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Encyclopedia > Keymap

Computers and other typing devices offer many different keyboard layouts for inputting data in different languages. The standard English keyboard layout is known as QWERTY. Various alternatives to the QWERTY layout have been suggested, many claiming advantages such as higher typing speeds. One of the most common alternatives is the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard. A BlueGene supercomputer cabinet. ... Typing is the process of inputting text into a device, such as a typewriter, computer, or a calculator, by pressing keys on a keyboard. ... Look up device in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... For the song by Linkin Park, see Qwerty (Linkin Park song) The QWERTY keyboard layout used by Windows in the US QWERTY (pronounced ) is the most common modern-day keyboard layout on English-language computer and typewriter keyboards. ... The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard layout // The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (pronounced ) is a keyboard layout patented in 1936 by Dr. August Dvorak, an educational psychologist and professor of education[1] at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington,[2] and William Dealey as an alternative to the more common QWERTY layout. ...

A customized keyboard showing QWERTY, Simplified Dvorak, Russian, Korean, and Arabic layouts simultaneously.

Contents

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2048x1536, 1203 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Keyboard layout User:Flip619 Wikipedia:Picture peer review/Multi-keyboard Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2048x1536, 1203 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Keyboard layout User:Flip619 Wikipedia:Picture peer review/Multi-keyboard Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added... For the song by Linkin Park, see Qwerty (Linkin Park song) The QWERTY keyboard layout used by Windows in the US QWERTY (pronounced ) is the most common modern-day keyboard layout on English-language computer and typewriter keyboards. ... The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard layout // The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (pronounced ) is a keyboard layout patented in 1936 by Dr. August Dvorak, an educational psychologist and professor of education[1] at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington,[2] and William Dealey as an alternative to the more common QWERTY layout. ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing Arabic and various other languages, together with various closely related scripts that typically differ in the presence or absence of a few letters. ...

Keyboard structure

Keys labelled with only a capital letter can type both small and capital letters. To type the symbol at the top left of a key, the shift key, often labelled "⇧", is used. To type the symbol at the bottom right of a key, the AltGr key is used. (Further symbols are available on the smaller keyboards of laptop computers, which require further keystroke combinations.) This article is about a city that serves as a center of government and politics. ... The shift key on a modern Windows keyboard The shift key is a modifier key on a keyboard, used to type capital letters and other alternate upper characters. ... AltGr is a modifier key on PC keyboards used to type many characters, primarily ones that are unusual for the locale of the keyboard layout, such as foreign currency symbols and accented letters. ... An ultraportable IBM X31 with 12 screen on an IBM T43 Thin & Light laptop with a 14 screen A laptop computer, or simply laptop (also notebook computer or notebook), is a small mobile computer, which usually weighs 2. ...


The standard keyboard structure also includes the control and alternative keys. These keys are commonly known as modifier keys. There are also function keys, with actions set by the currently used program. For a list of keyboard shortcuts see Table of keyboard shortcuts A Control key (marked Ctrl) on a modern Windows keyboard In computing, a Control key is a key which, when pressed in conjunction with another key, will perform a special operation. ... The Alt key on a modern Windows keyboard The Alt key on an IBM PC keyboard is the key located immediately to either side of the Space bar, used to change (alternate) the function of other pressed keys. ... In computing, a modifier key is a special key on a computer keyboard that modifies the normal action of another key when the two are pressed in combination. ... A function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions. ...


Dead key

A dead key produces no output when it is pressed, but modifies the output of the next key pressed after it. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Combining character. ...


Many languages include characters additional to the standard upper and lower case 26-letter alphabet, such as accented characters, that do not easily fit onto a standard English-language keyboard (UK, US or other varieties). Typing accented characters is made easier by using the dead key feature. When a dead key is pressed, nothing happens on the screen, but then pressing the character to be accented makes the desired accented character appear on the screen. For example, typing the acute accent dead key followed by the letter a gives á. To type a diacritical mark on its own, it needs to be followed by a space. A diacritical mark or diacritic, also called an accent mark, is a small sign added to a letter to alter pronunciation or to distinguish between similar words. ...


In the Mac OS US Roman Keyboard Layout, dead keys are accessed with the option (alt) key as follows: This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

´ option-e (á, é, í, ó, ú)
` option-` (à, è, ì, ò, ù)
¨ option-u (ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ)
^ option-i (â, ê, î, ô, û)
~ option-n (ã, õ, ñ)

which is then followed by the letter the accent is intended for. For example, the keypresses option-e e results in the é character. In Mac OS X, pressing one of these key combinations creates the accent and highlights it, then produces the finalized character when a supported character is pressed, otherwise it leaves the accent remaining. Some accented vowels, such as ŵ (used in Welsh), cannot be accessed without first changing the keyboard layout. Some accented vowels are also unsupported. The US keyboard layout does not support other, less common diacritics, such as ˇ (caron), which are commonly used in many Eastern European languages. Mac OS X (official IPA pronunciation: ) is a line of proprietary, graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ... The circumflex ( ˆ ) is a diacritic mark used in written Esperanto, French, Greek, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Vietnamese, Welsh, and other languages. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... A diacritical mark or diacritic, also called an accent mark, is a small sign added to a letter to alter pronunciation or to distinguish between similar words. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Map of Eastern Europe Pre-1989 division between the West (grey) and Eastern Bloc (orange) superimposed on current national boundaries: Russia (dark orange), other countries of the former USSR (medium orange),members of the Warsaw pact (light orange), and other former Communist regimes not aligned with Moscow (lightest orange). ...


