Firefox plug-in to easily search for Assamese content

One of the things I mentioned in an earlier post is the need for Google and other search engines to make it easier to search for Assamese writing on the internet. But, in the meantime, we can use the workaround of typing 'ৰ' after the search term to narrow content down to mostly Assamese content. To make it easier to use the workaround, I made a simple plugin for the popular Firefox internet browser.

Here are the simple steps to install and use the plug-in in Firefox:

1. Go to the following link with your Firefox browser http://mycroft.mozdev.org/search-engines.html?name=Google+%28as%29+Assamese+%28Adds+ৰ%29
2. On that page, you will see a link to the plug-in named "Google (as) Assamese (Adds ৰ)". Click on the link to the plug-in.
3. This will bring up a pop-up window named "Add Search Engine" and ask you whether you want to add "Google Assamese" to the list of search engines available on the search bar. Click on the "Add" button. This will make it as one of the search engines available in Firefox, but it will not yet be selected for your searches (that is the next step).
4. Click on the dropdown menu in the Firefox search bar (down arrow on its left edge) and find "Google Assamese" in the list. It will have a rhino icon. Select that item.
5. Type in any word in the search bar. You should only see results from web-sites with Assamese writing.

I look forward to feedback on the plug-in and its effectiveness in searching for web-pages with Assamese writing.

Additional notes:

1. To go back to searching with your previous search engine (for example, "Google"), simply go back to the search bar dropdown menu and pick that previous item from the list. All searches from the search bar after that will use that search engine. 
2. To remove the "Google Assamese" from Firefox, please go to the search bar dropdown menu, click on "Manage Search Engines", select "Google Assamese" from the list, and click on "Remove". You can then select another search engine as shown above.
3. The plug-in format is such that it should also work on the Chrome browser, but I have not tested it yet on Chrome. I would appreciate someone trying it out and letting me know if it works.

My favorite web tool to type in Assamese

Pramukh IME, or in short, Pramukh, is a simple web tool to use the English keyboard to type in Assamese (and other Indian languages).  It can be used on all computers (e.g. Windows and Mac computers) as well as on tablet and smartphone devices (e.g. Android, iPad, and iPhone).

Typing in Pramukh is phonetic. To enter Assamese letters, we type similar sounding letters on the English keyboard. For example, we type m to write ম  and h to write হ, etc. This takes advantage of our familiarity with a standard English keyboard to type Assamese letters easily.

Pramukh does not need any software to be installed on your computer or your device. You can use Pramukh directly in an Internet browser (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Opera, etc.) by going to its webpage (detailed in the section below).

Getting started with Pramukh for Assamese

To get started:

• Go to the Pramukh IME webpage for Assamese https://www.pramukhime.com/type/assamese.

• On that web-page, click on the text field. This is where you can type in English letters and see the corresponding Assamese letters

Here is an example Assamese sentence you can try with Pramukh:

                আহক আমি সকলোৱে অসমীয়াত লিখোঁ

To type the above Assamese sentence, you will need to type the following English letters on your keyboard:
                ahok ami xokolOwe oxomIyat likhO.n

As you type the above English letters, you will see the corresponding Assamese letters appear in the text field on the Pramukh web page.

Finally, you can use regular copy/paste on your computer, phone, or tablet to copy the Assamese text from that text field to where you want it, e.g., a Word document, a web-page, or an email message.

Getting help for Assamese letters on Pramukh

You can bring up the Help page in Pramukh by clicking on the 'অ?' icon on that page. This icon is next to the language selector on the web-page (see Figure 1 above). Note that the 'অ?' icon becomes visible only after you select Assamese as the language as shown earlier on this page.

This Help page contains a clear chart showing the English letter(s) needed to produce each Assamese letter.  To remove the Help page and get back to typing text, you can click on the "Cancel" button at the bottom of the Help page.

Additional usage hints

These are some more hints to help you use the tool.

* Remembering to type 'o' for vowel অ after a consonant:

The one thing to keep in mind in Pramukh is to type in the vowel we want after the consonant, even for the vowel অ which is 'o'.

For the vowel অ, this takes a little getting used to, because in handwriting there is nothing to write for অ; we simply write the consonant, for example ক.  So, we may forget to type an 'o' after the consonant and will need to remind ourselves to do so in Pramukh.

There is one exception at the end of the word where typing in space is sufficient. There is no need to type in 'o' at the end of the word.

Here is an example to illustrate the rule. To get the word আহক, we type "ahok " in Pramukh. The 'o' after 'h' is for the vowel অ following the consonant হ. The space after 'k' is sufficient for the vowel অ following the last consonant in the word, ক.

Other than this mental note to regularly type 'o' for the vowel অ, Pramukh has kept the English letter(s) needed to write an Assamese script letter fairly intuitive.

* Always type the vowel letter after the consonant:

For vowels other than অ, it is easy to remember to type it with the consonant, because even in handwriting, we do write something for the vowel sign. As an example, for ই, we write it as a vowel sign, like in কি.  But, one thing to remember is that the letter for the vowel must always be typed in Pramukh after the consonant, even if the vowel sign in Assamese is written to the left of the consonant. For example, for কি, we have to type "ki", and not "ik".

Use the detailed help page for more tips

To get more detailed instructions in using Pramukh IME for Assamese, please click on this link.