Keyboard layout - Wikipedia

Arrangement of keys on a typographic keyboard
This article is about the physical and visual arrangement of the keys of a computer keyboard and their function as defined by software. For the underlying physical structure and electronic mechanisms of computer keyboards, see
Keyboard technology
. For keyboards used in music, see
Musical keyboard
The 104-key US
QWERTY
layout
keyboard layout
is any specific physical, visual, or functional arrangement of the keys, legends, or key-meaning associations (respectively) of a
computer keyboard
mobile phone
, or other computer-controlled
typographic
keyboard. Standard keyboard layouts vary depending on their intended
writing system
language
, and use case, and some hobbyists and manufacturers create non-standard layouts to match their individual preferences, or for extended functionality.
Physical layout
is the actual positioning of keys on a keyboard.
Visual layout
is the arrangement of the legends (labels, markings, engravings) that appear on those keys.
Functional layout
is the arrangement of the
key-meaning association
or
keyboard mapping
, determined in software, of all the keys of a keyboard; it is this (rather than the legends) that determines the actual response to a key press.
Modern computer keyboards are designed to send a
scancode
to the
operating system
(OS) when a key is pressed or released.
This code reports only the key's row and column, not the specific character engraved on that key. The OS converts the scancode into a specific binary character code using a "scancode to character" conversion table, called the keyboard mapping table. This means that a physical keyboard may be dynamically mapped to any layout without switching hardware components—merely by changing the software that interprets the keystrokes. Often,
a user can change keyboard mapping in system settings. In addition, software may be available to modify or extend keyboard functionality.
Thus the symbol shown on the physical key-top need not be the same as appears on the screen or goes into a document being typed. Most modern
USB
and
wireless keyboards
are
plug-and-play
, and communicate their (default) visual layout to the OS when connected. Some keyboards have firmware which can configure layouts, as well as customize lighting and other functions.
A typical 105-key computer keyboard, consisting of sections with different types of keys
computer keyboard
consists of
alphanumeric
or
character keys
for typing,
modifier keys
for altering the functions of other keys,
navigation keys
for moving the
text cursor
on the screen,
function keys
and
system command keys
—such as
Esc
and
Break
—for special actions, and often a
numeric keypad
to facilitate calculations.
There is some variation between different keyboard models in the physical layout—i.e., how many keys there are and how they are positioned on the keyboard.
However, differences between national layouts are mostly due to different selections and placements of symbols on the character keys.
The core section of a keyboard consists of character keys, which can be used to type
letters
and other characters. Typically, there are three rows of keys for typing letters and
punctuation
, an upper row for typing
digits
and special symbols, and the
Space bar
on the bottom row. The positioning of the character keys is similar to the keyboard of a
typewriter
MIT
"space-cadet" keyboard
, a pre-
ISO/IEC 9995
keyboard with a large number of modifier keys. It was equipped with four keys for
bucky bits
Control
Meta
Hyper
, and
Super
); and three shift keys, called "
shift
", "top", and "front".
Besides the character keys, a keyboard incorporates special keys that do nothing by themselves but modify the functions of other keys. For example, the
Shift
key can be used to alter the output of character keys, whereas the
Ctrl
control
),
Alt
alternate
) and
AltGr
alternative graphic
) keys trigger special operations when used in concert with other keys. (Apple keyboards have differently labelled but equivalent keys, see below).
Typically, a modifier key is held down while another key is struck. To facilitate this, modifier keys usually come in pairs, one functionally identical key for each hand, so holding a modifier key with one hand leaves the other hand free to strike another key.
An alphanumeric key labelled with only a single letter (usually the
capital
form) can generally be struck to type either a lower case or capital letter, the latter requiring the simultaneous holding of the
⇧ Shift
key. The
⇧ Shift
key is also used to type the upper of two symbols engraved on a given key, the lower being typed without using the modifier key.
The
Latin alphabet
keyboard has a dedicated key for each of the letters A–Z, keys for
punctuation
and other symbols, usually a row of
function keys
, often a
numeric keypad
and some system control keys. In most languages except English, additional letters (some with
diacritics
) are required, and some are present as standard on each national keyboard, as appropriate for its national language. These keyboards have another modified key, labelled
AltGr
(alternative graphic), to the right of the space bar. (US keyboards just have a second
Alt
key in this position). It can be used to type an extra symbol in addition to the two otherwise available with an alphanumeric key, and using it simultaneously with the
⇧ Shift
key usually gives access to a fourth symbol. These third-level and fourth-level symbols may be engraved on the right half of the key top, or they may be unmarked.
Cyrillic alphabet
and
Greek alphabet
keyboards have similar arrangements.
Instead of the
Ctrl
Alt
and
AltGr
keys seen on
commodity
keyboards,
Apple Keyboards
have
Cmd
command
) and
Option
keys. The
⌥ Option
key is used much like the
AltGr
, and the
⌘ Cmd
key like the
Ctrl
and
Alt
, to access menu options and shortcuts. Macs have a
Ctrl
key for compatibility with programs that expect a more traditional keyboard layout. It is especially useful when using a terminal,
X11
(a Unix environment included with OS X as an install option) or
Windows
. The key can generally be used to produce a secondary
mouse click
as well. There is also a
Fn
key on modern Mac keyboards, which is used for switching between use of the
F1
F2
, etc. keys either as function keys or for other functions like media control, accessing
Spotlight
, controlling the volume, or handling
Mission Control
Fn
key can also be found on smaller Windows and Linux laptops and tablets, where it serves a similar purpose.
Many
Unix workstations
(and also
home computers
like the
Amiga
) keyboards placed the
Ctrl
key to the left of the letter
, and the
⇪ Caps Lock
key in the bottom left. This position of the
Ctrl
key was also used on the
XO laptop
, which did not have a
⇪ Caps Lock
. The
UNIX
keyboard layout also differed in the placement of the
Esc
key and placed it to the left of
Some early keyboards experimented with using large numbers of modifier keys. The most extreme example of such a keyboard, the so-called "
space-cadet keyboard
" found on MIT
LISP machines
, had no fewer than
seven
modifier keys: four control keys,
Ctrl
Meta
Hyper
, and
Super
, along with three shift keys,
⇧ Shift
Top
, and
Front
. This allowed the user to type over 8000 possible characters by playing suitable "chords" with many modifier keys pressed simultaneously.
A dead key is a special kind of a modifier key that, instead of being held while another key is struck, is
pressed and released
before the other key. The dead key does not generate a character by itself, but it modifies the character generated by the key struck immediately after, typically making it possible to type a letter with a specific diacritic. For example, on some keyboard layouts, the
grave accent
key
is a dead key: in this case, striking
and then
results in
with grave accent);
followed by
⇧ Shift
results in
with grave accent). A grave accent in isolated form can be typed by striking
and then
Space bar
A key may function as a dead key by default, or sometimes a normal key can temporarily be altered to function as a dead key by simultaneously holding down the secondary-shift key—
AltGr
or
Option
: a typical example might be
AltGr
will produce
(assuming the "6" key is also the "^" key). In some systems, there is no indication to the user that a dead key has been struck, so the key appears dead, but in some text-entry systems the diacritical mark is displayed along with an indication that the system is waiting for another keystroke: either the base character to be marked, an additional diacritical mark, or
Space bar
to produce the diacritical mark in isolation.
Compared with the secondary-shift modifier key, the dead-key approach may be a little more complicated, but it allows more additional letters. Using AltGr, only one or (if used simultaneously with the normal shift key) two additional letters with each key, whereas using a dead key, a specific diacritic can be attached to a range of different base letters.
A Compose key can be characterized as a generic dead key that may, in some systems, be available instead of or in addition to the more specific dead keys. It allows access to a wide range of predefined extra characters by interpreting a whole sequence of keystrokes following it. For example, striking
Compose
followed by
apostrophe
) and then
results in
with
acute accent
),
Compose
followed by
and then
results in
ae
ligature
/letter), and
Compose
followed by
and then
results in © (
copyright symbol
).