Note on keyboard layouts

The following layouts assume that the physical locations of the keys are the same as on a US 102-key PC/AT keyboard. In practice, keyboards from other countries may have keys in different locations. However, on a US 102-key PC/AT keyboard with an operating system configured for a non-English language, the keys will be placed as follows. "Dead keys" (see above) appear in red. Characters accessed using the AltGr key appear at the bottom right of the corresponding key, or in some images in blue. The Altair 8800 was among the first microcomputers to be affordable by an individual, although it initially lacked peripherals and memory. ... An operating system (OS) is a set of computer programs that manage the hardware and software resources of a computer. ... Computers and other typing devices offer many different keyboard layouts for inputting data in different languages. ...


Another situation takes place with "national" layouts. Keyboards designed for typing in Spanish have some characters shifted, to release the space for Ñ ñ; similarly, those for French and other European languages may have a special key for the character Ç ç . Keyboards designed for Japanese, may have special keys to switch between Japanese typing and English and vice-versa; and the character ¥ instead of . Using such keyboards for other languages leads to a conflict: the image on the key does not correspond to the character. In such cases, each new language may require an additional label on the keys, because the standard keyboard layouts do not share even similar characters of different languages (see the example in the figure above). However, in some special cases (For example, typing English at the English keyboard), the image at the physical key may correspond to the character it generates.


Apple keyboards have the Alt and AltGr keys replaced by the Command key, and has an Option key (which functions as AltGr) where the Win key is placed below. Thus it doesn't have an Alt key, and either the command or the option key has to be reprogrammed when running in a non-Macintosh environment. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Alt key on a modern Windows keyboard The Alt key on an IBM PC keyboard is the key located immediately to either side of the Space bar, used to change (alternate) the function of other pressed keys. ... AltGr is a modifier key on PC keyboards used to type many characters, primarily ones that are unusual for the locale of the keyboard layout, such as foreign currency symbols and accented letters. ... The Command key The Command key, known as the open-Apple key in documentation previous to the Apple Macintosh family of computers, is a modifier key present on Apple keyboards. ... The Option key The Option key, known to latent PC users as Alt key, is a modifier key present on Apple keyboards. ... AltGr is a modifier key on PC keyboards used to type many characters, primarily ones that are unusual for the locale of the keyboard layout, such as foreign currency symbols and accented letters. ... A Windows key on a black laptop keyboard The Windows key or Windows logo key (in short WinKey, or rarely Flag key) is a keyboard key originally introduced for the Windows 95 operating system. ... The Alt key on a modern Windows keyboard The Alt key on an IBM PC keyboard is the key located immediately to either side of the Space bar, used to change (alternate) the function of other pressed keys. ... The Command key The Command key, known as the open-Apple key in documentation previous to the Apple Macintosh family of computers, is a modifier key present on Apple keyboards. ... The Option key The Option key, known to latent PC users as Alt key, is a modifier key present on Apple keyboards. ... The Macintosh 128K, the first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac Mac (formerly Macintosh) is a range of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Inc. ...


Keyboard layouts for Roman script in Microsoft Windows

Although there are a large number of different keyboard layouts used for different languages written in Roman script, most of these layouts are quite similar. They can be divided into three main families according to where the Q, A, Z, M, and Y keys are placed on the keyboard. These are usually named after the first six letters.


While the core of the keyboard, the alphabetic section, remains fairly constant, and the numbers from 1-9 are almost invariably on the top row, keyboards differ vastly in:

  • the placement of punctuation characters,
  • which punctuation characters are included,
  • whether numbers are accessible directly or in a shift-state,
  • the presence and placement of accent deadkeys and accented characters.

QWERTY

Main article: QWERTY

By far the most widespread, the only one not confined to a particular geographical area. Keys like "enter" and "caps lock" have not been translated to the language of the keyboard in question. For the song by Linkin Park, see Qwerty (Linkin Park song) The QWERTY keyboard layout used by Windows in the US QWERTY (pronounced ) is the most common modern-day keyboard layout on English-language computer and typewriter keyboards. ...


Canadian French

Linux configuration code: ca_enhanced Canadian French is an umbrella term for the dialects or varieties of French found in Canada [1] and areas of French Canadian settlement in the United States. ... Image File history File links KB_Canadian_French. ...

  • In many versions, the guillemets key is moved to the other end of the character line, right of "É", making both shift keys the same size.

Also called angle quotes, guillemets (<< or >>) are line segments, pointed as if arrows. ...

Canadian Multilingual Standard

United States keyboards are still more common in Canada. Image File history File links KB_Canadian_Multilingual_Standard. ...


Danish

Image File history File links KB_Denmark. ...

Dutch (Netherlands)

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Computers and other typing devices offer many different keyboard layouts for inputting data in different languages. ...

Finnish/Swedish

Image File history File links KB_Sweden. ...

Icelandic

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...

Italian

Note: Image File history File links KB_Italian. ...

  • braces (right above square brackets and shown in purple) are given with both AltGr and Shift pressed.

Norwegian

Image File history File links KB_Norway. ...

