Laopad Overview

Laopad is a mingle of Windows Notepad and WordPad. The interface is just like Notepad but it has rich text features that WordPad processes. Therefore files can be saved both as *.txt and *.rtf, the text and the rich text format respectively. Other than features of basic editor Laopad has additional features to support Lao Language. These are listed below:

1.Sorting Utility

2.Line Breaking

3.ASCII to Unicode Conversion Utility

4.Lao-Englis-Lao Dictionary with Edit facility

5.WordCount

6.Lao/English Interface

Based on Syllable Boundaries

Using this option would break the text into possible syllables, hence breaking the line at syllable boundary. Go to Utilities click Syllable Break sub-menu under menu Line-Breaking.

Based on Word Boundaries

Using this option would define the proper word, hence breaking the line at word boundary. Go to Utilities click Word Break sub-menu under menu Line-Breaking.

Translation Module

Laopad has Lao-English and English-Lao Dictionaries, having more than 40,000 words each. Other than meaning word type and proper pronunciation is shown.

1. Go to Dictionary sub menu Translate sub-menu To Lao or To English or alternatively press Shift + F7 for Lao-English Dictionary and Shift+F8 for English-Lao Dictionary.

2. A new window opens. If some word was already selected the new windows brings the information along, other wise you can type the word and search.

Editing Module

1.Go to Dictionary sub menu Edit sub-menu English-Lao or Lao-English or alternatively press Shift+F6 for English-Lao or Shift+F5 to edit Lao-English Dictionary.

2.A new window opens; you can give all the required information and press OK to save the changes.

3.Next time you search the word it would be found.

Sorting Lao Strings

1. Select the list you want to sort.

2. Go to Utilities click Combinational or Alphabetical sub-menus under section Sorting.

3. You can change the mode to ascending or descending.

Conversion

Conversion Utility can be used to convert ASCII fonts to Unicode encoding. For the time being only these fonts are supported.

i. Alice_0(, Alice_4, Alice_5)

ii. IBM(STENO)

iii. Lao-ISO

iv. Saysettha Lao

v. Saysettha(2000)

1.Select the text to be converted to Unicode.

2.Select one of the above given fonts. This would enable the option To Unicode under option Utilities.

3.Click it and the selected text is converted into Unicode. Its font has been automatically changed to a Unicode font.

Spell Checker

Go to Utilities sub menu Spell Checker or alternatively press F7. It would detect all the errors and give possible corrections. User can right click to select one of the possible corrections.

Word Count

Go to Utilities sub menu Word Count. This option would count number of words in the document, number of space characters and number of paragraphs

Find

To find specific characters or words On the Edit menu, click Find.In Find what, type the characters or words you want to find.Click Find Next.To find only text with uppercase and lowercase characters, as specified in Find what, select Match case.Match case is not applicable for Lao Language.You can specify which direction to search starting from the insertion point in the document. In Direction, click Up to search from the insertion point to the top. Click Down to search from the insertion point to the bottom.

Find & Replace

To find and replace specific characters or words. On the Edit menu, click Replace.In Find what, type the characters or words you want to find.In Replace with, type the replacement text.To replace all instances of the text at once, click Replace All. Or, to replace one instance at a time, click Find Next, and then click Replace

Go To

To go to a specific line On the Edit menu, click Go To.In Goto line, type the line number you want the cursor to jump to. You do not have to have line numbers in your document for this command to work. Lines are counted down the left margin beginning at the top of the document

Editing Options

To cut, copy, paste, or delete text

To cut text so you can move it to another location, select the text, and then on the Edit menu click Cut.

To copy text so you can paste it in another location, select the text, and then on the Edit menu click Copy.

To paste text you have cut or copied, place the cursor where you want to paste the text, and then on the Edit menu click Paste.

To delete text, select it, and then on the Edit menu click Delete.

Time/Date

To insert the time and date in a document. Move the cursor to where you want to add the time and date. On the Edit menu, click Time/Date.

Word Wrap

To wrap text to the window size. On the Format menu, click Word Wrap. (On) is displayed infront when word wrap is turned on. Wrapping text enables you to see all the text on the line, but it doesn't affect the way text appears when it is printed.

Font

To change the font style and size:

1.Select the text

2.On the Format menu, click Font.

3.Make your selections in Font, Font style, and Size.

Lao/English User Interface

You can switch between Lao and English interface. Click Format and then sub-menu Interface to switch between Lao and English.