The
Compose
key is supported by the
X Window System
(used by most
Unix-like
operating systems
, including most
Linux distributions
). Some keyboards have a key labeled "Compose", but any key can be configured to serve this function. For example, the otherwise redundant right-hand
Win
key may, when available, be used for this purpose. This can be emulated in Windows with third-party programs, such as WinCompose.
System command keys
edit
Depending on the application, some keyboard keys are not used to enter a printable character but instead are interpreted by the system as a formatting, mode shift, or special commands to the system. The following examples are found on personal computer keyboards.
4800-52 mainframe / dumb terminal keyboard,
c.
mid-1980s
. There is an obscure configuration of modifier and arrow keys, line feed key, break key, blank keys, and repeat key.
The
system request
SysRq
) and
print screen
PrtSc
or on some keyboards e.g.
PrtScn
) commands often share the same key. SysRq was used in earlier computers as a "panic" button to recover from crashes (and it is still used in this sense to some extent by the
Linux kernel
; see
Magic SysRq key
). The print screen command is used to capture the entire screen and send it to the printer, but in the present, it usually puts a screenshot in the
clipboard
The
Break key
/Pause key no longer has a well-defined purpose. Its origins go back to teleprinter users, who wanted a key that would temporarily interrupt the communications line. The Break key can be used by software in several different ways, such as to switch between multiple login sessions, to terminate a program, or to interrupt a modem connection.
In programming, especially old DOS-style BASIC, Pascal and C, Break is used (in conjunction with Ctrl) to stop program execution. In addition to this, Linux and variants, as well as many DOS programs, treat this combination the same as Ctrl+C. On modern keyboards, the break key is usually labeled Pause/Break. In most Microsoft Windows environments, the key combination
Windows
Pause
brings up the system properties.
The
escape key
(often abbreviated Esc) "nearly all of the time"
signals
Stop
QUIT
10
or "let me get out of a dialog"
(or pop-up window).
11
Another common application today of the
Esc
key is to trigger the Stop button in many web browsers and operating systems.
ESC
was part of the standard keyboard of the
Teletype Model 33
(introduced in 1964 and used with many early minicomputers).
12
The
DEC
VT50
, introduced July 1974, also had an Esc key. The
TECO
text editor (c. 1963) and its descendant
Emacs
c.
1985
) use the Esc key extensively.
Historically, it also served as a type of shift key, such that one or more following characters were interpreted differently, hence the term
escape sequence
, which refers to a series of characters, usually preceded by the
escape character
13
14
On machines running Microsoft Windows, prior to the implementation of the Windows key on keyboards, the typical practice for invoking the "start" button was to hold down the control key and press escape. This process still works in Windows 10 and 11.
15
An "enter" key may terminate a paragraph of text and advance an editing cursor to the start of the next available line, similar to the "carriage return" key of a typewriter. When the attached system is processing a user
command line
, pressing "enter" may signal that the command has been completely entered and that the system may now process it.
Shift key: when one presses shift and a letter, it will capitalize the letter pressed with the shift key. Another use is to type more symbols than appear to be available, for instance, the
semi-colon
key is accompanied by a
colon
symbol on the top. To type a semi-colon, the key is pressed without pressing any other key. To type a colon, both this key and the Shift key are pressed concurrently. (Some systems make provision for users with mobility impairment by allowing the Shift key to be pressed first and then the desired symbol key).
Menu key, Command key, Windows key
edit
The
Menu key
or Application key is a key found on Windows-oriented computer keyboards: on Apple keyboards, the same function is provided by the
Command key
(labelled ⌘). It is used to launch a context menu with the keyboard rather than with the usual right mouse button. The key's symbol is usually a small icon depicting a cursor hovering above a menu. On some Samsung keyboards, the cursor in the icon is not present, showing the menu only. This key was created at the same time as the Windows key. This key is normally used when the right mouse button is not present on the mouse. Some Windows public terminals do not have a Menu key on their keyboard to prevent users from right-clicking (however, in many Windows applications, a similar functionality can be invoked with the Shift+F10
keyboard shortcut
).
The
Windows key
opens the 'Start' (applications) menu.
Keyboard of a Letter-Printing Telegraph Set built by
Siemens and Halske
in Russia
c.
1900
Keyboard layouts have evolved over time, usually alongside major technology changes. Particularly influential have been the
Sholes and Glidden typewriter
(1874, also known as Remington No. 1), the first commercially successful typewriter, which introduced
QWERTY
16
its successor, the Remington No. 2 (1878), which introduced the shift key; the
IBM Selectric
(1961), a very influential electric typewriter, which was imitated by computer keyboards;
17
and the
IBM PC
(1981), namely the
Model M
(1985), which is the basis for many modern keyboard layouts.
Within a community, keyboard layout is generally quite stable, due to the high training cost of
touch-typing
, and the resulting
network effect
of having a standard layout and high
switching cost
of retraining, and the ubiquity of the QWERTY layout is a case study in switching costs. Nevertheless, significant market forces can result in changes (as in Turkish adoption of QWERTY), and non-core keys are more prone to change, as they are less frequently used and less subject to the lock-in of touch-typing. The main, alphanumeric portion is typically stable, while symbol keys and shifted key values change somewhat, modifier keys more so, and function keys most of all: QWERTY dates to the No. 1 (1874)—though 1 and 0 were added later—shifted keys date in some cases to the No. 2 (1878), in other cases to the Selectric (1961), and modifier key placement largely dates to the Model M (1985); function key placement typically dates to the Model M, but varies significantly, particularly on laptops.
The earliest mechanical keyboards were used in musical instruments to play particular notes. With the advent of the
printing telegraph
, a keyboard was needed to select characters. Some of the earliest
printing telegraph
machines either used a piano keyboard outright or a layout similar to a piano keyboard.
18
19
The Hughes-Phelps printing telegraph piano keyboard laid keys A–N in left-to-right order on the black piano keys, and keys O–Z in right-to-left order on the white piano keys below.
In countries using the
Latin script
, the center, alphanumeric portion of the modern keyboard is most often based on the
QWERTY
Christopher Sholes
. Sholes' layout was long thought to have been laid out in such a way that common two-letter combinations were placed on opposite sides of the keyboard so that his mechanical keyboard would not jam. However, evidence for this claim has often been contested. In 2012, an argument was advanced by two Japanese historians of technology showing that the key order on the earliest Sholes prototypes in fact followed the left-right and right-left arrangement of the contemporary Hughes-Phelps printing telegraph, described above.
20
Later iterations diverged progressively for various technical reasons, and strong vestiges of the left-right A–N, right-left O–Z arrangement can still be seen in the modern QWERTY layout. Sholes' chief improvement was thus to lay out the keys in rows offset horizontally from each other by three-eighths, three-sixteenths, and three-eighths inches to provide room for the levers and to reduce hand-movement distance. Although it has been demonstrated that the QWERTY layout is not the most efficient layout for typing,
21
it remains the standard.
Sholes chose the size of the keys to be on three-quarter [
, or 0.75] inch centers (about 19 mm, versus
musical piano keys
which are 23.5 mm or about 0.93 inches wide). 0.75 inches has turned out to be optimum for fast key entry by the average-size hand, and keyboards with this key size are called "full-sized keyboards".
On a manual typewriter, the operator could press the key down with a lighter touch for such characters as the period or comma, which did not occupy as much area on the paper. Since an electric typewriter supplied the force to the typebar itself after the typist merely touched the key, the typewriter itself had to be designed to supply different forces for different characters. To simplify this, the most common layout for electric typewriters in the United States differed from that of the most common layout of manual typewriters. Single-quote and double-quote, instead of being above the keys for the digits 2 and 8, respectively, were placed together on a key of their own. The underscore, another light character, replaced the asterisk above the hyphen.
The ASCII communications code was designed so that characters on a mechanical teletypewriter keyboard could be laid out in a manner somewhat resembling that of a manual typewriter. This was imperfect, as some shifted special characters were moved one key to the left, as the number zero, although on the right, was low in code sequence. Later, when computer terminals were designed from less expensive electronic components, it was not necessary to have any bits in common between the shifted and unshifted characters on a given key. This eventually led to standards being adopted for the "bit-pairing" and "typewriter-pairing" forms of keyboards for computer terminals.