Portuguese (Portugal)

It has been suggested that this article be merged into Portuguese alphabet: Portuguese-language typewriters. ... Image File history File links KB_Portuguese. ...

Portuguese (Brazil)

It has been suggested that this article be merged into Portuguese alphabet: Portuguese-language typewriters. ... Image File history File links KB_Portuguese_Brazil. ...

Spanish (Spain)

Image File history File links KB_Spanish. ...

Spanish (Latin America)

  • The Spanish (Latin America) keyboard layout is barely used in South America; the majority of South American countries use the Spanish (Spain) layout instead.

Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Computers and other typing devices offer many different keyboard layouts for inputting data in different languages. ...

UK and Ireland

The United Kingdom and Ireland use a keyboard layout similar to the United States.[1] Hong Kong uses US and Chinese (Traditional) keyboards rather than UK and Ireland ones. See the article British and American keyboards for details. See also Technical standards in colonial Hong Kong. Image File history File links KB_United_Kingdom. ... There are two major English language keyboard layouts, the United States layout and the United Kingdom layout. ... This article gives readers an insight on how the British colonial rule affected the technical standards in Hong Kong. ...


Note:

  • One frequently encountered difference from UK keyboard is that the quotation marks are on the 2 key while the @ sign takes the place the quotation marks have on US keyboards.
  • The key to the immediate left of numeral 1 (backtick, `) gives (logical NOT, ¬) when shifted (instead of ~) and with AltGr either
    • vertical bar | (OS/2’s UK166 keyboard layout, Linux UK keyboard layout),
      or
    • broken vertical bar ¦ (Microsoft Windows’ UK/Ireland keyboard layout);
  • the key to the immediate left of Z gives, when shifted, either
    • broken vertical bar ¦ (OS/2’s UK166 keyboard layout),
      or
    • vertical bar | (Microsoft Windows’ UK/Ireland keyboard layout and Linux UK/Ireland keyboard layout).

To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Linux (IPA pronunciation: ) is a Unix-like computer operating system. ... Microsoft Windows is the name of several families of proprietary software operating systems by Microsoft. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Microsoft Windows is the name of several families of proprietary software operating systems by Microsoft. ... Linux (IPA pronunciation: ) is a Unix-like computer operating system. ...

US

The US keyboard layout has a second Alt key instead of the AltGr key and does not use any dead keys, and thus offers no way of inputting any sort of diacritic or accent; this makes it unsuitable for all but a handful of languages. On the other hand, US keyboard layout is widely used by programmers worldwide. For other uses, see American English (disambiguation). ... Image File history File links KB_United_States-NoAltGr. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Combining character. ... Computer programming (often simply programming) is the craft of implementing one or more interrelated abstract algorithms using a particular programming language to produce a concrete computer program. ...


U.S. keyboards are used not only in the United States, but also in most English-speaking countries, e.g. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. In the United Kingdom, UK keyboards are used. See British and American keyboards for details. Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... There are two major English language keyboard layouts, the United States layout and the United Kingdom layout. ...


US-International

The US keyboard layout can be configured to type accents efficiently. This is known as the US-International layout. Using the same layout as the US keyboard, accented characters can be typed by pressing the appropriate accent key, then the letter on the keyboard in its unaccented form. Accent keys share the same key as ', `, ", ^ and ~. Image File history File links KB_US-International. ...


Accent keys are activated by pressing it (without holding it), and next pressing the letter that requires an accent. After the two strokes, the single accented character would appear on the screen. Note that only vowels can have accents in this way. If one wishes to use the normal single quotation mark, caret and so on, one would press the accent key followed by the spacebar. Accented characters can be typed with the following combinations:

  • ' the letter (é)
  • ` the letter (è)
  • " the letter (ë)
  • ^ the letter (ê)
  • ~ the letter (ñ)

Thus, in this sense, the keys ', `, ", ^ and ~ are dead keys when first depressed, then become normal keys functioning in the same way as keys on the US keyboard if the spacebar is pressed.


There are also alternative US-International formats, whereby modifier keys such as shift and alt are used, and the placement of the accented characters are different from the placement of their unaccented counterparts.

  • The US-International keyboards are used in The Netherlands.

QWERTZ

Main article: QWERTZ

The QWERTZ layout is fairly widely used in Germany and much of Central Europe. The main difference between it and QWERTY is that Y and Z are swapped, and most special characters such as brackets are replaced by diacritical characters. The QWERTZ keyboard layout The QWERTZ keyboard is a computer and typewriter keyboard that is normally used in German-speaking regions. ...


Hungary

Image File history File links Hungarian_keyboard_layout. ...

Germany and Austria (but not Switzerland)

The characters ² ³ { [] } @ € µ ~ are accessed by holding the Alt Gr key and tapping the other key. The Alt key on the left will not access these additional characters. Image File history File links KB_Germany. ...


The accent keys ^ ` ´ are dead keys. Tap on an accent key once, let up, then tap on a vowel to produce accented characters. (ô á ù etc.)


Note that the semi-colon and colon are accessed by using the Shift (large arrow up) key.


