.gif)
Hangul (word processor)
Encyclopedia
Hangul is a proprietary word processing application published by the South Korea
n company Hancom Inc.. It is used extensively in South Korea, especially by the government.
Hangul's support for the special needs of the Korean written language
has gained it widespread use in South Korea. Microsoft Word
and Hangul are used alongside each other in many South Korean companies.
The software's name is derived from the Korean word Hangul
for the alphabet used to write Korean.
Haansoft was on the verge of bankruptcy after the release of its 2002 version, due to the widespread use of illegal copies. A campaign to support the development of Korean software and promote the purchase of legal copies of Hangul allowed Haansoft to recover.
Hangul saves documents in HWP format, with the filename extension *.hwp. HWP files, up to the versions created with Hangul '97, can be opened with OpenOffice.org
. However, files created with later editions of Hangul, including Hangul Wordian, Hangul 2002, Hangul 2005 and Hangul 2007 cannot be opened with OpenOffice.org, due to the major changes in the document structure. These later versions of Hangul do not provide support for opening and saving of files in Microsoft Word
format, but users are not necessarily aware of this. Consequently, Korean Hangul users may often send files to non-Koreans in .hwp format, not realizing the recipient will be unable to open such files.
Recent versions also provide an English user interface depending on the location setting of the user's environment.
Hangul will support reading and writing of Office Open XML and OpenDocument
files in its next version for Windows
, which will be published in the end of 2009. HWP binary format specification has been published online free by Hancom on June 29, 2010.
Hangul Viewer 2007 is not capable of copying its text to the Windows clipboard, and although it can print to PDF via software such as CutePDF Writer
, attempts to copy from the resulting PDF can result in characters being in the wrong order. However, it is possible to select text in Hangul Viewer, right-click on it, and select Daum Search, then right-click on the resulting Internet Explorer window and select Properties; the text that had been selected in Hangul Viewer will be part of the page's Address and can be selected and copied with Control-C, albeit without the line breaks.
Previous versions have included:
MS-DOS
Windows
Mac OS
Unix
Linux
Other related software
Hangul provides more support for specific Korean language features than international programs. Hangul comes with a wide selection of fonts and not only supports Korean hanja
, Chinese traditional
and simplified
hanzi, and Japanese kanji
and kana
, but even gugyeol
characters and obsolete jamo.
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
n company Hancom Inc.. It is used extensively in South Korea, especially by the government.
Hangul's support for the special needs of the Korean written language
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
has gained it widespread use in South Korea. Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...
and Hangul are used alongside each other in many South Korean companies.
The software's name is derived from the Korean word Hangul
Hangul
Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
for the alphabet used to write Korean.
Haansoft was on the verge of bankruptcy after the release of its 2002 version, due to the widespread use of illegal copies. A campaign to support the development of Korean software and promote the purchase of legal copies of Hangul allowed Haansoft to recover.
Hangul saves documents in HWP format, with the filename extension *.hwp. HWP files, up to the versions created with Hangul '97, can be opened with OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org, commonly known as OOo or OpenOffice, is an open-source application suite whose main components are for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases. OpenOffice is available for a number of different computer operating systems, is distributed as free software...
. However, files created with later editions of Hangul, including Hangul Wordian, Hangul 2002, Hangul 2005 and Hangul 2007 cannot be opened with OpenOffice.org, due to the major changes in the document structure. These later versions of Hangul do not provide support for opening and saving of files in Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...
format, but users are not necessarily aware of this. Consequently, Korean Hangul users may often send files to non-Koreans in .hwp format, not realizing the recipient will be unable to open such files.
Recent versions also provide an English user interface depending on the location setting of the user's environment.
Hangul will support reading and writing of Office Open XML and OpenDocument
OpenDocument
The Open Document Format for Office Applications is an XML-based file format for representing electronic documents such as spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents....
files in its next version for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, which will be published in the end of 2009. HWP binary format specification has been published online free by Hancom on June 29, 2010.
Hangul Viewer
Haansoft offers a Hangul document viewer program freely available on its website called "Hancom Office Viewer 2010 SE" (한컴오피스 뷰어 2010 SE). Non-Korean speakers may download the program from this page. Mac version can be downloaded here.Hangul Viewer 2007 is not capable of copying its text to the Windows clipboard, and although it can print to PDF via software such as CutePDF Writer
CutePDF
CutePDF is a proprietary Portable Document Format converter/editor for Microsoft Windows developed by Acro Software.The developers also produce CutePDF Writer , a plug-in application which acts as a "printer subsystem" to enable Windows applications that have print capability to output documents in...
