The RisingSun Academic Chinese Manual

(You have installed RS Academic Chinese on your computer, and re-started Windows. Across the bottom of your screen there is a red band: the RS input line. Clicking on the RisingSun button at the left of the input line gives you access to the features and options. Read the following "Quick Start" page to get started.)

Toggle off the input line with Ctrl-Spacebar (it may hide the Windows Start button, which you need to open a Windows application).

Open a new Windows document in the Windows application of your choice MS-Word, Corel WordPerfect, MS-Publisher etc.

Toggle the input line back on, and type a Pinyin expression such as "wo xiang qu Zhongguo". When you type a fullstop (or other punctuation, or hit F11), the Pinyin expression will automatically convert to the correct Chinese characters.

To transfer the sentence into your Windows document, select the font "RS Mingti" from the Windows font toolbar, set focus on your document (click on the place in your document where you want the text to go), and hit <Enter>. The text is now part of your Windows document.

1. The RS Academic Version

Congratulations again! With our shareware version RisingSun Academic you have acquired the most powerful and versatile tool available for entering and processing the Chinese language on the computer, at a truly academic student pricing. If you have not registered your software yet, you may register on-line by purchasing this US$ 39.⁰⁰ shareware package with your credit card (we have a Secure Server) in our on-line store at http://www.cjkware.com, or by sending your US$ 39⁰⁰ cheque to our mailing address AsiaCom, Box 535 Stn. B, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1P 5P6. Registering your shareware version with us will get you full technical support and free upgrades. And if you decide to upgrade to one of our Professional Versions (more fonts, user-created characters, add-on components such as Multimedia Text-To-Speech, Chinese-English-Chinese bi-directional on-line dictionary of over 200.000 terms etc.), you may fully apply the amount you paid for the Academic Version as a discount!

2.  Installation from Diskette

If after downloading you decide to order RisingSun Academic on diskettes:

If you have already registered your downloaded software, order your diskette set through E-mail to RisingSun@msn.com for US$10 within North America, US$ 20 outside North America (include credit card info and shipping address in your E-mail order. Alternatively, fax your diskette set order to 613-748-1859, or

If you have not registered yet, simply purchase your version of RisingSun Academic in our on-line store using the shopping basket, and pay by credit card. After ordering your diskette set, allow 6-10 business days for Air Mail delivery.

Once you have the diskette set, insert RisingSun diskette #1 into the floppy drive of your computer (usually A:). In Windows 3.1, pull down the File menu in Program Manager, select Run. In Windows 95, select Run from the Start menu. Type A:\setup and click OK. The rest is automatic.

 

3. Summary of the Most Important Keystrokes

Clicking on the RisingSun button at the left of the input line gives you access to all text editing functions and options. Edit and finalize your Chinese character text and Pinyin with Tones text on the input line, before transferring it into your English-Windows application. Note that in RisingSun for Windows the input line is your "jumping board" into your English-language Windows application. - To enter Chinese character text into your English-Windows document, first, you must open your E-Windows document (in MS-Publisher, MS-Word, WordPerfect etc.). Second, you have to know the following four simple mouse/ keyboard control conventions:

RisingSun Mouse/Keyboard Control:

(These are the four main functions, a comprehensive overview of all functions follows later)

<Ctrl-Spacebar>

is the On/Off toggle for the RisingSun input line. The RisingSun input line is active ("On") whenever you see it on your screen. With the RisingSun input line active, any text you type will always appear on the RisingSun input line, not in the E-Windows application that is open. Whenever you wish to type (English) text directly into your E-Windows application, you must first toggle off the RisingSun input line, otherwise all keystrokes will go to the input line. - Note: when toggled off with Ctrl-Spacebar, RisingSun is still present in the background, only the input line is hidden away. To shut down RisingSun completely, click on the input line and press Alt-F4 (the generic key combination for shutting down Windows programs).

<Enter>

transfers text from the RisingSun input line into your E-Windows application. Before using Enter to transfer Chinese character text, make sure that on your Windows font selection toolbar you have selected one of the Chinese fonts. When transferring text, the focus must be set on your E-Windows application. If nothing happens when you press <Enter>, set the focus by simply clicking on your document in the place where you wish to insert the Chinese text.

<Tab>

copies text from the RisingSun input line into your E-Windows application. Same as Enter, except that the text remains on the input line (for future use, back-conversion etc.). Note that Ctrl-Space is only hiding the input line, any text not transferred or deleted from the input line stays there.

How to get your Chinese text into your English-Windows application:

Very important! Before transferring Chinese character text from the input line to your E-Windows application (either through Enter or Tab), select the Chinese font RS Mingti from your Windows toolbar (before transferring Pinyin with tones text, select the special Roman font "Charter with Tones" from your Windows toolbar). - If you forget to make the right font selection, you will get strange symbols in your application instead of text. Should this happen, do not panic, just block ("select")the string of strange symbols and then choose RS Mingti to get Chinese text.

 

4. Activating RisingSun

RisingSun is automatically placed into the Startup group of you computer. When you turn on the computer, RisingSun is automatically loaded, and an input line appears. Do a quick test to see how your Chinese input line works: Enter a Pinyin sentence like "wo xiang xie yi feng xin". Press F11, and watch the Pinyin sentence automatically convert to the appropriate Chinese characters. Pressing F12 converts the Chinese characters back to Pinyin, and automatically sets the tone marks. You can thus toggle between Hanzi and Pinyin text with F11/F12. Later in this manual you will learn how to edit Chinese character text on the input line, and how to edit Pinyin text with tones.

Click on the button of the RisingSun, and explore the functions and options. A detailed summary of all mouse/keyboard functions follows later in this manual.

5. About Pinyin Text Entry

RisingSun for Windows, just like our proven XinTianMa text system for DOS, is based on natural language text entry, which means you are entering Chinese text in a transcription of its spoken form. In RisingSun, you can do this text entry either through Hanyu Pinyin (the official phonetic standard of Mainland China and Singapore) or through Zhuyin Fuhao (usually referred to as Bopomofo, official phonetic standard in Taiwan).

Pinyin text entry: for maximum conversion accuracy, pay attention to the word boundaries of standard Pinyin: all character compounds should be written together (write "jintian", not "jin tian" for "today"), your guide to Pinyin orthography should be a word dictionary such as the Xiandai Hanyu Cidian.

For example: if you write in non-standard monosyllabic Pinyin, like the sentence jin tian tian qi hen hao, you will get the wrong jin, which requires correction through homonym lookup. Therefore, writing correctly jintian tianqi hen hao, which converts correctly, will save you unnecessary editing. - If entering text in Bopomofo, set your input line accordingly by clicking on the RisingSun button, choosing Options, and selecting Bopomofo. You can now enter text in Bopomofo, using the same word boundary conventions as in Pinyin. Use the standard Bopomofo keyboard mapping of Chinese Windows.

6. RS Input Line Properties 

To Change the Colour of the Input Line:

Click on the RisingSun button on the left of the input line; select Options, then select Colour. By moving the colour controls, you may set the input line to any colour you like. The default setting of the input line is red.

 To Move the Input Line:

Make sure the focus is on the RisingSun input line by clicking on the RisingSun input line. Press and release the Alt key, then press Enter. From the panel, select Move, then press Enter. Now you can move the RisingSun input line to anywhere on your screen with the arrow keys; drop it into its new position with Enter or by clicking your mouse.

7. Turn off Auto-Correct / Spell-checking

Most English-language word processing software comes with auto-correcting and spell-checking function (usually to be found under the Toolbar heading "Tools"). Although this feature might be helpful for writing English, you should turn it off before inserting CJK character text into your English Windows document. Each CJK character is represented by a letter code which is present in the background; your spell-checker cannot distinguish between English and Chinese character codes and will "correct" (and corrupt) your Chinese character text. Therefore, turn off Auto-Correct!