Abbreviations on a German keyboard: Strg = Steuerung ("steering" - control) Alt Gr = Alternate Graphics (equivalent to holding both Strg & Alt keys simulaneously) Einfg = Einfügen ("add in" - insert) Entf = Entfernen ("remove" - delete) Bild (arrow up) = Bild auf (screen/page up) Bild (arrow down) = Bild ab (screen/page down) Pos 1 = Position eins ("position one" - home)


Polish

Most typewriters use a QWERTY keyboard with Polish accentuated letters accessed directly, while practically all computers (except custom-made, e.g., in public sector and some Apple computers) use standard US layout (commonly called Polish programmers layout, in Polish: polski programisty) with Polish letters accessed through AltGr (AltGr-Z giving "Ż" and AltGr-X giving "Ź").


Romanian in Romania and Moldova

The above layout is not widespread — the American QWERTY layout is the most common in these two countries. Many users use the Romanian (Programmers) layout, a standard American layout, with AltGr being used to generate the needed Romanian keys in a manner similar to the Polish system (AltGr + A = Ă, AltGr + S = Ş, AltGr + T = Ţ, AltGr + Q = Â and AltGr + I = Î). Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...


Slovene

The Slovene keyboard layout has five additional special characters Č, Ć, Ž, Š and Đ where Ć and Đ are not part of the Slovene alphabet.


Swiss German, Swiss French, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg

The Layout of the Swiss keyboard is designed to allow easy access to frequently used accents of the French and German languages. The difference between the two is that the German variety has the German umlauts (ä, ö, ü) accessible without shift, while the French version has the French accented characters (é, à, è) accessible without shift. The actual keyboards have the keys engraved for both variations, the difference is only in the driver setting. Furthermore, Swiss German does not include the ß used in Germany and Austria. Image File history File links KB_Swiss. ... The glyph ß is a ligature of Å¿ (long s) and s or z that has become a distinct letter in the German alphabet; its German name is Eszett (IPA: ) or scharfes S (sharp S). ...


Luxembourg does not have a keyboard layout of its own. Public education uses the Swiss-French keyboard, while the banking sector prefers the Belgian layout. Other places use either, or the US layout.


AZERTY

Main article: AZERTY

The AZERTY layout is used in France, Belgium and some neighbouring countries. It differs from the QWERTY layout thus: The Azerty keyboard layout on a laptop sold in Belgium. ...

  • A and Q are swapped,
  • Z and W are swapped,
  • M is moved from the right of N to the right of L (where colon/semicolon is on a US keyboard),
  • The digits 0 to 9 are on the same keys, but to be typed the shift key must be pressed. The unshifted positions are used for accented characters.

The French AZERTY keyboard also has special characters used in the French language, such as ç, à é, è, and other characters such as &, " ,' ,§, , all located under the numbers. A cedilla is a hook (¸) added under certain consonant letters as a diacritic mark to modify their pronunciation. ...


Some French people use the Canadian Multilingual standard keyboard. The Portuguese (Portugal) keyboard layout may also be preferred, as it provides all French accents (acute, grave, tréma, tilde, circumflex, cedilla, and also quotation marks «») and its dead-letter option for all the accent keys allow for easy input of all the possibilities in French and most other languages (áàäãâéèëêíìïîóòöõôúùüû). Ç is, however, a separate key, as can be seen above.


French

Image File history File links KeyboardLayout-French. ...

Belgian

The Belgian AZERTY was developed from the French AZERTY but some adaptions were made in the 1980s. All letters remain the same as on the French keyboard, but some signs (? ! @ - _ + = §) are on different locations.

Belgian keyboard layout

QZERTY

The QZERTY layout is used mostly, if not exclusively, in Italy, where it is very common on typewriters. Computer keyboards are usually QWERTY, although non-alphanumeric characters vary. Although still popular with a few writers and in less developed countries, the typewriter has largely been replaced by the word processor. ... Generally speaking, the term alphanumeric refers to anything that consists of only letters and numbers. ...

  • Z and W are swapped
  • M is moved from the right of N to the right of L, as in AZERTY

Dvorak and others

There are also keyboard layouts that do not resemble QWERTY/QWERTZ/AZERTY very closely, if at all. Best-known among these is the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard layout (named after its inventor, not the key order), which reduces finger movement and is claimed by some proponents to offer higher typing speed along with ergonomic benefits. There are also single-handed Dvorak layouts (one each for left-handed and right-handed typing), as well as adaptations for languages other than English. Image File history File links KB_United_States_Dvorak. ... The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard layout // The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (pronounced ) is a keyboard layout patented in 1936 by Dr. August Dvorak, an educational psychologist and professor of education[1] at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington,[2] and William Dealey as an alternative to the more common QWERTY layout. ... Ergonomics (or human factors) is the application of scientific information concerning humans to the design of objects, systems and environment for human use (definition adopted by the International Ergonomics Association in 2007). ...


Some languages use the Roman script but with non-QWERTY-based keyboard layouts, such as Latvian and Turkish (the majority of Turkish keyboards are QWERTY, though the "Turkish-F keyboard layout" is older and said to be better suited to the language).


Chorded Keyboards

A syllabic chord keyboard is a keyboard with three sets of keys that are used to type in a single syllable with one (combined) keystroke. Other chorded keyboards are also in use (often for specialized applications), such as the Stenotype. Velotype is the trademark for a type of keyboard for typing text, known as a syllabic chord keyboard. ... A Microwriter MW4 (circa 1980) A chorded keyboard (also called a chord keyboard or chording keyboard) is a computer input device that allows the user to enter characters or commands formed by pressing several keys together, like playing a chord on a piano. ... A stenotype or shorthand machine is a specialized chorded keyboard or typewriter used by stenographers for shorthand use. ...


