Introduction

One of the things that characterize this age is the widespread use of computers in the day-to-day activities, be it for the purpose of writing greeting messages to a friend, or processing a complex bank transaction or forecasting the weather. These machines have evolved to meet the ease of use required by average users, to meet the cultures of different societies and to compensate the missing parts of disabled people among many other features.
Largely, computers and major software products are primarily produced to support the English language or Latin based languages. As a consequence, societies of other languages and culture will need to go another step to fully benefit from the services of the computer technology. One such desired service of computers is the ability to process and publish written materials in one's own language, but this is not possible if the language can not be input/inserted into/written on computers in the first place, here is where an Input Method Editor comes to the scenario. The simplest definition of an Input Method Editor(IME) is a software component that interprets user operations [typically keys typed on an English keyboard] to the characters of the intended language.

GeezIME

A system wide Unicode compliant input method editor with a voice output support: this is used to compose Geez script with an English keyboard, using a predefined set of key combinations, as can be referred in the application's manual. One interesting added value of this application is that it can utter/spell the typed characters with voice by hitting the Shift key alone, this feature is specifically useful to visually impaired users, allowing them to crosscheck what they have just typed. Besides, a voice supported basic backward and forward text navigation capability is part of this application, this is done using the Left and Right arrow keys to move around the text and then using Shift key to hear the voice, it is further explained here, the intention of this feature is not to provide a full text reading service at all, but rather to enhance the Geez text editing capacity of the visually impaired users.
The Geez Able and other fonts: Geez Able font has particularly been designed for publishing requirements, taking into consideration the challenges being faced due to use of the old Geez fonts.
Tigrinya On-Screen Keyboard: this can be used to compose Tigrinya text using mouse or a touch input system.
Eritrean Sign Language font: this can be used to transform Tigrinya, English and Arabic texts to the Eritrean Sign Language fingerspelling and vice versa.
Eritrean Sign Language On-Screen Keyboard: this can be used to compose text using the Eritrean Sign Language, and it is portable along with the Geez Able and EriSL fonts.