8. Mouse and Keyboard Control Summary 

On the RisingSun Input Line:

<click> Sets Cursor

<double click> Homonym Lookup

Ctrl-Space Input line On/Off toggle

F8 Adds to user dictionary

F9 Homonym Lookup

F11 Converts to Hanzi

F12 Converts back to Pinyin

F12 With Pinyin on Input Line, sets tone marks

Ctrl-S Simplified characters

Ctrl-T Traditional characters

Ctrl-D Inserts dunhao

Enter Transfers into Windows document

Tab Copies into Windows document

Enter Without input, passes Enter to document

Backspace Deletes 1 character left

Del Deletes 1 character right

Left Arrow Moves 1 character left

Right Arrow Moves 1 character right

 

Once Add Record to User Dictionary is activated:

<click> on input field sets focus for text entry

<click> on OK adds record to user dictionary

<click> on Cancel aborts Add Record

 

Once the Homonym Window is activated:

 <click> on the Chinese character sets cursor

<double click> selects character & replaces

Four Arrows move the cursor

Enter selects character & replaces

Esc aborts homonym lookup/replacement

F9 (on compound words) brings up monosyllabic homonyms

F9 (on tone-specific list) changes to non-tonal homonym list

F11 top-ranks the highlighted homonym

 

Please note: Alt-F4, with focus on the input line, shuts down the program. We recommend, however, not to shut down with Alt-F4, but rather use Ctrl-Space to toggle the input line Off/On. This leaves RisingSun active in the background, in case you need it for printing a Windows document with Chinese characters. With RisingSun shut down through Alt-F4, Chinese characters in your documents won’t print! - Shut down RisingSun through Alt-F4 when you need to re-install it, or when you install a new version of RisingSun over an older one - Windows does not let you re-install a program while the existing version of the program is open in the background!

9. Using Text Files from other Chinese Word Processing Software

CJK text from other Windows applications:

Through the RS GB and RS Big5 fonts that available from the Windows toolbar, and through the "Remap font" Option (click on the RisingSun button at left of input line, then go Options), RS allows you to directly view, edit, and print English Windows documents that contain Chinese (CJK) text generated with other Windows-based CJK word processors.

First, open the English Windows document that contains the outside-generated CJK text; next, make sure the other Chinese Windows program is shut down, RisingSun is up and running; and toggle off the RS input line. Then select (highlight) your document, and from the Font Toolbar choose RS-GB2312, or RS Big5 accordingly. The outside-generated GB/Big5 text appears under RisingSun.

To edit, or write GB/Big5 text with RisingSun, set the "Remap font" option accordingly; the RisingSun input line will now generate GB or Big5 codes. - Also use this setting when writing CJK e-mail to a recipient whose system is GB or Big5 based.

10. CJK text from other DOS based word processors:

Files from XinTianMa: You can import XinTianMa ‚ files directly into your E-Windows application (RisingSun for Windows must be active when you import). Procedure: (1) with your text file on the XinTianMa edit screen, pull down the File menu and select Export. On the Export panel, select Windows and Blank Line. Save the file under a name, run Addspace (also see Card 5-3) by typing "addspace" followed by the name of the exported file. (2) Open your Windows application (MS-Word, WordPerfect etc.), and make sure RisingSun for Windows is loaded (3) From the File menu of your application, select Open; in the dialog box name the exported XTM file, choose "ANSI Windows" (or "Plain Text") for File Type. (4) Clicking OK imports the XTM file into your application (still in unreadable ASCII code). Block ("select") the (coded) "Chinese text" and choose RS Mingti from the Font Toolbar to get Hanzi text. For Pinyin with tone marks, select Charter with Tones. - You may now edit and format the text within your application, using its features in connection with the RisingSun input line. When importing text from XinTianMa into a Windows document under RisingSun, the "Remap font" Option has to be set to "none".

Files from other DOS based Chinese software: save the text file from GB (PRC) or Big5 (Taiwan) based Chinese software as "Plain text". In RS "Options", set "Remap font" accordingly. "Open" the file in your English Windows application, "select" (highlight) it, then choose the font "RS Big5" or "RS GB". - If the other software does not allow you to save your CJK document as "Plain text", open it with XinTianMa (available for purchase from our on-line store), then export it to a Windows document following the above outlined procedure.

11. Chinese Text as a Picture File

To convert Chinese text into a picture file, use the text tool in the Paint program which is a Windows accessory, or another Windows-based graphics program. Enter your Hanzi into Paint as text, then save the text as a picture file (graphics file) in the file format you need. A format supported by most applications is the Windows bitmap file format *.bmp. Attention: some graphics programs (including Paint) require you to set the Image Attributes to Black&White first, then enter and save your Chinese text, and add colour later.

12. Adding Terms to the User Dictionary

Through its internal dictionary, RisingSun knows most Chinese words, and converts their Pinyin or Zhuyin Fuhao representation into Hanzi. If you wish to add a special term, spelling, personal name etc., click on the RisingSun button and select Add Record to display the Add Record box (hotkey F8). On the RisingSun input line, type the Pinyin (or Bopomofo) version of the new term you wish to add, and transfer it with <Enter> onto the first line of the Add Record box; now enter the Hanzi version of the new term on the RisingSun input line (for doing this, you may have to enter your new term in single-syllable Pinyin and use the Homonym Lookup function, as explained under the next heading); when you are satisfied with the Hanzi of the new record on the RisingSun input line, set focus on the second line (the Hanzi line) in the Add Record box with a mouse click, then select Add. - From now on, when you type the Pinyin (or Bopomofo) of the new term on the input line it will convert to Hanzi. Example: In your text, the Chinese term for Great Britain and Northern Ireland is recurring. Instead of each time typing Da Buliedian ji Bei Ai’erlan lianhe wangguo, enter "gb" on the first line of the Add Record box. On the RisingSun input line, now type "Da Buliedian ji Bei Ai’erlan lianhe wangguo" and convert it to Hanzi with F11. Transfer the Hanzi expression to the Hanzi line of the Add Record box with <Enter> and select Add. From now on, "gb" on your Rising Sun input line converts to the Chinese characters of "Da Buliedian ji Bei Ai’erlan lianhe wangguo".

13. Homonym Lookup and Replacement

When you enter text on the RisingSun input line, it will convert to the Chinese characters appropriate for your context, if your Pinyin / Bopomofo input is correct. However, in some cases you may get the wrong character or the wrong word. Make sure that you edit such character text on the Rising Sun input line, before passing the text into your E-Windows host application document. Always remember that the RisingSun input line is your editing platform for linguistic changes; once your text is in the E-Windows application, the Windows host application takes over completely, and you have no more access to homonym lookup, editing tone marks and other linguistic features of RisingSun. Once inside the English-Windows document, your Chinese text can be handled, formatted or deleted in the host application just like any other text or graphics, but to make changes to your Chinese character text or to your Pinyin with tone marks text you will have to go again through the RisingSun input line. - To replace a "wrong" character, or character-compound (word) on the RisingSun input line with the "right" one, highlight the character with the cursor, click on the RisingSun button and select Homonym Lookup to display the homonym table (alternatively press F9).

Ranking of Homonyms: If you press F11 before you replace the character with <Enter>, the character you selected will be top-ranked as the default in its homonym group. If your writing requires repeated preference of a certain Chinese character or expression which does not come up automatically through conversion, you may top-rank it (set it as the default for its homonym group) through F11 and thus save yourself repetitive homonym lookups. Compound Lookup - Lookup of Single-Character Homonyms: Doing a homonym lookup on a Chinese character within a compound word displays the word level homonym table. Pressing F9 a second time displays the single-character homonym table.

Length of text on the RisingSun input line: it is your decision how long you want to make the text on the input line before converting it to CJK character text and transferring it into the host application. You may make the text very long, as the input line is virtually endless and will shift to the left as you are typing along. However, it might be a good idea to convert the Pinyin text on the input line to Hanzi before it starts to shift out of sight. Size of Characters on the RisingSun input line: two different sizes (16x16 and 24x24 pixels) can be chosen for display on the input line. Please note that the appearance of your printout with regard to character size and character style is unrelated to the input line text; it is determined by the font, font size and other formatting options you choose in your English-Windows host application.