Turkish

The Turkish language uses the Roman alphabet, and a dedicated keyboard layout was designed in 1955 by İhsan Yener. During its design, the Turkish Language Academy (TDK) investigated letter frequencies in Turkish and used this statistical basis to design the Turkish-F keyboard. It provides a balanced distribution of typing effort between the hands - 49% for the left hand and 51% for the right. Image File history File links KB_Turkey_f. ...

Besides the Turkish-F keyboard, the QWERTY keyboard is used on most computers in Turkey. Image File history File links KB_Turkey. ...


QWERTY- and Dvorak-based

  • Qwerak (2002)

Dvorak-based

  • DAS, a Dvorak variant for writing in Finnish

One-handed

The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard layout // The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (pronounced ) is a keyboard layout patented in 1936 by Dr. August Dvorak, an educational psychologist and professor of education[1] at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington,[2] and William Dealey as an alternative to the more common QWERTY layout. ...

Original

  • Banks Keyboard
  • Colemak (2006), winner of the CAPSoff Million Dollar Keyboard prize[1]
  • Kiwi (custom layout evolver) (2006)
  • Writer’s Keyboard Layout (2006)
  • Michael Capewell’s evolved layout (2005)
  • NEO layout (German) [2] (2004)
  • Plum [3] (2003)
  • Arensito (2001)
  • Peter Klausler’s evolved layout (2002)
  • Maltron layout [4] (1977)
  • HCESAR (1937)
  • Roy E. Hoke’s layout (U.S. patent 1,506,426, 1924)
  • Sidney W. Rowell’s layout (U.S. patent 943,466, 1909)
  • DHIATENSOR layout (1893)
  • The QWERF layout reduces finger movements 28% over regular QWERTY.
  • JLG Extended Keyboard Layout for US A QWERTY layout with over than 1000 Unicode characters.
  • XPeRT Keyboard aimed at speed via opposite hand key sequences, minimal qwerty change, two E keys; US Patent 7,137,749

The caps lock on a modern Windows keyboard. ... A PLUM keyboard The PLUM Keybard is another variation on the qwerty keyboard, like the Dvorak keyboard. ... The Maltron keyboard is an ergonomically designed computer keyboard that was invented by Stephen Hobday and Lilian Malt in the 1970s. ... The HCESAR Layout HCESAR (pronounced by spelling the letter H and then saying the word César) is an obsolete typewriter keyboard layout. ... The Blickensderfer Typewriter was designed by George C Blickensderfer (1850-1917) in 1893. ...

Keyboard layouts for non-Roman alphabetic scripts

Some keyboard layouts for non-Roman alphabetic scripts, most notably the Greek layout, are based on the QWERTY layout, in that glyphs are assigned as far as possible to keys that bear similar-sounding or appearing glyphs in QWERTY. This saves learning time for those familiar with QWERTY.


This is not a general rule, and many non-Roman keyboard layouts have been invented from scratch.


Most non-Roman keyboard layouts have the capacity to be used to input Roman letters as well as the script of the language, for example, when typing in URLs or names. This may be done through a special key on the keyboard devoted to this task, or through some special combination of keys, or through software programs that do not interact with the keyboard much. // Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a technical, Web-related term used in two distinct meanings: In popular usage, it is a widespread synonym for Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) — many popular and technical texts will use the term URL when referring to URI; Strictly, the idea of a uniform syntax for...


Arabic

Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... Image File history File links KB_Arabic. ...

Armenian

Keyboard layout, Armenian File links The following pages link to this file: Keyboard layout Categories: GFDL images ...

Greek

Image File history File links KB_Greek. ...

Hebrew

“Hebrew” redirects here. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 267 pixels Full resolution (900 × 300 pixel, file size: 28 KB, MIME type: image/png) I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ...

Russian

People who do not have a Cyrillic keyboard sometimes use a phonetic (transliterated) layout where ‘А’ is obtained by pressing ‘A’, ‘Б’ by pressing ‘B’, ‘О’ by pressing ‘O’ etc. Also there were some alternative (e.g. ‘ЯВЕРТЫ’, ‘ЧШЕРТЫ’) keyboard layouts extinct by now. See also Russian keyboard: standard and phonetic. Image File history File links KB_Russian. ...


Bulgarian

The Bulgarian BDS layout. This new version of the standard was accepted on 5 December 2006. Image File history File links Keyboard_Layout_Bulgarian_BDS2. ... December 5 is the 339th day (340th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

The new Bulgarian Phonetic layout, accepted as Bulgarian National Standard (BDS) on 5 December 2006. Earlier versions of this layout were widespread because of its similarity to the QWERTY layout. It is a Phonetic not Transliteration layout, and produces Cyrillic symbols. layout Image File history File links Keyboard_Layout_Bulgarian_Phonetic2. ... December 5 is the 339th day (340th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Phonetic (pho-NET-ic) is a nationwide voicemail-to-text messaging service available for most digital mobile phones in which a subscriber is provided a custom voice mailbox for the purpose of receiving all incoming voice messages as actual transcribed text for reading via short messaging (also known as SMS... Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system. ...


Both layouts are in widespread use. The new standard added the Euro sign and some other characters to both layouts.