The typewriter-pairing standard came under reconsideration on the basis that typewriters have many different keyboard arrangements.
22
The U.S. keyboard for the IBM PC, although it resembles the typewriter-pairing standard in most respects, differs in one significant respect: the braces are on the same two keys as the brackets, as their shifts. This innovation predated the IBM Personal Computer by several years.
23
IBM adopted the
101/102 key layout
on the
PS/2
in 1987 (after previously using an 84-key keyboard that did not have a separate cursor and numeric keypads).
Most modern keyboards basically conform to the layout specifications contained in parts 1, 2, and 5 of the international standard series
ISO/IEC 9995
. These specifications were first defined by the user group at
AFNOR
in 1984 working under the direction of Alain Souloumiac.
24
Based on this work, a well-known ergonomic expert wrote a report
25
which was adopted at the ISO Berlin meeting in 1985 and became the reference for keyboard layouts.
The 104/105-key PC keyboard was born when two
Win
keys and a
key were added on the bottom row (originally for the
Microsoft Windows
operating system). Newer keyboards may incorporate even further additions, such as Internet access (World Wide Web navigation) keys and multimedia (access to media players) buttons.
Physical, visual, and functional layouts
edit
As noted before, the
layout
of a keyboard may refer to its physical (arrangement of keys), visual (physical labeling of keys), or functional (software response to a key press or release) layout.
A comparison of common physical layouts. The ISO-standard physical layout (center left) is common, e.g., in the
United Kingdom
. Compared with the ANSI layout (top left), the
enter key
is vertical rather than horizontal. In addition, the left
shift key
is smaller, to make room for an additional key to its right. The JIS physical layout (bottom right) is the basis for
Japanese
keyboards. Here it is the right-hand shift key that is smaller. Furthermore, the
space bar
and
backspace key
are also smaller, to make room for four additional keys.
Physical layouts only address tangible differences among keyboards. When a key is pressed, the keyboard does not send a message such as
the A-key is depressed
but rather
the left-most main key of the home row is depressed
. (Technically, each key has an internal reference number, the scan code, and these numbers are what is sent to the computer when a key is pressed or released.) The keyboard and the computer each have no information about what is marked on that key, and it could equally well be the letter
or the digit
. Historically, the user of the computer was requested to identify the
functional layout
of the keyboard when installing or customizing the
operating system
. Modern USB keyboards are
plug-and-play
; they communicate their visual layout to the OS when connected (though the user is still able to reset this at will).
26
Today, most keyboards use one of three different physical layouts, usually referred to as simply
ISO
ISO/IEC 9995
-2),
ANSI
ANSI
INCITS
154-1988), and
JIS
JIS
X 6002-1980), referring roughly to the organizations issuing the relevant worldwide, United States, and Japanese standards, respectively. (In fact, the physical layouts referred such as "ISO" and "ANSI" comply with the primary recommendations in the named standards, while each of these standards in fact also allows the other.)
Keyboard layout
in this sense may refer either to this broad categorization or to finer distinctions within these categories. For example, as of May 2008
[update]
Apple Inc
. produces ISO, ANSI, and JIS desktop keyboards, each in both extended and compact forms. The extended keyboards have 110, 109, and 112 keys (ISO, ANSI, and JIS, respectively), and the compact models have 79, 78, and 80.
A visual layout consisting of both factory-printed symbols and customized stickers
The visual layout includes the symbols printed on the physical keycaps. Visual layouts vary by language, country, and user preference, and any one physical and functional layout can be employed with a number of different visual layouts. For example, the "ISO" keyboard layout is used throughout Europe, but typical French, German, and UK variants of physically identical keyboards
appear
different because they bear different legends on their keys. Even blank keyboards—with no legends—are sometimes used to learn typing skills or by user preference.
Some users choose to attach custom labels on top of their keycaps. This can be, e.g., for masking foreign layouts, adding additional information such as
shortcuts
, learning aids, gaming controls, or solely for decorative purposes.
The
functional layout
of the keyboard refers to the mapping between a physical key (such as the
key) and a consequent software event (such as the letter "A" appearing on the screen). Usually, the functional layout is set (in the
system configuration
) to match the visual layout of the keyboard being used, so that pressing a key will produce the expected result, corresponding to the legends on the keyboard. However, most
operating systems
have software (such as the
language bar
in
Microsoft Windows
) that allows the user to easily switch between functional layouts. For example, a user with a Swedish keyboard who wishes to type more easily in German may switch to a functional layout intended for German—without regard to key markings. A
touch typist
skilled in the use of another language layout can use a keyboard with English-language legends if it is remapped to their familiar layout, because they rarely look at the keyboard when typing.
Customized functional layouts
edit
Functional layouts can be redefined or customized within the operating system by reconfiguring the operating system keyboard driver, or with the use of a separate software application, or by
transliteration
(where letters in another language get mapped to visible Latin letters on the keyboard by the way they sound).
Mixed hardware-to-software keyboard extensions exist to overcome the above discrepancies between functional and visual layouts. A
keyboard overlay
27
is a plastic or paper masks that can be placed over the empty space between the keys, providing the user with the functional use of various keys. Alternatively, a user applies keyboard stickers with an extra imprinted language alphabet and adds another keyboard layout via language support options in the operating system.
28
The visual layout of any keyboard can also be changed by simply replacing its keys or attaching labels to them, such as to change an English-language keyboard from the common
QWERTY
to the
Dvorak
layout, although for touch typists, the placement of the tactile bumps on the home keys is of more practical importance than that of the visual markings.
In the past, complex software that mapped many non-standard functions to the keys (such as a
flight simulator
) would be shipped with a "keyboard overlay", a large sheet of paper with pre-cut holes matching the key layout of a particular model of computer. When placed over the keyboard, the overlay provided a quick visual reference as to what each key's new function was, without blocking the keys or permanently modifying their appearance. The overlay was often made from good-quality laminated paper and was designed to fold up and fit in the game's packaging when not in use.
The U.S.
national standard keyboard
has 104 keys, while the PC keyboards for most other countries have 105 keys. In an
operating system
configured for a non-English language, the keys are placed differently. For example, keyboards designed for typing in
Spanish
have some characters shifted, to make room for
/ñ; similarly, those for French or Portuguese may have a special key for the character
/ç. Keyboards designed for Japanese may have special keys to switch between Japanese and Latin scripts, and the character
yen and yuan sign
) instead of
backslash
– which itself additionally may be displayed as a ¥ or a ₩ in some renditions). Using the same keyboard for alternative languages leads to a conflict: the image on the key may not correspond to the character displayed on screen because of different
keyboard mappings
. In such cases, each new language may require an additional label on the key, because the national standard keyboard layouts may not share similar characters of different languages or even lay them out in different ways.
The United States keyboard layout is used as the default in some
Linux distributions
29
Most operating systems allow switching between functional keyboard layouts, using a key combination involving register keys that are not used for normal operations (e.g.
Microsoft
reserve
Alt
⇧ Shift
or
Ctrl
⇧ Shift
register control keys for sequential layout switching; those keys were inherited from old DOS keyboard drivers). There are keyboards with two parallel sets of characters labeled on the keys, representing alternate alphabets or scripts. It is also possible to add a second set of characters to a keyboard with keyboard stickers manufactured by third parties.
Sections on a standard 104 keyboard. Percentages and relevant values of keys denote the presence of keys at common keyboard sizes.
Modern keyboard models contain a set number of total keys according to their given standard, described as 104, 105, etc., and sold as "full-size" keyboards.
30
This number is not always followed, and individual keys or whole sections are commonly skipped for the sake of compactness or user preference. Consequently, generic keyboard mappings may not be completely effective on unusual layouts.
Conventional Latin-script keyboard layouts
edit
Although there are a large number of keyboard layouts used for languages written with
Latin-script alphabets
, most of these layouts are quite similar. They can be divided into three main families according to where the
and
keys are placed on the keyboard. These layouts are usually named after the first six letters on the first row: AZERTY, QWERTY, QWERTZ, QZERTY and national variants thereof.