14. The Add-a-Space Option

When you click on the RisingSun button at the left of the input line and select Options, one of the items on the Options menu is Add a Space. The RisingSun sofware comes pre-set with a check-mark in the Add a Space box. We recommend that you always work in this mode (Add a Space on), because this makes your Chinese text easier to handle within your E-Windows host application. If you need your Chinese characters very close together (cell to cell, without space), you may work with Add a Space off, but then you should be prepared to make more formatting corrections to the Chinese character text portion of your Windows document.

What is Add-a-Space doing? If Add a Space does not have a checkmark o, your Chinese characters are placed side by side without any additional spacing in between. If Add a Space is checked, a small space of about 10% the width of one Chinese character is automatically inserted in your Chinese text behind each Hanzi.

Our Recommendation: Work with Add a Space on. Besides better readability and looks, Chinese text with spaces will line-wrap in your English-Windows application a lot better than Chinese text without spaces. Chinese characters without spaces between them are prone to the "framing error": when wrapping to the next line in the host application, a Chinese character may get split in half, and as a consequence the characters in the entire line may be "out of sync", producing obliterated characters and empty cells on your screen, for one or more lines. If this happens in your text, don’t panic, just insert a <Return> at the end of the last "good" line of text half a character width before the end of the line, to make your text wrap properly and fix the problem. Avoid the framing error altogether by working with Add a Space ON. (Framing Error details under "Troubleshooting")

15. Pinyin Text with Tones

Strictly speaking, the tone marks for the Four Tones and the Light Tone (the light tone syllable does not carry a tone mark, sometimes it carries a circle diacritic) are an integral part of the Hanyu Pinyin standard. RisingSun for Windows lets you write Pinyin with tones; you can either set the tones manually, or you can let RisingSun set the tones for you automatically through back-conversion. In our most recent Version 3.0 the accuracy of back-conversion from Hanzi to Pinyin, automatically setting the tone marks (including the Light Tone) is virtually 100%. - If you wish to write Pinyin without tones, simply use a Roman font in your Windows host application.

Automatic Setting of the Tone Marks

On the RisingSun input line, enter your text either in Pinyin (without tone marks) or Bopomofo, and convert the text to Chinese characters (F11). Verify that your Chinese character text is correct, if not, edit the text until it is correct. Now press F12 to back-convert the Hanzi text into Pinyin text with tone marks. Before transferring the Pinyin text with tone marks into your E-Windows host application, proofread the tones. If necessary, correct any wrong tones by manually changing the tone marks according to the procedure outlined in the following paragraph. Note that once you have transferred your "Pinyin with tone marks" text from the input line into your Windows host application, you cannot change the tone marks from within the Windows host application, but you will have to go again through the RisingSun input line to correct any tone marks. To avoid this extra step, proofread the tone marks while your text is still on the input line!

Manual changing/setting of the Tone Marks

If you wish to manually set Pinyin tone marks, or change existing tone marks, place the cursor on the vowel of the Pinyin word where the tone mark should be and press one of the key combinations Ctrl-1, Ctrl-2, Ctrl-3 or Ctrl-4 (for each of the 4 Tones). An unstressed Pinyin syllable is marked through Ctrl-5 (removes any existing tone mark). - Note that this manual setting of tone marks only works on Pinyin text that was back-converted from Hanzi (F12) on the RisingSun input line, or on Pinyin text that was tone-marked directly after entry with F12.

If you prefer to circumvent automatic tone-marking and wish to enter all tone marks manually, press F12 first and then type your Pinyin text, and set the tone marks. (On the RisingSun input line, F12 turns on the Roman Font which has tone mark capability).

Transferring Tone-Marked Pinyin text into your Windows document

After finalizing your tone-marked Pinyin text on the RisingSun input line, select the font "Charter with Tones" through the toolbar of your E-Windows host application. Transfer the tone-marked Pinyin text through <Enter> (or <Tab> if you wish to keep the text on the input line for future use). - If you forget to select "Charter with Tones" and end up with a text looking like this: "w� xi�ng xiŽ y‚ f�ng x•n", don’t panic but highlight (block) the faulty text portion in your host application, and select "Charter with Tones" from the toolbar to get the correctly tone-marked version. "Charter with Tones" is a TrueType Windows font and can be bolded or italicized through the Windows toolbar of your application.

Editing text in your English-Windows document

After your Pinyin/Hanzi text has been transferred from the RisingSun input line into the edit screen of your host application MS-Word, WordPerfect etc., you can handle and format it there just like any other text (or graphics if you imported it as an image file) which was created from within your application: you can delete, cut&paste, move, copy, insert a space or carriage return etc., use whatever format/ edit features your Windows application offers. For Hanzi text, you may select any of the Chinese fonts in the toolbar font list; for tone-marked Pinyin text, make sure to select Charter With Tones. Attention: to edit text within your host application, don’t forget to turn off the RisingSun input line (Ctrl-Spacebar). However, if you need to change (=replace) your Hanzi or tone-marked Pinyin text, you must do this through the RisingSun input line.

(1) To change (replace) Hanzi text which is already in your E-Windows application, open the RisingSun input line, then enter and finalize the replacement text on the input line; now highlight the Hanzi portion you wish to replace in your application and press <Enter> to replace it.

(2) To add (insert) new Hanzi text anywhere in your application, create the new text on the RisingSun input line, set the insertion point in your application screen with a click, and transfer the new text from the input line through <Enter>.

(3) Tone-marked Pinyin: follow the same procedure as in (1) and (2), just make sure to select "Charter With Tones" from your Windows application’s toolbar.

Note: Under certain circumstances (such as Cut-and-Paste in WordPad), code conflicts may obliterate certain Chinese characters, and you may have to work around the problem.

16. Troubleshooting

Enter - Text Goes Nowhere!

I have Chinese text on the RisingSun input line, but when I hit <Enter> it just disappears into nowhere?

Answer: You probably did not open an English-Windows application. Remember that the RisingSun input line is the "jumping board" for Chinese text into an E-Windows application such as WordPerfect, MS-Word etc. Solution: Open your E-Windows application and try again, using the instructions on the RisingSun manual card.

 Enter - Text Stays, No Reaction!

I have my English-Windows application open, I have text on the RisingSun input line, but when I hit <Enter> nothing happens: the text stays on the input line and does not get transferred into my document?

Answer: The focus is set on the input line (probably because you clicked on it), not on the E-Windows application. To transfer text from the RisingSun input line to your E-Windows application, the focus must be set on the E-Windows application. Solution: Click on the E-Windows application where you want the Chinese text to go, then hit <Enter>. Your Chinese text will be transferred into your Windows document.

Enter - Garbled Symbols Appear!

I am trying to transfer Chinese text from the RisingSun input line into my E-Windows application; when I hit <Enter>, the Chinese text disappears from the input line, but in my application I only get strange symbols instead of Chinese characters?

Answer: You probably forgot to select a Chinese font from your font selection box on the Windows toolbar. Solution: Block the "strange symbols" with your mouse, select a Chinese font from your toolbar, and the strange symbols will turn into Chinese characters. Next time, select the Chinese font before transferring text with <Enter> (or <Tab>), to avoid the extra step.

Cannot Type in Application!

I just transferred Chinese character text into my Word for Windows document, so far so good, but I cannot continue typing in my Word document; when I type, with the cursor in my Word document, nothing happens?

Answer: You forgot to toggle off the RisingSun input line, and you are still typing on the input line. Whenever the RisingSun input line is there, any text you type will be on this input line, even if your E-Windows application is open. Solution: Toggle off the RisingSun input line with Ctrl-Spacebar.

 

Chinese Characters are Missing!

My Chinese text got transferred into the application, but there are characters missing, and some characters are wrong?

Answer: Probably an interference from the spell-checker of your E-Windows application. Solution: Turn off the spell-check feature in the application.

Different Sizes of Hanzi, Empty Squares!