Transliteration using Roman script is used only in informal electronic written communication, mainly because of a long history of compatibility issues with different encodings, history of lack of native OS support and user laziness. The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world. ...


Devanāgarī

A lot of different layouts exists for Devanāgarī. Look at Devanāgarī to see some of them. () is an abugida script used to write, either along with other scripts, or exclusively, several Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Sindhi, Bihari, Bhili, Marwari, Konkani, Bhojpuri, languages from Nepal like Nepali, Tharu Nepal Bhasa and sometimes Kashmiri and Romani. ... Keyboard layout, Sanskrit File links The following pages link to this file: Keyboard layout Categories: GFDL images ... () is an abugida script used to write, either along with other scripts, or exclusively, several Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Sindhi, Bihari, Bhili, Marwari, Konkani, Bhojpuri, languages from Nepal like Nepali, Tharu Nepal Bhasa and sometimes Kashmiri and Romani. ... () is an abugida script used to write, either along with other scripts, or exclusively, several Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Sindhi, Bihari, Bhili, Marwari, Konkani, Bhojpuri, languages from Nepal like Nepali, Tharu Nepal Bhasa and sometimes Kashmiri and Romani. ...


Thai

Keyboard layout, Thai File links The following pages link to this file: Keyboard layout Categories: GFDL images ...

Khmer

Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (876x311, 71 KB) Cropped from the NiDA standard layout PDF. I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ...

East Asian languages

Chinese, Japanese, and Korean require special input methods, often abbreviated to CJK IMEs, due to the thousands of possible characters in these languages. Various methods have been invented to fit all these possibilities into a normal QWERTY keyboard, so East Asian keyboards are essentially the same as those in other countries. However, their input methods are considerably more complex, without one-to-one mappings between keys and characters. CJK is a collective term for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, which comprise the main East Asian languages. ... An IME for inputting Japanese characters in Mac OS 9 An IME for inputting Japanese characters using Windows XPs radical IME pad An input method editor (IME) is a program or operating system component that allows computer users to enter characters and symbols not found on their keyboard. ...


In general, first the range of possibilities is narrowed down (most often by entering the desired character’s pronunciation), then, if there remains more than one possibility, selecting the desired ideogram either by typing the number before the character, or using a graphical menu to select it. The computer assists the typist by using heuristics to guess which character is most likely desired. Although this may sound clumsy, East Asian input methods are today sufficiently sophisticated that, for both beginners and experts, typing in these languages is only slightly slower than typing English. A Chinese character. ... Look up Heuristic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...


In Japanese, the QWERTY-based JIS keyboard layout is used, and the pronunciation of each character is entered using Hepburn romanization or Kunrei-shiki romanization. There are several kana-based typing methods. See also Japanese language and computers. Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) specifies the standards used for industrial activities in Japan. ... Japanese writing Kanji Kana Hiragana Katakana Hentaigana Manyōgana Uses Furigana Okurigana Rōmaji The Hepburn romanization system ) is named after James Curtis Hepburn, who used it to transcribe the sounds of the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet in the third edition of his Japanese–English dictionary, published... Japanese writing Kanji 漢字 Kana 仮名 Hiragana 平仮名 Katakana 片仮名 Uses Furigana 振り仮名 Okurigana 送り仮名 Romaji ローマ字 Kunrei-shiki (訓令式, Cabinet-ordered system) is a romanization system, that is, a system for transcribing the Japanese language into the Roman alphabet. ... Japanese writing Kanji 漢字 Kana 仮名 Hiragana 平仮名 Katakana 片仮名 Manyogana 万葉仮名 Uses Furigana 振り仮名 Okurigana 送り仮名 Rōmaji ローマ字 For other meanings of Kana, see Kana (disambiguation). ... In relation to the Japanese language and computers many adaptation issues arise, some unique to Japanese and others common to languages which have a very large number of characters. ...


Chinese has the most complex and varied input methods. Characters can be entered by pronunciation (like Japanese and Korean) or by structure. Most of the structural methods are the most difficult to learn, but they are extremely fast for experienced typists, as they do away with the need for selecting characters from a menu. For a detailed treatment, see Chinese input methods for computers. Since the Chinese language uses a logographic script — that is, a script where one or two characters corresponds roughly to one word or meaning — there are vastly more characters, or glyphs, than there are keys on a standard computer keyboard. ...


There exist a variety of other, slower ways a character may be entered. If the pronunciation of a character is not known, the selection can be narrowed down by giving its component shapes, radicals, and stroke count. Also, many input systems include a "drawing pad" permitting "handwriting" of a character using a mouse. Finally, if the computer does not have CJK software installed, it may be possible to enter a character directly through its encoding number (e.g. Unicode). The left part of mā, a Chinese character meaning mother, is a radical that means woman A radical (from Latin radix, meaning root) is a basic identifiable component of every Chinese character. ... Stroke order refers to the way of writing Chinese characters. ... Operating a mechanical 1: Pulling the mouse turns the ball. ... A character encoding or character set (sometimes referred to as code page) consists of a code that pairs a sequence of characters from a given set with something else, such as a sequence of natural numbers, octets or electrical pulses, in order to facilitate the storage of text in computers... Unicode is an industry standard designed to allow text and symbols from all of the writing systems of the world to be consistently represented and manipulated by computers. ...