While the central area of the keyboard, the alphabetic section, remains fairly constant, and the numbers from 1–9 are almost invariably on the row above, keyboards may differ in:
the placement of punctuation, typographic and other special characters, and which of these characters are included,
whether numbers are accessible directly or in a shift-state,
the presence and placement of letters with
diacritics
(in some layouts, diacritics are applied using
dead keys
but these are rarely engraved).
the presence and placement of a row of
function keys
above the number row
the presence and placement of one or two
Alt keys
, an
AltGr key
or
Option key
, a
backspace
or delete key, a
control key
or
command key
, a
compose key
, an
Esc key
, and OS-specific keys like the
Windows key
The physical keyboard is of the basic ISO, ANSI, or JIS type; pressing a key sends a
scan code
to the operating-system or other software, which in turn determines the character to be generated: this arrangement is known as the
keyboard mapping
. It is customary for keyboards to be engraved appropriately to the local default mapping. For example, when the
Shift
and numeric
keys are pressed simultaneously on a US keyboard; "@" is generated, and the key is engraved appropriately. On a UK keyboard this key combination generates the double-quote character, and UK keyboards are so engraved.
In the keyboard charts listed below, the primary letters or characters available with each alphanumeric key are often shown in black in the left half of the key, whereas characters accessed using the
AltGr
key appear in blue in the right half of the corresponding key. Symbols representing
dead keys
usually appear in red.
ANSI
QWERTY keyboard layout (US)
The QWERTY layout is, by far, the most widespread layout in use, and the only one that is not confined to a particular geographical area.
31
In some territories, keys like
↵ Enter
and
⇪ Caps Lock
are not translated to the language of the territory in question. In other varieties, such keys have been translated, like
↵ Intro
and
⇪ Bloq Mayús
, on
Spanish
computer keyboards, respectively, for the example above. On Macintosh computers, these keys are usually just represented by symbols without the word "Enter", "Shift", "Command", "Option/Alt" or "Control", with the exception of keyboards distributed in the US and East Asia.
citation needed
Turkmen ÄWERTY keyboard layout
Turkmen
keyboards use a layout known as ÄWERTY (
av-
UR
-tee
), where
appears in place of
above
appears in place of
below
appears in place of
, and
appears in place of
, with C, Q, V, and X not being accessible at all. It is supported by Microsoft Windows (
Vista
and later only).
32
French
AZERTY layout
The AZERTY layout is used in
France
Belgium
, and some African countries. It differs from the QWERTY layout thus:
and
are swapped,
and
are swapped,
is moved to the right of
, (taking the place of the
or colon/semicolon key 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,
Caps lock
is replaced by
Shift lock
, thus affecting non-letter keys as well. However, there is an ongoing evolution towards a
Caps lock
key instead of a
Shift lock
ĄŽERTY (Lithuanian)
edit
As standardized in LST 1582,
Lithuanian
keyboards have a defined layout known as ĄŽERTY,
33
where
appears in place of
above
in place of
above
, and
in place of
below
, with
, and
being available either on the far right-hand side or by use of the
AltGr
key. However, instead of ĄŽERTY, the
Lithuanian QWERTY
keyboard is universally used.
QÜERTY (Azerbaijani)
edit
Azerbaijani QÜERTY keyboard layout
Azerbaijani
keyboards use a layout known as QÜERTY, where
appears in place of
above
, with W not being accessible at all. It is supported by Microsoft Windows.
32
QWERTY (Vietnamese)
edit
Vietnamese keyboard layout
The
Vietnamese
keyboard layout is an extended Latin QWERTY layout. The letters Ă, Â, Ê, and Ô are found on what would be the number keys
on the US English keyboard, with
producing the tonal marks (
grave accent
hook
tilde
acute accent
and
dot below
, in that order),
producing Đ,
producing the
đồng
sign (₫) when not shifted, and brackets (
) producing Ư and Ơ.
34
In practice, most Vietnamese text is entered using input method editors rather than relying solely on a physical layout. The three most common Vietnamese input methods are Telex, VNI, and VIQR:
Telex - a letter-combination based method widely used in Vietnam; diacritics and special letters are produced by typing additional letters or letter combinations after the base vowel (for example,
→ â,
→ ă, and
→ á).
35
VNI - a number-based method that appends digits to a base vowel to indicate diacritics and produce special letters (for example,
→ â,
→ á).
36
VIQR
(Vietnamese Quoted-Readable) - an older ASCII-based convention that uses punctuation sequences for diacritics (for example,
→ â,
→ á); VIQR was widely used when systems lacked native Unicode/IME support and remains in use in some legacy contexts.
35
Modern operating systems and mobile platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS) commonly provide built-in or downloadable support for Telex and VNI IMEs, and predictive text and candidate selection assist with disambiguation when multiple syllables share the same letter sequence.
36
German
QWERTZ layout
Albanian
QWERTZ keyboard
The QWERTZ layout is the normal keyboard layout in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It is also fairly widely used in Czechia, Slovakia and other parts of Central Europe. The main difference between it and QWERTY is that
and
are swapped, and some special characters, such as brackets, are replaced by diacritical characters like Ä, Ö, Ü, ß. In Czechia and Slovakia, diacritical characters like Ě, Š, Č, Ř, Ž, Ý, Á, Í also replace numbers.
Caps lock
can be a
shift lock
as in AZERTY (see above).
Italian typewriter
Olivetti Lettera 22
The QZERTY layout was used mostly in Italy, where it was the traditional
typewriter
layout. In recent years, however, a modified QWERTY layout with stressed keys such as à, è, ò, has gained widespread usage throughout Italy.
37
38
Computer keyboards usually have
QWERTY
, although non-
alphanumeric
characters vary.
and
are swapped
is moved from the right of
to the right of
, as in AZERTY
Number keys are shifted
Apple supported QZERTY layout in its early Italian keyboards, and also the
iPod Touch
had it available.
39
Sámi
keyboards use a layout known as the Sámi Extended, where
appears in place of
above
appears in place of
above
appears in place of
to the left of
, and
appears in place of
to the right of
, with
, and
being available by use of the
AltGr
key. Also,
is to the right of
(to match the Norwegian and Swedish/Finnish keyboards),
is to the right of Å, and
is to the right of Ŋ. It is different in Norway than in Sweden and Finland, because of the placement of the letters different between Norwegian and Swedish/Finnish (
, and
), which are placed where they match the standard keyboard for the main language spoken in the country. It is supported by Microsoft Windows (Windows XP SP2 and later only).
32
Microsoft Windows also has Swedish with Sami, Norwegian with Sami and Finnish with Sami layouts, which match the normal Swedish, Norwegian, or Finnish keyboards, but has additional Sami characters as AltGr-combinations.
Other Latin-script keyboard layouts
edit
There are also keyboard layouts that have less resemblance to traditional typewriter layouts. These are designed to reduce finger movement and overuse, and which proponents claim can increase typing speeds and improve
ergonomics
The
Dvorak keyboard layout
The Dvorak layout was invented by
August Dvorak
in the 1930s. It has been adapted for languages other than English, and also has single-handed variants. The layout is included in major
operating systems
. Dvorak originally had a rearranged number row, but the present layout places them in the standard order. It was designed to improve upon QWERTY for typing speed and comfort, and decrease errors. One study found a 4% average increase in speed for a small group of typists.
40
The layout concentrates the most frequent English letters in the
home row
, with 70% row utilization (compared to 32% for QWERTY).
Despite its historical popularity, several letters are not efficiently placed compared to newer layouts. For example, the right pinky has high movement due to the
bigrams
ls
and
sl
(as in
also, last, island, slightly
), and the left index finger has heavy usage (including a stretch for the letter
).
41
Additionally, this can be seen in the
command
ls -l
, which uses 4 keystrokes by the right pinky finger, plus a lateral stretch for the hyphen.
The layout predates the invention of computers, and unlike Colemak,
keyboard shortcuts
(such as copy-paste) were not a design consideration. Punctuation symbols differ from QWERTY, with 4 keys placed on the left side instead.