In Word for Windows, I sometimes get large& small characters mixed, and empty squares:

Answer: This is a limitation of your display and does not affect printing. E-Windows programs cannot display Hanzi which are smaller than 8-Point. Also, if you zoom out of a text too much, the Chinese characters will show as empty squares. Solution: if your Chinese characters are 8-Point or larger, zoom in to see them. If they are smaller than 8-point, you can only print them, but not display them, even if you zoom in all the way!

Randomly Garbled Characters and Empty Squares

I formatted some Chinese character text in my MS-Word document, and suddenly the whole line shows obliterated random Chinese characters, character fragments and squares?

Answer: This is the "Framing Error" which occurs when a Chinese character is "split in two", and parts of your text get "out of sync" by half a character. You may have caused this framing error (a) by deleting half a character within a Hanzi text; if this is the case, press Del or Backspace (whatever key you used to delete) a second time to delete the other half of the character and thus fix the problem, or (b) your Chinese text was forced to wrap at the end of a line, but it wrapped only half a character, with the other half still at the end of the previous line. This may occur when you work in the mode "Add a Space" Off (details see Card 2B). To fix the problem if caused by wrapping, you may simply force a line-wrap by inserting a <Return> half a character width before the end of the last "good" line, which will move the half character to the next line and re-unite it with it other half. Solutions: First, make sure Add a Space in the RisingSun options menu (click on the RisingSun button at left of input line) has a checkmark; the small spaces inserted between the Chinese characters will provide break points for proper line wrapping in your Windows host application. Second, when deleting Hanzi text in your Windows document, avoid deleting half a character. - Another reason for the appearance of Kitan-like characters may be your setting under "Remap font" (Options menu from the RisingSun button at left of input line); make sure "Remap font" is set to "None" in normal operating mode.

No Homonym Lookup in Windows document!

I am trying to change a few characters in the Chinese text in my MS-Word document, but I can’t get homonym lookup to work?

Answer: Homonym lookup, just like Pinyin to Hanzi conversion, only works on Hanzi text while it is still on the RisingSun input line. To change your Hanzi text after transferring it into MS-Word (or another Windows application) you must go through the RisingSun input line. Solution: Open the RisingSun input line, and edit your text from there.

Pinyin in Windows document doesn’t convert!

In my WordPerfect 6.1 for Windows application, I have written correct Pinyin text, but I can’t get it to convert to Chinese characters?

Answer: Of course not - conversion from Pinyin (or Bopomofo) to Hanzi must happen on the Rising Sun input line, the Hanzi text is then inserted into the WordPerfect document at cursor position through <Enter> or <Tab>. Solution: Open the RisingSun input line, type your Pinyin text there and convert it to Hanzi.

 Can’t Add Tones in Windows document!

I have written Pinyin text within MS-Publisher for Windows; I don’t want the text to convert to Chinese characters, all I need is to add the tone marks, but even if I select "Charter with Tones" as my font, I cannot set the tone marks?

Answer: Pinyin text with tone marks is either generated on the RisingSun input line (automatically or manually), or it can be imported into your host application as tone-marked text from the DOS system XinTianMa (RisingSun for DOS) which is included in the RisingSun Universal Professional package. You cannot activate the tone marks for the Four Tones from within your Windows host application. Solution: If you require Pinyin text with tone marks in your MS-Publisher for Windows document, open the RisingSun input line, create your tone-marked Pinyin text on the input line and transfer it into your Windows document after selecting the Windows font "Charter with Tones" from the Font Toolbar.

 Can’t Add Tone Marks on Input Line!

I have typed some Pinyin text on the RisingSun input line, but when I try to set the tone marks manually through Ctrl-1, Ctrl-2. Ctrl-3 or Ctrl-4, nothing happens, I get no tone marks on my Pinyin text?

Answer: When you type text on the RisingSun input line, this text is not by default using the tone-mark-enabled font "Charter with Tones". "Charter with Tones" entry is activated on the input line through the back-conversion key F12. Solution: You should either

(a) Take advantage of the RisingSun feature of Automatic Setting of the Tones: convert the Pinyin text you have typed on the input line into Hanzi text (F11), then back-convert the Hanzi text to Pinyin with tone marks by pressing F12; the Pinyin text on the RisingSun input line is now displayed in the tonemark-enabled font, and you can edit/change the four tone marks through the Ctrl-1 to Ctrl-4 key combinations; or

(b) If, out of some reason, you do not want to go through the shortcut of setting the tone marks automatically (for example if you want only certain words to carry tone marks), press F12 before you start typing your Pinyin text on the RisingSun input line; this will activate the font Charter with Tones for your Pinyin entry, and all text you type on the input line can now be manually tone-marked through the Ctrl-1 to Ctrl-4 key combinations. - Again, remember to select the font "Charter with Tones" from your Windows toolbar before transferring the tone-marked Pinyin text into your Windows host application.

 Blurred or Blotchy Characters in the Windows Host Application

When re-formatting Chinese text in my MS-Word document, I sometimes get blotches and blurred characters on the screen. Sometimes the blotches even go beyond the edit screen and extend into the toolbar on the left side of the screen.

Answer: You are encountering a relatively rare display problem that some English-Windows applications have with Chinese characters; do not worry, it only affects the screen display and can be easily fixed by re-drawing the screeen. E-Windows programs are basically not designed to draw Chinese characters on the screen; this may sometimes lead to blotchy, blurred or fragmented characters on your screen. In rare cases, portions of your Chinese characters may not get displayed at all, although the text is there. Solution: Re-draw the screen whenever you notice blotchy, blurred characters after formatting Chinese text in your Windows host application. A fast method to re-draw the screen is to click on the reduce/minimize button in the right upper corner of your Windows screen.

Note: the screen-redraw problem is different from the framing error as described earlier. If you ever observe irregularities with Chinese characters on the edit screen of your Windows application, try first to re-draw the Windows screen through minimize / maximize; if the problem is still there after re-drawing the screen, follow the instructions for fixing a framing error.

Character Drawing is Too Slow!

When I transfer Chinese text from the RisingSun input line into my Windows 3.1 WordPerfect document screen, the characters get drawn very slowly - how can I speed this up?

Answer: This performance problem only occurs in Windows 3.1 applications when the memory caching software is not installed. Windows 95 solves this problem through its own caching. Solution: Install the SmartDrive caching software that normally comes with DOS or Windows 3.1, or upgrade your operating system to Windows 95 which does its own caching. - You can also speed up the transfer by setting the font size in your Windows document smaller.

 

The Characters are Displayed, but DON’T PRINT AT ALL !!!

The Chinese text in my MS-Word document is displayed on the screen, but when I print my document there are no Chinese characters in the printout!

Answer: Most probably you are printing on a printer which is not the default printer. To print the Chinese character text, your printer must be defined as the default printer through the Windows Control Panel. Solution: Through Printers in the Windows Control Panel, set up your printer as the default printer.

 Any other problems? Fax us at 613-748-1859 or send E-mail to RisingSun@msn.com

  

17. About Printing and the Chinese Font

A Printing Documents that include Hanzi

When you print documents from your Windows host application, the Chinese text you inserted from RisingSun is printed as an integral part of your Windows document. In RisingSun Academic, the Chinese characters will always print in the Ming font which you selected from the Windows toolbar font menu, even if they are displayed in a different smaller screen font. Most sizes of Hanzi that are normally used for Chinese printed material (8 point to 16 point) will display in a uniform 16x16 or 24x24 pixel screen font, but will print in the Ming font style, in the size which you selected through the Windows font toolbar. - If you require a number of True-Type Chinese/ Japanese/ Korean fonts, upgrade to a RisingSun Professional version!

 B Print on your System’s Default Printer !

If you are using one printer only, you may skip this point, as your printer is always the Default Printer. - If you are using more than one printer: note that the Chinese character portion of the documents you print is always directed to the Default Printer of your system. Therefore, if you want to print the document on your other printer (your non-default printer), you must specify this other printer as the Default Printer in the "Printers" dialogue box of the Windows Control Panel.

If you print your text file on a printer which is not set up as the Windows "default" printer, the Chinese characters will not print out.