In contrast to Chinese and Japanese, Korean is typed the same way as Western languages. There are two major kinds of keyboard layouts: dubeolsik and sebeolsik. Dubeolsik, based on the QWERTY keyboard, is more commonly used. While Korean consonants and vowels (jamo) are grouped together into syllabic characters when written, the language itself is actually alphabetical, and therefore typing in Korean is quite simple for someone who understands the Korean alphabet Hangul. Each jamo is assigned to a single key. As the user types letters, the computer automatically groups them into syllabic characters. Given a sequence of jamo, there is only one unambiguous way letters can be validy grouped into syllables, so this grouping is done seamlessly by the computer, with the result that Korean can be typed in the same way as English or any other alphabetical language. Jamo redirects here. ... Jamo redirects here. ...


Chinese

Chinese (traditional)

Computers in the Republic of China (Taiwan) often use Zhuyin (bopomofo) style keyboards (US keyboards with bopomofo labels), many also with Cangjie method key labels, as Cangjie is the standard method for speed-typing in Traditional Chinese. The bopomofo style keyboards are in lexicographical order, top-to-bottom left-to-right. Motto Three Principles of the People (三民主義 San-min Chu-i) Anthem National Anthem of the Republic of China Capital Taipei (formerly and de jure Nanking) Largest city Taipei Official languages Mandarin (GuóyÇ”) Government Semi-presidential system  -  President Chen Shui-bian  -  Vice President Annette Lu  -  Premier Chang Chun-hsiung Establishment... Zhuyin fuhao (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Tongyong Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chu-yin fu-hao), or Symbols for Annotating Sounds, often abbreviated as Zhuyin, or known as Bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) after the first four letters of this Chinese phonemic alphabet (bo po mo fo), is the national phonetic system of the... The Cangjie method (倉頡輸入法, 仓颉输入法)—originally spelt Changjei method—is a system by which Chinese characters may be entered into the computer. ... In mathematics, the lexicographical order, or dictionary order, is a natural order structure of the cartesian product of two ordered sets. ...

The codes of three input methods are typically printed on the Chinese (traditional) keyboard: Zhuyin (upper right); Cangjie (lower left); and Dayi (lower right). Base on Image:Keyboard Layout Middle North America. ... Zhuyin fuhao (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Tongyong Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chu-yin fu-hao), or Symbols for Annotating Sounds, often abbreviated as Zhuyin, or known as Bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) after the first four letters of this Chinese phonemic alphabet (bo po mo fo), is the national phonetic system of the... The Cangjie method (倉頡輸入法, 仓颉输入法)—originally spelt Changjei method—is a system by which Chinese characters may be entered into the computer. ... Dayi (literally big easy) uses a set of 46 character components laid out on a standard QWERTY keyboard. ...

This is an example with Cangjie (blue) and Bopomofo/Zhuyin (red). Image File history File linksMetadata Taiwan_keyboard_bopomofo. ...


In Hong Kong, both Chinese (Traditional) and US keyboards are found. Japanese keyboards are occasionally found, but UK keyboards are rare. Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from...


See also British and American keyboards, Technical standards in colonial Hong Kong There are two major English language keyboard layouts, the United States layout and the United Kingdom layout. ... This article gives readers an insight on how the British colonial rule affected the technical standards in Hong Kong. ...


A Chinese (Traditional) keyboard has a US layout with Chinese input method labels printed on the keys. These keyboards can be used for Roman characters, provided that US keyboard layout is selected in the operating system. Computers and other typing devices offer many different keyboard layouts for inputting data in different languages. ... An operating system (OS) is a set of computer programs that manage the hardware and software resources of a computer. ...


Chinese (simpified)

Keyboards used in the mainland of the People’s Republic of China typically use a US keyboard and input Chinese characters using Hanyu pinyin, which represents the sounds of Chinese characters using Latin letters. ... People on the stairs to the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago In general, the English word people refers to a specific group of humans, or to persons in a general sense. ... Computers and other typing devices offer many different keyboard layouts for inputting data in different languages. ... Pinyin (&#25340;&#38899;, P&#299;ny&#299;n) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hàny&#468; P&#299;ny&#299;n (&#27721;&#35821;&#25340;&#38899;, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of...


See the section on Chinese languages above, and also Chinese input methods for computers. Since the Chinese language uses a logographic script — that is, a script where one or two characters corresponds roughly to one word or meaning — there are vastly more characters, or glyphs, than there are keys on a standard computer keyboard. ...


Hangul (for Korean)

Jamo redirects here. ...

Dubeolsik

Dubeolsik (두벌식) is the most common Hangul keyboard layout in use in South Korea. Pressing the Ha/En(한/영) key once switches between Hangul as shown, and English. There is another key to the left of the space bar for Hanja input. If using a standard 104-key keyboard, the right Alt key will become the Ha/En key, and the right Ctrl key will become the Hanja key. Alternate keyboard styles exist, such as those used by IBM mainframes, but these are rarely used. Consonants occupy the left side of the layout, while vowels are on the right. Keyboard layout, Hangul File links The following pages link to this file: Keyboard layout Categories: GFDL images ... Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. ... In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a closure or stricture of the vocal tract sufficient to cause audible turbulence. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...