Colemak keyboard layout (US)
The Colemak layout is currently the third most popular alternative to QWERTY, and it has some similarities while making several improvements. The original version is included in major
operating systems
42
The layout uses QWERTY as a base, changing the positions of 17 keys while retaining the positions of most non-alphabetic characters and several
keyboard shortcuts
. It supposedly provides more familiarity than
Dvorak
for those accustomed to QWERTY while also improving efficiency. It shares several design goals with the Dvorak layout, such as minimizing finger path distance and increasing
home row
utilization.
43
A defining but optional feature of Colemak is re-binding the
caps lock
key due to lower average usage, replacing it with an additional
backspace
key to reduce travel distance of the pinky fingers.
42
Several Colemak variants exist. Colemak Mod-DH (or
Colemak-DH
, formerly
Colemak Mod-DHm
) reduces reliance on the index fingers in the middle-row centre-column keys (
and
), which create awkward lateral hand movements for common English bigrams such as
he
and
eh
44
45
Colemak and its modifications also inspired some newer layouts such as Canary
46
and others utilizing algorithmic optimization methods.
45
Other modifications seek additional compatibility with other functions or layouts,
47
such as Miryoku, a version of Colemak-DH adapted for split ergonomic keyboards by utilizing home-row mods and 6 thumb keys.
48
Workman layout for the English language, showing home keys highlighted
Workman is an English layout created in 2010.
49
It is included in the Linux operating system.
50
The design hypothesizes about the preferred movement of each finger rather than assuming the bottom letter row is the least accessible. It says each index finger prefers to curl inward rather than stretch outward, so the second-preferred position goes to the bottom row rather than the top. It contrasts this with the middle and ring fingers, saying they are relatively long and prefer to stretch out instead. Using this principle, the layout weights each key, rather than each row as a whole.
Additionally, it theorizes that it is more natural to curl or stretch fingers rather than rotate the entire wrist inwards or outwards. The design assigns a lower priority to the two inner columns between the home keys (containing
and
on QWERTY), similarly to the Colemak-DH or "Curl" mods. Usage is balanced between the left and right hands.
The Workman layout claims to achieve overall less finger travel distance for the English language than even Colemak.
49
51
However, it has higher frequencies of same-finger n-grams, where one finger hits two keys in succession, than other layouts.
Other English layouts
edit
There are many other alternative layouts for English, developed through different principles and methods.
Multiple new layouts have gained popularity in online typing communities in the 2020s
41
45
including Graphite,
52
Gallium,
53
Canary,
54
Sturdy,
55
and Semimak.
56
These layouts are included for emulation on the typing websites Monkeytype
57
and keybr.
58
These layouts can be very fast, for example, Semimak has been typed at speeds over 200
words per minute
(wpm) by several typists, including its creator,
59
with its fastest speed currently recorded on video being 238 wpm.
60
Some layouts created between 2000 and 2020 were Asset,
61
Arensito,
62
Minimak,
63
Norman,
64
Qwpr,
65
Workman,
66
Halmak,
67
symmetric layouts (balancing usage of the left and right hands)
68
such as Niro
69
and Soul,
70
and the
thumb-alpha
layout RSTHD.
71
Norman
, like Workman, deprioritizes the central columns but gives more load to the right hand with the assumption that the right hand is more capable than the left. It also gives importance to retaining letters in the same position or at least the same finger as QWERTY.
As of 2018,
MTGAP
claimed the lowest finger travel for a standard keyboard, and travel distance for an ergonomic keyboard second only to Arensito's keyboard layout.
72
Some layouts have less key deviation from QWERTY, aiming to help increase typing speed and ergonomics with minimal relearning of keys.
73
Several other new layouts inspired by non-standard keyboards (such as
split keyboards
) have been designed, such as
thumb alpha
, placing an alphabet key (commonly,
and
) on the bottom row in order to utilise the thumb not being used to press spacebar or other modifer keys.
41
One of the first designs of this was
Malt
by Maltron, and a later design using this concept was RTSHD in 2016, which was based on additional metrics other than letter distance.
71
This has been featured in multiple new layouts such as Night.
74
Qwpr keyboard layout (letters moved from QWERTY in teal, or yellow if different hand)
Qwpr is a layout that changes only 11 basic keys from their QWERTY positions, with only 2 keys typed with different fingers.
75
Minimak has versions that changes four, six, eight, or twelve keys, all have only 3 keys change finger.
76
These intend to offer much of the reduced finger movement of Dvorak without the steep learning curve and with an increased ability to remain proficient with a QWERTY keyboard. The Qwpr layout is also designed for programmers and multilingual users, as it uses Caps Lock as a "punctuation shift", offering quicker access to ASCII symbols and arrow keys, as well as to 15 dead keys for typing hundreds of different glyphs such as accented characters, mathematical symbols, or
emoji
Alphabetical layouts
edit
A few companies offer "ABC" (alphabetical) layout keyboards.
77
78
The ABCDEF layout was used by
Minitel
. The layout can also be useful for people who do not type often or where using both hands is not practical, such as
touchscreens
Sholes' second layout
Christopher Latham Sholes
, inventor of the QWERTY layout, created his own alternative, and patented it in 1896.
79
Similar to Dvorak, he placed all the vowels on the home row, but in this case on the right hand. The layout is right-hand biased with both the vowels and many of the most common consonants on the right side of the layout.
Original Blickensderfer keyboard
The
Blickensderfer typewriter
, designed by George Canfield Blickensderfer in 1892, was known for its novel keyboard layout, its interchangeable font, and its suitability for travel. The Blickensderfer keyboard had three banks (rows of keys), with special characters being entered using a separate Shift key; the home row was, uniquely, the bottom one (i.e., the typist kept her hands on the bottom row). A computer or standard typewriter keyboard, on the other hand, has four banks of keys, with home row being second from bottom.
There have been several layouts designed for
French
. In
Canada
, the
CSA keyboard
is designed to write several languages, especially French.
BÉPO keyboard layout
The BÉPO layout is an optimized French keyboard layout developed by the BÉPO community,
80
supporting all
Latin-based
alphabets of the European Union,
Greek
and
Esperanto
81
It is based on ideas from the Dvorak and other ergonomic layouts. Typing with it is usually easier due to the high frequency keys being in the home row. Typing tutors exist for practice.
82
In 2019, a slightly modified version of the BÉPO layout is featured in a French standard developed by
AFNOR
, along with an improved version of the traditional
AZERTY
layout.
83
Dvorak-fr
The Dvorak-fr layout is a Dvorak like layout specific to the French language, without concession to the use of programming languages, and published in 2002 by Francis Leboutte. Version 2 was released in June 2020. Its design meets the need to maximize comfort and prevent risks when typing in French.
Unlike AZERTY, the characters needed for good French typography are easily accessible: for example, the quotation marks (
) and the curved apostrophe are available directly. More than 150 additional characters are available via dead keys.
JCUKEN keyboard of the
UKNC
computer
The JCUKEN layout was used in the USSR for all computers (both domestically produced and imported such as Japan-made
MSX
-compatible systems) except IBM-compatible
ES PEVM
due to its phonetic compatibility with
Russian ЙЦУКЕН
layout (see right). The layout has the advantage of having punctuation marks on Latin and Cyrillic layouts mapped on the same keys.
84
Neo Layout, layer 1
The Neo layout is an optimized
German
keyboard layout developed in 2004 by the Neo Users Group,
85
supporting nearly all
Latin-based
alphabets, including the
International Phonetic Alphabet
86
the
Vietnamese language
and some African languages.
87
The positions of the letters are not only optimized for German letter frequency, but also for typical groups of two or three letters. English is considered a major target as well. The design tries to enforce the alternating usage of both hands to increase typing speed. It is based on ideas from de-ergo and other ergonomic layouts. The high frequency keys are placed in the home row. The current layout, Neo 2.0, has unique features not present in other layouts, making it suited for many target groups such as programmers, mathematicians, scientists or
LaTeX
authors.
88
Neo is grouped in different layers, each designed for a special purpose.
Neo Layout, layer 3
Most special characters inherit the meaning of the lower layers—the
⟨¿⟩
character is one layer above the
⟨?⟩
, or the Greek
⟨α⟩
is above the
⟨a⟩
character. Neo uses a total of six layers with the following general use:
89
90
Lowercase characters
Uppercase characters, typographical characters
Special characters for programming, etc.
