{"id":40,"date":"2026-06-25T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/backendside.com\/blog\/?p=40"},"modified":"2026-06-25T19:06:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T19:06:06","slug":"introducing-publishingdesk-multilingual-desktop-publishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/backendside.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/25\/introducing-publishingdesk-multilingual-desktop-publishing\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing PublishingDesk: Multilingual Desktop Publishing with True Urdu Nastaliq"},"content":{"rendered":"

Designing a flyer, a book page or a social-media graphic is easy enough — until your text needs to be in Urdu<\/strong>. Suddenly the letters won’t join properly, the dots land in the wrong place, justified lines open up ugly gaps instead of flowing, and the polished tools everyone recommends simply weren’t built for the script. PublishingDesk<\/strong> is our answer: a modern desktop publishing app for Windows that treats Urdu, Arabic, Persian and Pashto as first-class citizens — with true Nastaliq typesetting — while still doing everything you expect from a layout tool.<\/p>\n

It is available now on the Microsoft Store: free to use<\/strong>, with a one-time Pro upgrade for print-ready output. Here is what it does, and an honest look at how it stacks up against the two tools most people reach for — InPage<\/strong> and Adobe InDesign<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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The PublishingDesk editor — Urdu Nastaliq and English on one page, with the Layers panel and text-effect presets.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What makes it different: real Nastaliq<\/h2>\n

Most page-layout apps render Arabic-script text in the flat Naskh<\/em> style, or lean on the operating system’s basic shaping. PublishingDesk does proper Nastaliq<\/strong> — the slanted, “hanging” calligraphic style Urdu readers expect — with correct letter-joining and dot placement. A built-in Urdu keyboard (standard, phonetic Roman→Urdu, or your system layout) lets you type straight onto the page, and English words or numbers inside an Urdu line sit the right way round automatically.<\/p>\n

It also does kashida (kasheeda) justification<\/strong>: set a paragraph to Justified and lines fill the column by elongating the script’s connecting strokes<\/em> (tatweel) — the hallmark of fine Urdu typesetting — instead of stretching the spaces between words. It engages on fonts that have a real tatweel glyph (the bundled Amiri and Scheherazade do, as do dedicated kasheeda Nastaliq fonts you add yourself), and it deliberately falls back to clean word-spacing on fonts that don’t, rather than inserting broken glyphs.<\/p>\n

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🔧 BackendSide Tool<\/div>\n

PublishingDesk — Multilingual Desktop Publishing for Windows<\/h4>\n

PublishingDesk<\/strong> typesets proper Urdu, Arabic, Persian and Pashto Nastaliq<\/strong> with real kashida (kasheeda) justification, mixes right-to-left and English on one line, and lays it all out with layers, master pages and multi-page documents — then exports to print-ready PDF. Free to use<\/strong>, with a one-time Pro<\/strong> upgrade for print output. No subscription, no ads, works offline.<\/p>\n

Explore PublishingDesk →<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

A full layout tool, not just a text box<\/h2>\n

Nastaliq is the headline, but PublishingDesk is a complete desktop publishing app:<\/p>\n