Sebeolsik 390

Sebeolsik 390 (세벌식 390) was released in 1990, hence its name. It is based on Dr. Kong’s earlier work. This layout is notable for its compatibility with the QWERTY layout; all QWERTY symbols are available in Hangul mode. Numbers are placed in three rows. Syllable-initial consonants are on the right (shown green in the picture), and syllable-final consonants and consonant clusters are on the left (shown red). Some consonant clusters are not printed on the keyboard; the user has to press multiple consonant keys to input some consonant clusters, unlike Sebeolsik Final. It is more ergonomic than the dubeolsik, but is not in wide use. Image File history File links Sebeolsik_390_small_modified_2. ...


Sebeolsik Final

Sebeolsik Final (세벌식 최종) is another Hangul keyboard layout in use in South Korea. Numbers are placed on two rows. Syllable-initial consonants are on the right, and syllable-final consonants and consonant clusters are on the left. Vowels are in the middle. All consonant clusters are available on the keyboard, unlike the Sebeolsik 390 which does not include all of them. It is more ergonomic than the dubeolsik, but is not in wide use. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (824x282, 6 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Keyboard layout ...


Sebeolsik Noshift

Sebeolsik Noshift is a variant of sebeolsik which can be used without pressing the shift key. Image File history File links Sebeolsik_Noshift_small_modified. ... The shift key on a modern Windows keyboard The shift key is a modifier key on a keyboard, used to type capital letters and other alternate upper characters. ...


Japanese

Usually the JIS keyboard is used. Some people type Hiragana directly, but most people prefer typing Latin alphabets, which are automatically converted to Hiragana. In both cases, the Alt+Zen/Han key combination is used to switch on input method editor. Some people prefer the US layout, in which case Alt+` does the role, or Cmd-Space for Macs. Image File history File links KB_Japanese. ... Japanese writing Kanji Kana Hiragana Katakana Hentaigana Manyōgana Uses Furigana Okurigana Rōmaji Hiragana ) is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana and kanji; the Latin alphabet is also used in some cases. ... An IME for inputting Japanese characters in Mac OS 9 An IME for inputting Japanese characters using Windows XPs radical IME pad An input method editor (IME) is a program or operating system component that allows computer users to enter characters and symbols not found on their keyboard. ... The Command key The Command key, known as the open-Apple key in documentation previous to the Apple Macintosh family of computers, is a modifier key present on Apple keyboards. ...


See the section on East Asian languages above, also Japanese language and computers and Japanese input methods. Computers and other typing devices offer many different keyboard layouts for inputting data in different languages. ... In relation to the Japanese language and computers many adaptation issues arise, some unique to Japanese and others common to languages which have a very large number of characters. ... Japanese input methods are the methods used to input Japanese characters on a computer. ...


See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Keyboard layouts

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... FITALY is the name of a keyboard layout specifically optimized for pen or touch-based input. ... A language code is a system that assigns short letter codes to languages. ... Since the Chinese language uses a logographic script — that is, a script where one or two characters corresponds roughly to one word or meaning — there are vastly more characters, or glyphs, than there are keys on a standard computer keyboard. ... In relation to the Japanese language and computers many adaptation issues arise, some unique to Japanese and others common to languages which have a very large number of characters. ... This article gives readers an insight on how the British colonial rule affected the technical standards in Hong Kong. ... There are two major English language keyboard layouts, the United States layout and the United Kingdom layout. ... Unicode is an industry standard designed to allow text and symbols from all of the writing systems of the world to be consistently represented and manipulated by computers. ... Urdu keyboard refers to the keyboard layout on Urdu computer and typewriter keyboards. ... The QWERTY keyboard layout is designed for English a language without any accents. ...

Notes and references

  1. ^ There is a separate Irish Gaelic keyboard layout, but this is rarely used. In all common operating systems that have a different selection for Irish, this refers to the layout that is identical with the UK layout, not the Irish Gaelic layout; the latter tends to be called Gaelic or similar.

Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ...

External links

  • Free Online Typing Course for QWERTY layout of keyboards
  • Allows to redefine virtually any key (free Windows software)
  • On-Screen Windows Keyboard.
  • IBM’s database of keyboard layouts
  • IBM site about keyboard layouts
  • Learn2Type.com has free online typing lessons
  • JLG Extended Microsoft Keyboard Layout for US keyboard it allows characters with accent.
  • Multilingual Windows keyboards in both QWERTY and Dvorak layouts
  • Variant Windows keyboards, U.S. and non-U.S.
  • Virtual Online Russian Keyboard (free)
  • Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (free)
  • Ukelele a Mac OS X Keyboard Layout Editor (free)
  • Creating custom keyboard layouts in Linux/UNIX
  • PowerTyping - Flash-based Online Typing Tutor for Qwerty and Dvorak
  • Gate2Home.com - Onscreen Virtual Keyboard with Multilingual layouts
  • JavaScript Virtual Keyboard - Lightweight, yet powerful, zero-configuration script for use on the web (JavaScript, open-source)
  • Virtual Keyboard for Web applications - Comprehensive javascript virtual keyboard solution. Demo page. Russian article.
  • Esperanto keyboard
  • Apple Powerbook Keyboard Layout
  • Diktor Keyboard Layout (Russian)
  • 2006 Bulgarian Phonetic Keyboard The new layout developed by Dimiter Skordev, Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, Sofia University, and Dimitar Dobrev, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
  • Tavultesoft Keyman - Shareware software package with dozens of custom keyboard layouts
  • Arabic Online Keyboard based on QWERTY(ISLAM-91)


 

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