WASD-like movement keys and number block
Greek characters
Mathematical symbols and Greek uppercase characters
Turkish (F-keyboard)
edit
Turkish
F-keyboard layout
The
Turkish F-keyboard
is a
keyboard layout
, customised for the
Turkish language
. Despite the greater efficiency of the Turkish F-keyboard, however, the modified QWERTY keyboard ("
Q-keyboard
") is the one that is used on most computers in Turkey.
The Turkish language uses the
Turkish alphabet
, and a dedicated keyboard layout was designed in 1955 under the leadership of
İhsan Sıtkı Yener
91
During its development, letter frequencies in the
Turkish language
were investigated with the aid of
Turkish Language Association
. A significant feature of the F-keyboard is its organization based on letter frequency in Turkish words. For instance, the most frequently used consonant at that time, "K," is positioned under the right index finger, while the most common vowel, "A," is placed under the left index finger. This arrangement enhances accessibility to the most used letters, thus improving typing speed and ergonomics. Moreover, the least frequently used letter in Turkish, "J," is assigned to the weakest finger on the left hand, the little finger. In contrast, on the QWERTY keyboard (even in the modified Turkish QWERTY layout), the "J" key occupies a central position, which is more valuable for frequently used letters. This positioning on QWERTY keyboards thus reduces efficiency when typing in Turkish.
Latvian Keyboard Layout
The ŪGJRMV layout, also known as the "Ergonomic" layout, was the national keyboard of Latvia. It is specifically designed for the
Latvian language
32
The letter arrangement in this layout is quite different from the standard QWERTY, with only two letters in the same position and five more in the same row and layer. While it may work well for typing in Latvian, there are issues, particularly with symbols. Some errors from the QWERTY layout remain, and new ones have been introduced, such as the placement of
curly braces
. The layout uses a cedilla instead of the correct diacritic comma due to a
Unicode
limitation, affecting both this and the QWERTY layout, especially for writing in
Livonian
. Microsoft’s implementations of these layouts have some differences, with the ŪGJRMV layout containing an error on the F key in the number row.
92
PÜŞUD (Azerbaijani)
edit
In 2010, a new layout – known as PÜŞUD – was designed and proposed by
Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences
. It was praised by
Ministry of Digital Development and Transportation
. This layout is completely different than the most used one – QÜERTY.
93
94
95
96
Chorded keyboards
, such as the
Stenotype
and
Velotype
, allow letters and words to be entered using combinations of keys in a single stroke. Users of stenotype machines regularly reach rates of 225 words per minute.
97
These systems are commonly used for real-time transcription by court reporters and in live closed captioning systems. Ordinary keyboards may be adapted for this purpose using
Plover
. However, due to hardware constraints, chording three or more keys may not work as expected. Many high-end keyboards support
-key rollover
and so do not have this limitation.
citation needed
Some layouts have also been designed specifically for use with mobile devices. The
FITALY
layout is optimized for use with a stylus, places the most commonly used letters closest to the centre and thus minimizing the distance travelled when entering words. A similar concept was followed to research and develop the
MessagEase
keyboard layout for fast text entry with stylus or finger. The ATOMIK layout, designed for stylus use, was developed by IBM using the
Metropolis Algorithm
to mathematically minimize the movement necessary to spell words in English.
98
The ATOMIK keyboard layout is an alternative to QWERTY in ShapeWriter's WritingPad software.
99
ASETNIOP is a keyboard layout designed for
tablet computers
that uses 10 input points, eight of them on the
home row
100
The multi-touch screens of mobile devices allow implementation of virtual on-screen
chorded keyboards
. Buttons are fewer, so they can be made larger. Symbols on the keys can be changed dynamically depending on what other keys are pressed, thus eliminating the need to memorize combos for characters and functions before use. For example, in the chorded
GKOS keyboard
which has been adapted for the
Google
Android
, Apple
iPhone
, MS
Windows Phone
, and Intel
MeeGo
/Harmattan platforms, thumbs are used for chording by pressing one or two keys at the same time. The layout divides the keys into two separate pads which are positioned near the sides of the screen, while text appears in the middle. The most frequent letters have dedicated keys and do not require chording.
citation needed
Hexagon keyboard layout
The honeycomb layout has
hexagon
keys and was invented by Typewise in cooperation with the
ETH Zurich
101
in 2015 for smartphones.
102
103
It exists for 40+ languages including
German
Spanish
French
and
Afrikaans
. The keys are arranged like those of the respective traditional keyboard with a few changes. Instead of the
Space bar
there are two smaller space bars in the middle of the keyboard. The
Shift
is replaced by swiping up on keys and
Backspace
by swiping to the left on the keyboard.
Diacritic
characters can be accessed by holding on a key.
104
Layout design and configuration
edit
This section needs to be
updated
Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.
March 2026
United-States
Maltron
3D keyboard layout
The design of alternative keyboard layouts is ongoing. However, adoption is limited because of the predominance of better-known layouts and requirement of additional setup.
Common optimizations include: increasing
home row
usage, minimizing finger movement and awkward motions, balancing finger usage to prevent overuse, alternation between hands, and inward or outward rolls (where one hand types successive letters in one direction).
45
105
Several designs reduce the changes from QWERTY to ease the learning curve, though some suggest this prevents ergonomic optimization.
citation needed
Several open-source analysis programs to create and analyse keyboard layouts have been created, including the browser-based Cyanophage
45
106
and the programs Oxeylyzer
107
(in active development) and Genkey.
108
The browser-based design tool Ergogen
109
can be used to generate custom hardware layouts to plan the PCB and layout design of
ergonomic keyboards
110
Custom layouts can be used or created using software such as Kanata
111
(open source, for Linux, MacOS, Windows), Karabiner-Elements
112
(open-source, macOS) and older programs such as Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator
113
(basic editor, free, Windows), SIL Ukelele
114
(advanced editor, free, macOS), KbdEdit
115
(commercial editor, Windows) and Keyman Developer
116
(free and open source, for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and virtual website keyboards). These make it easy to customize layouts for keyboards that do not have customizable firmware.
117
Users may accommodate their own typing patterns or needs by creating new layouts from scratch (like the IPA
118
or pan-Iberian
119
layouts) or modify existing ones (for example, the Latin American Extended
120
or Gaelic
121
layouts). Such editors can also construct complex key sequences using
dead keys
or the
AltGr
key.
citation needed
Some keyboards offer firmware that allows the flexibility to reprogram keyboard layouts and functions. Open-source firmware such as
QMK
and ZMK (designed primarily for wireless setups)
122
can be configured with multiple downloaded or custom layouts, as well as add function layers or custom combinations. The
Kinesis Advantage
allows for reprogramming single keys (not key combinations), as well as creating macros for remapping combinations of keys.
citation needed
However, this includes more processing from the keyboard hardware, and can therefore be slightly slower, with a lag that may be noticed in daily use.
citation needed
It can also be modified to run QMK.
123
Certain virtual keyboards and keyboard layouts are accessible online. Without hardware limitations, these online keyboards can display custom layouts, or allow users to pre-configure or try out different language layouts. The resulting text can then be pasted into other websites or applications, flexibly with no need to reprogram keyboard mappings at all.
better source needed
124
Non-QWERTY layouts were also used with specialized machines, such as the 90-key
Linotype
typesetting machine.
citation needed
Additionally, several specialist commercial keyboards have created their own layouts, such as Malt, created by
Maltron
125
It was desinged for their molded,
ergonomic
keyboards, and adapted for flat keyboards, with a compromise: a flat keyboard has a single, wide spacebar, rather than a space button as on Maltron keyboards, so the
key was moved to the bottom row.
126
Additionally, the layout
PLUM
was desinged for the ortholinear keyboard of the same name.
Keyboard layouts for non-Latin phonetic scripts
edit
Some keyboard layouts for non-Latin phonetic scripts, most notably the Greek layout, are based on the QWERTY layout. In these layouts, glyphs are assigned to keys that correspond as closely as possible to similar-sounding or appearing glyphs in QWERTY. This approach saves learning time for those familiar with QWERTY, and eases entry of Latin characters (with QWERTY) as well for Greek users.
