers or what 🙂

personally, I like the math…

Leila, whats this about a directory? I saw your comment on my blog, but need more info. Please email me also…

Aziz: That’s the plan. In the end, this will be a blog for desi nerds. 🙂

Urdu is my National language (though not my mother tongue). I can express myself best in Urdu because there are certain emotions/gestures which cannot be expressed in English as those can be expressed in German, Arabic or Urdu. I do not know much of German/Arabic so the only choice is Urdu. I presume that people knowing Urdu have the same opinion.

Unfortunately, Urdu has not been given the attention it should have been given after creation of Pakistan which has resulted in decline of the language. Effort must be made to revive Urdu.