 C The Chinese Character Fonts

The RisingSun Chinese fonts are based on the character sets of the Xinhua Zidian (both Simplified and Traditional) and the Guoyu Ribao Zidian (Traditional, Taiwan usage). In case you require any rare wenyan characters for historical text sorts, or non-standard characters or other symbols, you may consider upgrading to any one of the advanced RisingSun versions that include a module for creating and editing Chinese characters (see our on-line store).

D Traditional and Simplified Characters

RS Academic allows you to write Chinese text in Traditional characters or in Simplified Characters, and to mix these two forms of writing in the same file.

In all RisingSun packages, the Chinese characters are available in both Traditional fantizi and in Simplified Characters jiantizi. Traditional/Simplified character mode is selected from the RisingSun Options menu (click on the RisingSun button at left of input line, select Options). Traditional and Simplified Character text can be mixed on the RisingSun input line, and entered into your English-Windows application. In the CJK version, both forms of Chinese, Japanese and Korean can be mixed in one document, together with English and other languages.

 E Chinese Text Becomes Part of Your English-Windows Document

Please note that any Chinese text, once it has been transferred from the RisingSun input line into your Windows application (MS Word, WordPerfect etc.) becomes an integral part of the MS Word (etc.) document. You can take advantage of all the formatting and other advanced features of your Windows host application to process the Chinese text within your MS Word (etc.) document. For example, you can delete Chinese text, but if you want to change your text linguistically, for example replace a Chinese character by a different one, you have to do this through the RS input line. 

F Re-installing RisingSun

When you re-install RisingSun, from CD-ROM or from diskette, or when you install an updated version, it is perfectly OK to install the new version over the old one. All the old system files will be overwritten by the new system files, your text files will not be harmed. We recommend to back up your text files before re-installing, just in case!

Important: Before starting to re-install, click on the RS input line, then shut down RS with Alt-F4. Windows does not let you overwrite system files while they are open!

 G Re-opening RisingSun

A common error to be avoided is the accidental re-opening of RS while RS is already open in the background. Please note the following:

When you install RisingSun, it is automatically placed into the Windows Startup menu; it is therefore automatically loaded each time you turn on your computer;

Ctrl-Spacebar does not shut down RS, it only "hides" the RS input line in case you have to work directly into your Windows host application without going through the input line (for example when entering English text).

Re-start RS manually only if you previously shut down RS through Alt-F4. To do this, open the Startup menu and click on the RS icon. - If you click on the RS icon and you get Windows error messages, this means that RS is open already and you are trying to open it a second time. 

H Direct Support of French and German Keyboards

With earlier versions of our software, users who work in a French or German environment had to access non-English letters through special procedures. RisingSun Version 3.0, both in its Windows and its DOS (XTM 3.0) modules, works directly with the French and German operating platforms.

To set RisingSun for French or German Windows 95: Click on the RisingSun button at the left of the RisingSun input line, select Options; under Keyboard, select French or German. (Note, under Windows 3.1, in most configurations, the Options setting for "keyboard" can be left as "English").

 I Generating GB and Big5 Codes from the Input Line

By setting "Remap Font ..." on the RisingSun Options menu, you can now generate C/J in the Big5 (Taiwan), GB (Mainland China) and Shift-JIS coding schemes directly from the RisingSun input line. This feature is useful for certain applications, such as publishing in C/J on the World Wide Web, or for directly importing GB/Big5 encoded text from outside sources into an English Windows application which is open under RisingSun.

For publishing your Web page in C/J, you can now write your entire text in the normal RisingSun default encoding, in the English Windows application of your choice (Card 7, example Internet Publisher). Having finalized your publication, you turn on the Remapper of your choice to convert your text to one of the other available coding schemes. When remapped, the RisingSun C/J text will convert to (illegible) codes, but it will become readable again in form of the correct C/J characters when exported to the respective environment (GB, Big5, Shift-JIS), or when viewed with a Web browser in connection with a remappable Chinese/Japanese text system, such as RisingSun.

 J The On-line Radical/Stroke Dictionary

The Radical/Stroke method is now available within RS for Windows, for lookup and input of Chinese characters.

From the RisingSun Options Menu (comes up when you click on the RisingSun button at the left of the input line) select Radical/Stroke, then enter the radical number into the small box on the left. Pressing <Ret> or clicking the mouse at this point will display all characters based on the radical. You may now transfer the character required to the input line by double-clicking on it.

If the number of characters displayed under one radical seems too large for easily locating the desired character, you may narrow down the selection by entering the total number of strokes in the second small box.

Use the radical numbers from 1 - 214, for both Traditional and Simplified characters.

 K Avoid Accidental Code Remapping!

Always make sure that in normal RisingSun operation the Remap Font option is set to "None" (default setting). If the RisingSun fonts are re-mapped to any one of the other options such as GB, Big5 or Shift-JIS while transferring Hanzi text from the input line into your Windows application, your Chinese text will consist of wrong codes and other illegible symbols. Please note that the "Remap Font" option has been introduced for very specific purposes. mainly to make RisingSun interact with GB, Big5 and Shift-JIS encoded environments. Thus, if you get wrong characters in your Windows application, double-check if the option "Remap Font" is set to "None".

 

18. Upgrading to RS C , CJK, or Universal

RisingSun Academic for Windows can print Chinese text in the high-quality 64x64 pixel Bitmap Ming font, in both Traditional and Simplified characters. If you require more Chinese/Japanese/Korean font styles, or if your work requires the RisingSun CJK TrueType fonts, or if you require the ability to create/edit Chinese characters etc., purchase one of the Professional versions in our on-line store, or order by fax to 613-748-1859, or E-mail to RisingSun@msn.com. If you require the utmost flexibility in your Asian language work, on all common platforms including DOS, your choice should be RisingSun Universal.

19. The RisingSun Academic Chinese font

The Chinese character font included in RisingSun Academic is a 64x64 pixel Bitmap font which is ideally suited for academic applications, such as the quoting of Chinese text in an English-Windows application (MS Word, Corel WordPerfect, MS Publisher etc.), or writing articles in Chinese where Traditional and Simplified Character text has to be mixed in the same file, with text in English and other Western languages.

In the Windows environment, the font size of the Chinese characters is adjustable on a sliding scale, using the regular Windows font toolbar and the same procedure: select (=highlight) the Chinese character portion of your text, bring down the font menu from the Windows toolbar, click on "RS Mingti", and select the font size. Choosing the same font size (in points) for Chinese and English text will give you a perfect match.

For more font styles and Outline Fonts, see the Professional versions of RisingSun in our on-line store.

20. The Size of the Chinese Characters

The Chinese characters in your E-Windows application can print in sizes from 4 pt. to 60 pt.

To print in an odd size within this range that is not listed on the Size pulldown menu on your toolbar (such as 33 pt., 51 pt. etc.), enter the desired point size into the "Size" box on the toolbar. Please note that your screen may display Chinese characters larger than 60 pt., but your printer will only print sizes up to 60 pt. If your document contains very large characters that are missing on your printout, reduce the size of the characters to less than 60 pt.

21. The RisingSun Roman Fonts

For entering Pinyin or other Roman character text on the RisingSun input line, you have the choice between two different Roman fonts, with different properties:

(a) the RisingSun default font; it is designed for entering Pinyin text for conversion to Chinese characters (F11); the Hanzi text can then be back-converted to Pinyin with tone marks (F12), the tone marks automatically appear on the appropriate vowel. Proofread the tones; in cases of characters carrying multiple tones, you may correct the tone marks manually. On the input line default font, you cannot add the tone marks directly through Ctrl-1 to Ctrl-5, but you have to first press F12 to turn on the tone-mark-enabled font, before you can add/edit the tone marks manually to your Pinyin text on the RS input line.

(b) the special tone-mark enabled font ("Charter with Tones") can be turned on, before typing on the RisingSun input line, with F12. Text typed in this font on the input line will also convert to Hanzi; you may, however, manually add tone marks to the Pinyin text through Ctrl-1 to Ctrl-5, without first going through conversion - back conversion.