However, this is not a universal practice, many non-Latin keyboard layouts have been designed from scratch.
All non-Latin computer keyboard layouts can also support input of Latin letters as well as the script of the language, which is useful for tasks such as typing
URLs
or names. This can be done through a dedicated key on the keyboard devoted to this task, or through some special combination of keys, or software that does not require extensive keyboard interaction.
A screenshot image of the
baybayin
keyboard on Gboard
It is possible to type
baybayin
directly from one's keyboard without the need to use
web applications
that implement an
input method
. The Philippines Unicode Keyboard Layout
127
includes different sets of
baybayin
layout for different keyboard users: QWERTY, Capewell-Dvorak, Capewell-QWERF 2006, Colemak, and Dvorak, all of which work in both Microsoft Windows and Linux.
Bangla National (Jatiyo) Keyboard by
Bangladesh Computer Council
There are many different systems developed to type
Bengali language
characters using typewriters, or a computer keyboard and mobile device. There were efforts taken to standardize the input system for Bengali in Bangladesh (
জাতীয়
Jatiyo layout), but still no input method has yet been effectively adopted widely.
Dhivehi Keyboards have two layouts. Both are supported by Microsoft Windows (Windows XP and later).
32
InScript
keyboard layout for
Sanskrit
A Devanagari InScript bilingual keyboard
InScript
is the standard keyboard for 12
Indian
scripts including
Assamese
Bengali
Devanagari
Gujarati
Gurmukhi
Kannada
Malayalam
Oriya
Tamil
, and
Telugu
, etc.
Most Indian scripts are derived from
Brahmi
, therefore their alphabetic order is identical. Based on this property, the
InScript keyboard
layout scheme was prepared. So a person who knows InScript typing in one language can type in other scripts using dictation even without knowledge of that script.
An InScript keyboard is built into in most modern
operating systems
including
Windows
Linux
, and
macOS
. It is also available in some
mobile phones
Javanese keyboard available for Linux (like Ubuntu Distro)
128
also on Windows
129
. The Javanese keyboard, when run on a PC or laptop, can use a physical QWERTY keyboard.
Javanese keyboard layout for
Javanese script
. Keyboard using font
Tuladha Jejeg
Khmer
keyboard layout
Khmer
uses its own layout designed to correspond, to the extent practicable, to its QWERTY counterpart, thus easing the learning curve in either direction. For example, the letter
[lɔː]
is typed on the same key as the letter
on the English-based QWERTY. It also has many specifics due to its record number of vowels, consonants and punctuation signs as well as its cluster structure which bundles letters together in one.
Thai Kedmanee keyboard layout
Thai Pattachote keyboard layout
The
Thai Kedmanee keyboard layout
is the predominant layout used for typing Thai. The
Thai Pattachote keyboard layout
is also available, but is much less common. Infrequently used characters are accessed via the Shift key. Despite their wide usage in
Thai
, Arabic numerals are not present on the main section of the keyboard. Instead they are accessed via the
numeric keypad
or by switching to the Latin character set on keyboards without dedicated numeric keys.
Lao keyboard layout
The keyboard layout for
Lao language
is specifically designed to accommodate Lao script.
Windows
Sinhala
layout
Wijesekara layout
The
Sinhala
keyboard layout is based on the Wijesekara typewriter for
Sinhala script
. For Windows, the Sinhala layout is available, along with the Wijesekara layout.
Tibetan
keyboard layout
The
Chinese National Standard
on Tibetan Keyboard Layout standardizes a layout for the
Tibetan language
in
China
130
The first version of Microsoft Windows to support the Tibetan keyboard layout is MS
Windows Vista
. The layout has been available in Linux since September 2007.
Tibetan (International)
edit
Mac OS X introduced Tibetan Unicode support with OS X version 10.5 and later, now with three different keyboard layouts available: Tibetan-Wylie, Tibetan QWERTY and Tibetan-Otani.
Dzongkha
keyboard layout
The Bhutanese Standard for a
Dzongkha keyboard layout
standardizes the layout for typing
Dzongkha
, and other languages using the Tibetan script in
Bhutan
. This layout was developed by the Dzongkha Development Commission and Department of Information Technology in Bhutan. The Dzongkha keyboard layout is very easy to learn as the key sequence essentially follows the order of letters in the Dzongkha and Tibetan alphabet. The layout has been available in Linux since 2004.
Latin keyboard layout for
Inuktitut
Naqittaut keyboard layout for
Inuktitut
Inuktitut
has two similar, though not identical, commonly available keyboard layouts for Windows. Both contain a basic Latin layout in its base and shift states, with a few Latin characters in the AltGr shift states. The
Canadian Aboriginal syllabics
can be found in the Capslock and AltGr shift states in both layouts as well.
The difference between the two layouts lies in the use of
as an alternate to AltGr to create the dotted, long vowel syllables, and the mapping of the small plain consonants to the Caps + number keys in the "Naqittaut" layout, while the "Latin" layout does not have access to the plain consonants, and can only access the long vowel syllables through the AltGr shift states.
Arabic
Windows keyboard layout
This layout was developed by Microsoft from the classic Arabic typewriter layout and is used by
IBM PCs
. There is also a 102-key variant and a 102-key phonetic variant that maps to AZERTY.
32
Arabic
Mac keyboard layout
For Apple keyboards, a different Arabic layout is used.
Additionally, a 1:1 layout is available for Chrome.
131
Hebrew
keyboard
All keyboards in Israel are fitted with both Latin and
Hebrew
letters. Some trilingual editions also include Arabic or Cyrillic.
In the standard layout (but not on all keyboards), paired delimiters—parentheses (), brackets [], and braces {}, as well as less/greater than <>—are in the opposite order from the standard in other left-to-right languages. This results in "open"/"close" being consistent with right-to-left languages (Shift-9 always gives "close parenthesis" U+0029, which visually looks like "open parenthesis" in left-to-right languages). This is shared with
Arabic keyboards
Certain Hebrew layouts are extended to include
niqqud
symbols (vowel points),
132
which require Alt+Shift or similar key combination to type.
Moroccan (
IRCAM
Tamazight
(Berber) keyboard layout for Tifinagh script
The
Royal institute of the Amazigh culture
(IRCAM) developed a national standard Tifinagh keyboard layout for
Tamazight
people in Morocco. This layout is included in Linux and Windows 8, and is available for the Mac and older versions of Windows.
A compatible, international version, called "Tifinagh (International)", supports a wide range of Tamazight (Berber) language variants, including includes Tuareg variants. It was designed by the Universal Amazigh Keyboard Project and is available on its
SourceForge
page.
133
The standard layout
Urdu has a standardized layout present, developed by the National Language Authority. More commonly, however, the phonetic keyboard is used on smartphones and desktops, aligning the Urdu letters with their Latin counterparts (for example, pressing Q types ق).
The phonetic keyboard layout on Windows 7
Another version of the keyboard, developed by designer and engineer Zeerak Ahmed, has seen increasing use among younger generations.
The Armenian language keyboard is similar to the Greek in that, in most (but not all) cases, a given Armenian letter is positioned at the same location as the corresponding Latin letter on the QWERTY keyboard. The illustrated keyboard layout can be enabled on Linux with:
setxkbmap am -variant phonetic
. Note that
Western
and
Eastern
Armenian have different layouts.
In the pre-computer era, Armenian keyboards featured a different layout designed to facilitate the production of letter combinations specific to the Armenian language.
Several attempts have been made to create innovative ergonomic layouts, some of which are inspired by Dvorak.
Armenian computer keyboard layout
Armenian typewriter keyboard layout
Armenian keyboard layout inspired by Dvorak
Bulgarian
keyboard layout (BDS 5237:1978)
The current official
Bulgarian
keyboard layout for both typewriters and computer keyboards is described in BDS (Bulgarian State/National Standard) 5237:1978.
134
It superseded the old standard, BDS 5237:1968, on 1 January 1978.