, attempts to copy from the resulting PDF can result in characters being in the wrong order. However, it is possible to select text in Hangul Viewer, right-click on it, and select Daum Search, then right-click on the resulting Internet Explorer window and select Properties; the text that had been selected in Hangul Viewer will be part of the page's Address and can be selected and copied with Control-C, albeit without the line breaks.
Versions
Hangul has many versions, the latest of which is Hangul 2010 for Windows, Hangul 2008 Linux for Linux, and Hangul 2006 for Mac OS X.Previous versions have included:
MS-DOS
- Hangul 0.9, 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 (1989)
- Hangul 1.2L, 1.3L (1990)
- Hangul 1.5, 1.51, 1.52 (1991)
- Hangul 2.0 Pro/Basic (1992)
- Hangul 2.1 Pro/Basic/Test/Little (1993)
- Hangul 2.5 (1994)
- Hangul 3.0 (1995)
Windows
- Hangul 3.0, 3.0a, 3.0b (1995)
- Hangul 96, International, Japanese (1996)
- Hangul 97, 97 strengthen, 815 special edition (1998)
- Hangul Wordian, Hangul for Kids (2000)
- Hangul 2002 (2001, widely used for government e-documentElectronic documentAn electronic document is any electronic media content that are intended to be used in either an electronic form or as printed output....
system) - Hangul 2004 (2003)
- Hangul 2005 (2004)
- Hangul 2007 (2006)
- Hangul 2010 (2010)
Mac OS
- Hangul 96, 97 (1998)
- Hangul 2006 (2006) : PPC binary
Unix
- Hangul X 1.0, X 3.0 (1995)
Linux
- Hangul X R4 (1999, bundled in Mizi Linux 1 and 1.1)
- Hangul X R5 (2000, included in Hancom Office 2)
- Hangul 2008 Linux (2008, included in Hancom Office 2008 Linux)
Other related software
- Net Hangul (2002, Hangul 2002 SE based)
- Documan (Hangul with USB storage)
- Hanshow : presentation programPresentation programA presentation program is a computer software package used to display information, normally in the form of a slide show...
- Hancel : spreadsheetSpreadsheetA spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper accounting worksheet. It displays multiple cells usually in a two-dimensional matrix or grid consisting of rows and columns. Each cell contains alphanumeric text, numeric values or formulas...
software
Advantages
Hangul, as well as other Haansoft products, is a more affordable alternative to non-native comparable programs such as Microsoft Word. Furthermore, Hangul is widely supported in South Korea and has a large user base; many South Koreans begin their word processing life with Hangul, not with Microsoft Word.Hangul provides more support for specific Korean language features than international programs. Hangul comes with a wide selection of fonts and not only supports Korean hanja
Hanja
Hanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...
, Chinese traditional
Traditional Chinese character
Traditional Chinese characters refers to Chinese characters in any character set which does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. It most commonly refers to characters in the standardized character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong, or in the Kangxi...
and simplified
Simplified Chinese character
Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Xiandai Hanyu Tongyong Zibiao for use in Mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of many standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language...
hanzi, and Japanese kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
and kana
Kana
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...
, but even gugyeol
Gugyeol
Gugyeol is a system for rendering texts written in Classical Chinese into understandable Korean. It was chiefly used during the Joseon Dynasty, when readings of the Chinese classics were of paramount social importance...
characters and obsolete jamo.
Disadvantages
Although the HWP format and Hangul word processor has become a de facto standard in South Korea, the program itself and its format is seldom used outside South Korea, and is incompatible with programs such as Microsoft Word.See also
- IchitaroIchitarois a Japanese word processor produced by JustSystems, a Japanese software company. Ichitaro occupies the second share in Japanese word-processing software, behind Microsoft Word. It is one of the main products of the company. Its proprietary file extension is ".JTD"...
- List of word processors
- Comparison of word processorsComparison of word processors-General information:This table provides general information about selected word processors.-Characteristics:This table gives characteristics of each word processor.-Operating System Compatibility:...
- List of Korea-related topics
External links
- Official site:
- Hancom Office official homepage (the download at this link does not allow you to view hangul (.hwp) files. Uses Flash. (English)