Attention: as the regular Roman fonts available from the Windows toolbar are not designed to display the Four Tones of Pinyin, please make sure you select the RisingSun special Roman font "Charter with Tones" from the Windows toolbar before transferring the tone-marked Pinyin text from the RisingSun input line into your E-Windows host application.

When entering Pinyin text (without tone marks) and other Roman character text directly into your E-Windows host application, make sure you have one of the Windows fonts selected from the toolbar of your Windows host application (such as Arial, Times New Roman etc.); avoid typing Roman text in your host application while the font box on your Windows toolbar is showing RS Mingti (as the Roman font which you get when typing in Hanzi mode is designed for the RisingSun input line, the spacing between the words is too small when you use this Roman font directly in your Windows host application). - In case you already have entered Roman text with insufficient word spacing into your Windows application and would like to fix it, you can easily "normalize" the word spacing by blocking it and selecting one of the regular Roman Windows fonts from the toolbar.

Deleting Hanzi Text in Application

When using the Delete or Backspace keys for deleting Chinese characters in your Windows application, for deleting one character you have to press the key twice; each time you press the key, you are deleting half a Chinese character, which might cause a framing error in your text. If you are working in the recommended mode "Add-Space on", pressing the Delete (or Backspace) key a third time will remove the narrow space between each Hanzi.

To avoid these complications, we recommend

(a) that you use the Block function (= highlight text in reverse video with your mouse cursor) in your Windows application, always highlighting one or several full Chinese characters, then delete;

(b) that, for faster and more convenient editing, you use the functions of the right mouse button which are available to you under Windows (in particular Windows 95).  

22. Summary of Important Recommendations:

 

Select the appropriate font from the toolbar of your Windows host application before transferring your RisingSun input line text into the application.

When transferring Chinese character text from input line to Windows application, select from the toolbar the font RS Mingti; do not select RS GB, Big5 etc. which are reserved for code remapping (for Internet applications etc.).

When transferring tone-marked Pinyin text from input line to Windows application, select from the toolbar Charter with Tones.

Having transferred text into your Windows application, if you wish to work directly in your Windows document, first toggle off the RisingSun input line with Ctrl-Spacebar.

Having transferred text into your Windows application, before you continue typing in your application, select a Windows Roman font from the toolbar (Arial etc).

Printing: Make sure your present printer is defined as the default printer under Printers in the Windows Control Panel, otherwise your Hanzi won’t print.

Use Add a Space (which in the RisingSun Options menu is pre-set as the default) to avoid framing errors in the Chinese text within your Windows application.

Make sure the Auto-Correct feature of your Windows application is turned off.

When Hanzi text in your Windows application is distorted, blurred or fragmented, re-draw the screen (for example through the Windows Minimize/Maximize feature).

 

23. Zhuyin Fuhao Text Entry

For entering text in Zhuyin Fuhao (the Chinese National Alphabet, also known as Bopomofo), RisingSun lets you select "Bopomofo" from the Options Menu (click on the RisingSun button at the left of the input line, then choose Options). For Bopomofo text entry, use the standard keyboard mapping on this page. Among several Bopomofo keyboard layout schemes, this layout is the most commonly accepted for Chinese Windows Applications. It is also the default layout used by C-Windows when you select Bopomofo entry mode. In RisingSun Windows documents, you can combine Roman, Chinese-Traditional, Chinese-Simplified and Bopomofo in the same text, on the same line if you wish. - New Terms may be added to the User Dictionary either in Pinyin or in Bopomofo.

Please Note: The Linguistic Conventions for Bopomofo Text Entry regarding spacing between words are the same as for Hanyu Pinyin: use spaces between words, and make sure that compound words are written together, for better conversion accuracy. Entering monosyllabic Zhuyin Fuhao text (just like entering monosyllabic Pinyin text) will result in less accurate conversion, thus causing you more homonym lookup and -replacement work.

24. Before Re-installing RS

If it should become necessary that you re-install RisingSun from the original diskette set (due to file corruption or other irregularities), you should take a couple of minutes to remove the remnants of the previous installation from your computer system:

First, shut down the previously installed RisingSun: set focus (=click) on the RS input line, then press Alt-F4;

Through Windows Explorer, locate and delete the font files *.wcb (from the \Windows\system directory);

Drag and drop the \Sunrise directory and its contents into your Recycle Bin;

Go to the Windows Control Panel, and double-click on "Fonts". Locate the font files starting with "RS" and delete them. (Tip: Holding down the "Control" key while clicking on the RS fonts lets you highlight all the fonts, so you do not have to delete them one by one). - You are now ready for re-installation.

25. Editing your User Dictionary

RisingSun for Windows is designed to let you add your own vocabulary to the internal dictionary. If you wish to edit the user dictionary (view, modify or delete existing records), you must do this from within RisingSun for DOS (XinTianMa 3.0; use the XinTianMa manual). Note that the same user dictionary format is used in DOS and Windows; records can be added either from DOS and Windows, but editing on existing records must happen within the DOS system XinTianMa.

26. When Resizing your Desktop

from VGA to Super VGA, the RisingSun input line, which normally runs over the whole width of your screen, may suddenly be shorter. Exit RisingSun temporarily through Alt-F4, then re-enter by clicking the Icon of the Rising Sun in your Windows Startup Group, to adjust the input line to its full length.

27. Replacing Chinese text in your English-Windows Document

To fast-replace one or more Hanzi or any Chinese character text passage in your Application, first write the replacement text on the RisingSun input line, then in your Application block the text you wish to replace; <Enter> will now replace the highlighted text with your new text from the RisingSun input line.

 

28. Internet Applications of RS Academic Chinese / CJK

Introduction

With RisingSun Academic, you may view Big Five (Taiwan-based), GB (Mainland China based) and, if you have the CJK version of RS Academic, JIS/Shift-JIS (Japanese) and KSC-5601 (Korean) encoded Web pages. In this chapter we shall describe in detail how to set up Web browsers to work with RisingSun. - Furthermore, if you would like to publish your own Chinese/Japanese/Korean home page on the Web, or put up a CJK version of your existing English-language WWW home page, RisingSun will let you do this reliably and with a minimum of effort.

How Do Other CJK Browsers Work?

Web Browsers are available in their respective Chinese Traditional, Chinese Simplified, Japanese and Korean language versions, but these browsers must be used with the respective Chinese Traditional, Chinese Simplified, Japanese or Korean Windows versions. In other words, if you want to read Big5 encoded Web pages with the Chinese Traditional version of Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer, you must use it on the Chinese (Traditional) Windows operating platform; to read Korean Web pages, you must use the Korean browser version on Korean Windows, etc.

Making Your Browser Chinese-intelligent

With RisingSun Academic Chinese, you can make your English language Web browser recognize and correctly display Chinese Traditional (Big5 encoded) and Chinese Simplified (GB-encoded) Web pages, on the regular English version of Windows 95 (or 3.1). Depending on the browser you have, you can use either the "Remap" option or the "Font Encoding" option of RisingSun to set your existing English language browser (on your English Windows system) to read Chinese Web pages.

 RisingSun Chinese on Netscape Navigator

We recommend to set up RS Academic Chinese with Netscape Navigator (3.0 or higher), which interfaces seamlessly with the RisingSun "Font Encoding" , in both Chinese font encoding schemes RS-Big5, and RS-GB: after a one-time setup of the Font Encoding, you change the "Document Encoding" option on the Navigator Options menu to immediately switch to a different document encoding whenever you visit a Web site in a different language. (With Explorer 3.0, the "Remap" technique has to be used.)

One-time setup of Netscape Navigator:

On Navigator’s main screen, select "Options", then select "General Preferences", then select "Fonts". Now go through the following two steps A to B, adapting Navigator to the two different types of Chinese:

A. Chinese Traditional:

"For the Encoding": select "Chinese (Big5)".

For "Use the Proportional Font", click on the "Change Font" button to open the "Choose Base Font" panel and select "RS Big5", and the desired font size (12, 14 or 16 point recomended), then click OK. Then, for "Use the Fixed Font", click on the "Change Font" button and select "RS Big5", and set the same font size as you did above for the proportional font, then click OK. (Note: make sure both the proportional and the fixed font sizes are set to the same value - if you have different font sizes set, you may run into formatting problems when printing out a Web page.) Now, click OK at the bottom of the screen, and return to "Fonts".

