Help for Jewish Bible and Halachic Studies using Linear Translations
by Yona Newman © 2000-2007

HomeQuantities and Measures HelpSources Kitzur Index Part 1 Kitzur Index Part 2 Genesis Index
New combined Hebrew/English text
I am carrying on converting the Kitzur pages to a new combined format which provides the same features given by the old separate English, Hebrew and print versions.
For example:
1:1 ''I have set the Lord always before me.'' 1 ...... and he will be ashamed to do any (wrong) things.
1) Psalms 16:8
2) Jeremiah 23:24		 שויתי יי לנגדי תמיד ....... ויבוש ממנו א
This gaves both English and Hebrew main text, English and Hebrew pop-ups and also, when printed, give both English and Hebrew text on the same page. I am therefore abandoning the pdf page versions. This was a lot of work and should no longer be necessary.
I am also using the "title" tag rather than the "alt" tag for the image text. I have found this necessary, since the Mozilla based browsers do not show the "alt" tag as a pop-up. Fortunately, Internet Explorer also shows the "title" tag so both are OK.
Further changes are the avoidance of bracketed words at the end of the English text inside the "title" tag, the browsers were not handling this at all well; and the use of the "sup" tag (for superscript) that gives me a neat number index to footnotes after the main section.
Please try it and let me know what you think.

The methods used in the translations and graphics presentations
Special graphics icons are used on the web version.
This is the Information icon , this the Hebrew text icon this the English text icon , and this is the Tikun Soferim icon .
The text "pops-up" when you put the cursor over these - try this now:

Information   Hebrew   English  Tikun Soferim
The advantage of my use of what I think is a new method (the Hebrew text phrase being hidden in a small graphics icon next to the corresponding English phrase) is that it looks only like English on the screen, but as you move the mouse pointer over the graphics icons, the Ivrit pops up as a text balloon, because it is in the "title" tag of the graphics icon "IMG" descriptor - example:
One should not enter them
This makes for a much neater screen layout.
Another icon is the Commentaries icon which is found in each verse of the Genesis translation and opens a new window containing the commmentaries on that verse.

What to do if you don't see the Ivrit (Hebrew) text correctly
The "pop-up" text should always appear correctly, since the browser takes this from the system fonts.
With the in-line text, a meta-tag is used to define the charset as Hebrew (ISO-8859-8) and the command parameter (implicit) is used which, with modern browsers, should ensure the Hebrew text is always the right way round.
I check all my pages using Mozilla 5.0/Firefox 2.0 and Internet Explorer 7.0.

Some suggestions for how best to learn using this material
The Hebrew text here does not have vowels. Depending on your level of Hebrew and your own personal preferences, you can just read the English translations without worrying about the Hebrew, or use the Hebrew text (on screen or printed) together with a Hebrew student's edition with vowels (nikud), or use the Hebrew text with the occasional help of a dictionary.

The standard editions of the Halachic works - the Rambam Mishneh Torah, the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, the Mishna Berurah and so on - are all printed without vowels. The Talmud (Mishna and Gemora) are printed without vowels, and of course the Torah scroll is without vowels.
In Israel all the books and newspapers (except those for children or new immigrants) are without vowels.

For these reasons, I strongly recommend getting used to reading Hebrew as soon as possible without vowels.
Also it is technically difficult to show vowelled Hebrew on a html page, you have to use scanned images of text or special fonts - neither of which are readily available.

How to get in touch with me for more help or to give your comments or criticism
email Yona Newman
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