B. Chinese Simplified:

"For the Encoding": select "Chinese (GB)".

For "Use the Proportional Font", click on the "Change Font" button, select "RS GB" and the desired font size, then click OK. For "Use the Fixed Font", click on the "Change Font" button, select "RS GB", set the same font size as for the proportional font, then click OK - OK. Return to "Fonts":

Save the settings by clicking OK at the bottom of the panel. English Navigator is now Chinese-aware!

 On the Web with the Chinese-enabled Navigator:

When you visit a Chinese encoded Web site, pull down Navigator’s "Options" menu, open "Document Encoding" and select the respective language option.

RisingSun Chinese on Internet Explorer

Configuring Internet Explorer

On the main screen of Internet Explorer 3.0, pull down the "View" menu, and choose "Options". Under the Tab "General", click on the button "Font Settings" (lower right corner) to bring up the "Fonts" panel.

On the "Fonts" panel, leave the "Character sets" default as "Western". For both "Proportional Font" and "Fixed-width Font", select the font "Remappable". Save these settings by clicking OK and exit to the main screen of Internet Explorer.

On the Web with the CJK-enabled Explorer:

Whenever you encounter a CJK encoded Web page, click on the RisingSun button and select one of the options by putting a checkmark beside the coding scheme of the Web site you are viewing. Choose Big Five if the Web page you intend to view is published in Traditional Character text (usually by authors with a Taiwan background). Choose GB if the Web page to view is published in Simplified Character text (usually by authors with a Mainland China background).

Additional Browser Settings

Depending on the Web page you are viewing, additional settings may be necessary to display CJK characters more clearly. The most common necessary additional setting is changing colour and contrast. Some Web pages do not have enough contrast between the background and the characters. These settings can be changed in both Navigator and Explorer in the respective panels or dialog boxes.

Setting the Colours: Chinese characters displayed in a Browser environment require more contrast than Roman fonts; on some Web pages with low contrast, the Chinese characters may not be visible, unless the colours of your Web browser are reset. If you have this problem, from the Netscape Navigator menu bar choose Options, then General Preferences, then Colours. The colours for Links, Followed Links and Text should be set to very dark colours, the colour for Background should be set to a light colour to maximize contrast. Place a checkmark left of the item "Always use my colours, overriding document". Save this configuration.

When you are having contrast problems with Web pages while using Internet Explorer, pull down the View menu from the Explorer main screen, click on Options, and under the General Tab try different settings in Colours for Text and Background, until your CJK characters show clearly on the background.

Viewing/Printing of Chinese Web Pages

A practical hint: set your encoding scheme in the RisingSun options menu to Big Five - most Chinese Web pages are Big Five encoded, although the number of GB encoded pages on the Web seems to be growing rapidly. If you are in the wrong coding scheme, for example, if your Document Encoding (Navigator) or your RisingSun remapper is set to Big Five while you are viewing a GB page, you will see hieroglyphs instead of Chinese text. To display Chinese characters, re-set the Document Encoding (on the Options menu of Navigator); if using Explorer, activate the re-mapper by clicking on the RisingSun button, choosing "Remap font" and selecting the appropriate coding scheme.

If you encounter certain display irregularities, such as empty squares instead of characters, or fragmented characters, zoom into the page some more; if this does not solve your display problem, you may experiment with the character size setting in the Netscape Navigator General Preferences Font table (12 point size recommended), choosing a larger size, such as 16 or 20 point.

To change the font size in Internet Explorer, pull down the View menu from the main screen, choose Fonts, and select a larger (or smaller) setting.

In both Navigator and Explorer, you can print your Chinese Web page in the RisingSun Academic Ming font.

Note that due to the limits of screen resolution certain small symbols like punctuation marks may display differently - but they print correctly.

Publishing your Chinese-encoded Web page with RisingSun:

Bring up your regular HTML-edit screen, and enter your Chinese text from the RisingSun input line. As most Chinese-encoded Web pages are either in Big-5 or in GB encoding, you first have to make a decision if you want to publish for a Taiwan-oriented or a Mainland-China-oriented readership. If you want to reach them all, RS Academic allows you to publish both a Big-5 and a GB Version of your Web page. If you wish to publish your home page with Traditional and Simplified characters at the same time, publish it in the RS coding scheme. Anyone who has the RS shareware "RisingSun Academic" or the "RS Internet CJK" will be able to read it. Whether you publish a home page in either Big-5, GB or in the RS encoding schemes - we recommend that you add a link to our shareware download sites at www.accent.net/risingsun or www.cjkware.com for the viewers of your pages.

Authoring your Web page in Big-5 encoding:

Click on the RisingSun button at the left of the input line, from Options select Remap font. Set the remapper to Big-5. In this setting, Chinese text generated on the RisingSun input line will be in Big-5 codes. When you transfer the Chinese text from the input line into the edit screen of your HTML editor, make sure you have "RS Big-5" selected on your Windows font toolbar. After publishing your Big-5 page on the Internet, anyone with a Big-5 enabled Chinese system will be able to read your text in (Traditional, or fanti) Chinese characters.

 Authoring your Web page in GB encoding:

Click on the RisingSun button at the left of the input line, from Options select Remap font. Set the remapper to GB. In this setting, Chinese text generated on the RisingSun input line will be in GB codes. When you transfer the Chinese text from the input line into the edit screen of your HTML editor, make sure you have "RS GB-2312" selected on your Windows font toolbar. After publishing your GB page on the Internet, anyone with a GB enabled Chinese system will be able to read your text in (Simplified, or jianti) Chinese characters.

Authoring your Web page in RisingSun encoding:

Click on the RisingSun button at the left of the input line, from Options select Remap font. Set the remapper to None. In this setting, Chinese text generated on the RisingSun input line will be in RisingSun codes, which support both the Traditional (fanti) and the Simplified (jianti) character standards. When you transfer the Chinese text from the input line into the edit screen of your HTML editor, make sure you have "RS Mingti" selected on your Windows font toolbar. After publishing your Big-5 page on the Internet, anyone with a RisingSun Chinese system will be able to read your text in both Traditional and Simplified Chinese characters.

29. The Differences between RS Academic and the RS C / RS CJK and RS Universal Professional Versions

As you may already have noticed, the RisingSun Academic Version of the AsiaCom software is not a "crippled" software version like many other Chinese packages in the price range under US$ 100, but it is a fully functional Chinese text system with all the advanced linguistic features you find in the more costly Professional Versions,

o Continuous text entry (Pinyin and Bopomofo)

o High conversion accuracy to Hanzi text

o Unlimited size user dictionary

o Ability to rank homonyms

o True-type Pinyin With Tone-marks font

o Automatic conversion from non-tonal Pinyin text to Pinyin With Tones text

o Accurate back-conversion from Hanzi text to Pinyin With Tones text

o On-line Radical/Stroke lookup

o Viewing/printing of CJK WWW pages, in both GB (Mainland China) and Big5 (Taiwan) encoding

o bi-directional conversion between jiantizi and fantizi text

etc.

While RS Academic has all the advanced features of the Professional RisingSun versions, we had to create, with RS Academic, an affordable system with a smaller footprint (6 MBytes instead of 40 MBytes, or even 100 MBytes in case of the 12-font RS CJK Universal). Therefore, your Chinese character printout is limited to the 64x64 pixel Bitmap Mingti font, and the two modules for creating characters (XTMGraphics and the Outline Font Editor for Windows) are not available. Also, for the advanced add-on modules

Text-to-Speech (any Chinese text on the input line is read to you aloud through the speakers of your multimedia system), and

The 200,000-entry bi-directional Chinese/English/Chinese dictionary

you will require one of our professional packages. The RS Universal packages, which include the DOS component XinTianMa, further offer the feature of accurate bi-directional jiantizi / fantizi conversion of multi-mapped characters.

Summary: If you require the RisingSun for Windows

o TrueType CJK fonts, and the

o Character-create and font editing tools,

o the ability to run our Text-to-Speech module, or the

o Chinese/English/Chinese dictionary,

then you should consider purchasing one of the professional-level RS packages through our on-line store, or contact us at risingsun@msn.com for an upgrade.

30. Tonal Pinyin to Hanzi Conversion / More on the Four Tones

 With the new version of XTM/RS

- conversion from Pinyin to Hanzi,

- homonym lookup (single Hanzi)

are tone-sensitive, but tone-marking for conversion is not compulsory:

I. Tone-marking certain Pinyin words for conversion: if you wish to tone-mark certain Pinyin words on the RS input line to make sure they convert correctly, place the cursor on the vowel that should carry the tone mark and press Ctrl-1 (-2, -3, -4, and Ctrl-5 for unstressed syllables). The Pinyin syllable is now marked with the tone you indicated and will convert accordingly when you press F11 (or type a punctuation mark).

Note: If the tone marks are not visible. The input line can be in either of two states: no-tonemark display (F11-state or Hanzi-state), and tonemark display (F12-state or Pinyin-state). You can enter and tone-mark Pinyin text in either of these two states, but when the RS input line is in Hanzi-state (F11-state), the tones you set are not visible (although they are active for conversion).

In some cases, you may find it irritating not to see the tone marks you are setting on your input line Pinyin text: to make existing tone-marks visible (or change the input line to a state where newly set tone marks show) just press F12. All existing and new tone marks will now be displayed.

II. Changing existing tone marks: the tone-marks are set automatically and become visible when you back-convert from Hanzi to Pinyin on the RS input line through F12. If necessary, you can change an existing tone mark to a different one by placing the cursor on the vowel and pressing Ctrl-1 (-2, -3, -4, -5). In tone-marked text in RS for Windows, fifth-tone (or Light Tone) syllables are marked through the absence of a tone mark. (In XinTianMa, or "RS for DOS", a small hollow circle is used for marking the fifth tone).

Note: If you are authoring Chinese teaching materials, glossaries, dictionaries etc., you may require your Chinese text in both Hanzi and Pinyin With Tones; finalize your Hanzi text on the RS input line and then press F12 to back-convert it to Pinyin With Tones. You can copy any of the two text types into your Windows document by using the Tab key instead of <Return> (remember when copying/transferring Hanzi text into your document to select one of the RS fonts from the Windows toolbar, and to select "Charter With Tones" when copying/transferring tone-marked Pinyin text). Using the Tab key to copy your text from the RS input line into your document preserves your text on the RS input line for future use (conversion or back-conversion), so you do not have to re-type it.

In case you need your Chinese text in both the Traditional Fantizi form and the Simplified Jiantizi form, follow the procedure outlined further down in this manual (Traditional/Simplified Character Text conversion on the RS input line).

 III. Homonym Lookup on Hanzi text which was generated from tone-marked Pinyin.

A. Compound Words. When displaying the homonym list of a word of two or more characters (press F9, or double-click), all the existing homonyms of the word will display, no matter what their tonal pattern.

B. Single Characters. Pressing F9 a second time (or F9 on a single-character word) displays the homonym characters of the same tone group, if the character was generated from a tone-marked Pinyin syllable. (Pressing F9 on a character converted from a Pinyin syllable which was not tone-marked displays all the homonyms regardless of tone).

C. Pinyin words with invalid tonal patterns do not convert! If you use the tone mark feature to set tones on Pinyin text, or if you change tones on existing Pinyin text, you should make sure the word with the specified tonal pattern really exists, otherwise the word will not convert.

Example: If you enter xueyuan (as Pinyin without tones) and hit F11, it converts to the word :"academy" we have chosen as the default. If you require the homonym "scholar" and want to save yourself a F9-homonym lookup / replacement, enter "xueyuan" on the input line, then move the cursor on the "a" and press Ctrl-2 to mark it as a 2nd tone, then press F11: it will convert to the "xueyuan" that means "scholar".

Example of tone-invalid Pinyin spelling: if you, for example, set a 4th tone on the "e" of xueyuan, you are specifying a tonal pattern that does not exist. The Pinyin word xueyuan with "xue" set to the 4^th tone (or any other non-existing tonal combination) does not convert, because there is no such word, and therefore the RS program does not find a match in its internal dictionary.

 

31. Conversion from Hanzi to Pinyin-With-Tones

Attention users who need Pinyin text with tone marks: you do not need to set your tones manually! The new version of XTM/RisingSun now offers a virtually one hundred percent correct automatic setting of the tone marks (including the fifth, or Light Tone) when you back-convert Hanzi text to Pinyin text (or hit F12 on Pinyin Without Tones). Just remember that on the RS input line

F11 converts Pinyin text into Hanzi text

F12 back-converts to Pinyin With Tones

F12 converts Pinyin Without Tones text into Pinyin With Tones text (if you do this, tone verification may be necessary, because you did not go through Hanzi-conversion with possibly necessary corrections).

32. Fanti/Jianti/Pinyin Conversion on the Input Line

A new feature of the RS input line: you can now convert Fantizi text to Jiantizi text (Ctrl-S) and Jiantizi text to Fantizi text (Ctrl-T) directly on the RS input line.

I. If you wish to enter the same Chinese text in both Fantizi and Jiantizi into your document. First, write your Chinese text on the RS input line. Choose the desired font from your Windows toolbar, then press the Tab key to copy the text from the input line to your Windows document. (Through Tab, the text is copied into your document , but remains on the input line.) Now use either Ctrl-T (to Traditional) or Ctrl-S (to Simplified) for converting your text on the input line to the opposite mode. Transfer it to your Windows document with <Return>. You now have the same text in your document in Fantizi and in Jiantizi, although you only entered it once.

II. Converting Chinese text which is in your Windows document to the opposite mode: With RS/XTM Version 3.0, you can now convert Simplified Chinese Character text (or Traditional Chinese Character text) into the opposite mode, without having to go through the XTM Export/Import procedure. Instead, you simply cut (or copy, if you need both the Fanti and the Jianti text) the Chinese Character text from your Windows document back to the RS input line, convert it there to the opposite mode, and transfer the converted text into your Windows document.

To convert Chinese character text which is already in your Windows document from Fantizi to Jiantizi (or from Jiantizi to Fantizi), follow these steps:

A. Highlight the text you want to convert. In your Windows document, use the mouse to select (=highlight) the Chinese character text that you want to convert.

B. Cut or copy the text. Use the regular Cut/Paste procedure of your Windows application to either cut or copy the selected Chinese text (through the "Edit", or the right mouse button). If you want to replace existing Fanti text with Jianti text (or vice versa), use cut. If you need both the Fanti and Jianti versions in your document, use copy.

C. Ensure the RS input line is in "Hanzi mode" by pressing F11. As mentioned earlier in this reference card, the RS input line can be in either of two states: Hanzi mode or Pinyin mode. For pasting Chinese text from your Windows document back onto the RS input line, the input line must be in Hanzi mode (press F11). If you paste Hanzi text from your document back to an input line which is in Pinyin mode (F12), you will get question-marks.

D. Paste the text on the RS input line. Click on the RisingSun button at the left of the input line, and from the menu choose "Paste" (alternatively, use the hotkey Ctrl-V). The cut (or copied) Chinese Character text appears on the RS input line.

E. Convert through Ctrl-T or Ctrl-S. To convert Jianti to Fanti text, press Ctrl-T. To convert Fanti to Jianti text, press Ctrl-S.

F. Transfer the converted text to your document. Press <Return> to transfer the text from the input line into your document (make sure an "RS ..." font is selected).

 Registration Notice: Please note that RS Academic is Shareware, not Freeware, which means you have to register if you keep using it, after the 30-day initial trial period is over. Registration is easy in our on-line store at www.cjkware.com or, alternatively, mail your cheque on US$ 39⁰⁰ for RS Academic Chinese to AsiaCom, PO Box 535 Station B, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1P 5P6. After registering, you will receive a diskette in the mail containing the registered version, and you will be entitled to technical support.