134
Like the
Dvorak layout
, it has been designed to optimize typing speed and efficiency, placing the most common letters in the Bulgarian language—
, and
—under the strongest fingers. In addition to the standard 30 letters of the
Bulgarian alphabet
, the layout includes the non-Bulgarian
Cyrillic
symbols
and
and the
Roman numerals
I and V (the X is supposed to be represented by the Cyrillic capital
, which is acceptable in typewriters but problematic in computers).
There is also a second, informal layout in widespread use—the so-called "
phonetic
" layout, in which Cyrillic letters are mapped to the QWERTY keys for Latin letters that "sound" or "look" the same, with several exceptions (
is mapped to Q,
is mapped to V, etc.—see
the layout
and compare it to the standard QWERTY layout). This layout is available as an alternative to the BDS one in some
operating systems
, including
Microsoft Windows
, Apple
macOS
, and
Ubuntu
Linux
. Normally, the layouts are set up so that the user can switch between Latin and Cyrillic script by pressing
Shift + Alt
, and between BDS and Phonetic by pressing
Shift + Ctrl
In 2006, Prof.
Dimiter Skordev
from the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics of
Sofia University
and Dimitar Dobrev from the
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
proposed a new standard, prBDS 5237:2006, including a revised version of the BDS layout, which includes the letter Ѝ and the capital Ы and replaces the letters I and V with the currency symbols of $ and € respectively, and a standardization of the informal "phonetic" layout. After some controversy and a public discussion in 2008,
the proposal was not accepted
135
although it had been already used in several places—the "Bulgarian Phonetic" layout in MS
Windows Vista
is based on it. There is a new "Bulgarian Phonetic" layout in MS
Windows 7
32
Macedonian
keyboard layout
The Macedonian keyboard layout is
phonetic
. The Latin letters that have a phonetic equivalent in Macedonian are used for the corresponding Cyrillic letters. The letters in the Macedonian alphabet and characters used in the Macedonian orthography that do not have any phonetic equivalent are
Even though they are not part of the Macedonian alphabet, and are not used in the Macedonian language, the first Macedonian keyboard layout supported by Windows uses Alt Gr to type the glyphs
and
, where their capital forms are next to the lowercase forms. This keyboard does not include the glyphs
and
32
A new revised standard version of the layout, was supported with Windows Vista. This version includes the glyphs
and
and uses Alt Gr to add an
acute accent
, which was not included in the original Macedonian layout.
32
Mongolian
Windows keyboard layout
The Mongolian standard keyboard layout uses Cyrillic.
Russian
Windows keyboard layout
The most common keyboard layout in modern Russia is the so-called
Windows
layout, which is the default
Russian
layout used in the
MS Windows
operating system. This layout was designed to be compatible with the hardware standard in many other countries, but introduced compromises to accommodate the larger Russian alphabet. For instance, the full stop and comma symbols share a key, requiring the shift key to be held to produce a comma, despite the high relative frequency of comma in the language.
84
There are also other Russian keyboard layouts in use, such as the traditional Russian Typewriter layout (where punctuation symbols are placed on numerical keys, and the shift key is required to enter numbers) and the Russian DOS layout (similar to the Russian Typewriter layout, with common punctuation symbols on numerical keys, but numbers are entered without using the shift key). The Russian Typewriter layout can be found on many Russian typewriters produced before the 1990s and is the default Russian keyboard layout in the
OpenSolaris
operating system.
136
better source needed
Keyboards in Russia always feature Cyrillic letters on the keytops alongside Latin letters, usually distinguished by different colors.
Russian QWERTY/QWERTZ-based phonetic layouts
edit
Russian
phonetic keyboard layout
The Russian
phonetic keyboard layout
(also called homophonic or transliterated) is widely used
outside
Russia, where normally there are no Russian letters drawn on the keys. This layout is made for typists who are more familiar with other layouts, like the common English QWERTY keyboard, and follows the Greek and Armenian layouts in placing most letters at the corresponding Latin letter locations. It is popular among both native speakers and people who use, teach, or are learning Russian, and is recommended—along with the Standard Layout—by the linguists, translators, teachers and students of AATSEEL.org.
The earliest known implementation of the Cyrillic-to-QWERTY homophonic keyboard was by former AATSEEL officer Constance Curtin between 1972 and 1976, for the
PLATO
education system's Russian Language curriculum developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
137
Curtin's design sought to map phonetically related Russian sounds to QWERTY keys, to map proximate phonetic and visual cues nearby each other, and assign unused positions mnemonically. Peter Zelchenko who worked under Curtin at UIUC, later modified the number row for Windows and Macintosh keyboards, follow Curtin's original design intent.
138
There are several different Russian phonetic layouts, such as YaZhERT (яжерт), YaWERT (яверт), and YaShERT (яшерт), the latter suggested by AATSEEL.org and known as the "Student" layout. They are named after the first few letters that take over the 'QWERTY' row on the Latin keyboard. They differ in the placement of certain letters. For example, some layouts have Cyrillic 'B' (pronounced 'V') on the Latin 'W' key (after the German transliteration of B), while others place it on the Latin 'V' key.
There are also variations within these variations; for example the Mac OS X Phonetic Russian layout is YaShERT but differs in placement of the letters ж and э.
139
140
Windows 10 includes its own implementation of a mnemonic QWERTY-based input method for Russian, which does not fully rely on assigning a key to every Russian letter. Instead, it uses combinations like sh, sc, ch, ya (ja), yu (ju), ye (je) and yo (jo) to input ш, щ, ч, я, ю, э, and ё, respectively.
Virtual (on-screen) keyboards allow users to enter Cyrillic directly in a browser without activating the system layout.
Serbian Cyrillic
keyboard layout
Apart from a set of characters common to most Cyrillic alphabets, the Serbian Cyrillic layout uses six additional special characters unique or nearly unique to the
Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
, and
. The Macedonian
is also present on this keyboard, despite not being used in Serbian Cyrillic.
Due to the
bialphabetic
nature of the language, actual physical keyboards with the Serbian Cyrillic layout printed on the keys are uncommon today. Keyboards sold in Serbian-speaking markets typically feature Serbian Latin characters and are used with both the Latin (
QWERTZ
) and Cyrillic layout configured in the software. The two layouts are easily interchangeable because the non-alphabetic keys are identical, and the alphabetic keys correspond directly to their counterparts. The exceptions are the Latin letters Q, W, X, and Y, which have no Cyrillic equivalents, and the Cyrillic letters Љ, Њ and Џ, whose Latin counterparts are digraphs LJ, NJ and DŽ. This alignment makes the Serbian Cyrillic layout a rare example of a non-Latin layout based on QWERTZ.
Ukrainian
keyboard layout
Ukrainian
keyboards, based on a slight modification of the Russian Standard Layout, often also have the Russian Standard ("Windows") layout marked on them, making it easy to switch from one language to another. This keyboard layout had several problems, one of which was the omission of the letter
(now settled with the combination of right-alt+Г), which does not exist in Russian. The other long-standing problem was the omission of the
apostrophe
, which is used in Ukrainian almost as commonly as in English (though with a different meaning), but which also does not exist in Russian. Both of these problems were resolved with the "improved Ukrainian" keyboard layout for Windows available with Vista and subsequent Windows versions.
There is also an adapted keyboard for Westerners learning Ukrainian (mostly in the diaspora) that closely matches the QWERTY keyboard, so that the letters either have the same sound or same shape, for example pressing the "v" on the Latin QWERTY produces the Cyrillic в (which makes roughly the same sound) and pressing the QWERTY "w" key gives the Cyrillic ш (based on the similar shape). This layout is usually called a homophonic or phonetic layout.
Georgian
keyboard
There are no keyboards in
Georgia
with the
Georgian
script printed on the hardware. The conventional keyboards are American QWERTY with a phonetically matched Georgian software layout. Hardware with both the Latin QWERTY and the Russian layout is very common, forcing Georgians to know the Georgian layout blindly. As with the Armenian, Greek, and phonetic Russian layouts, most Georgian letters are on the same keys as their Latin equivalents. During the Soviet era, the Georgian alphabet was adapted to the Russian JCUKEN layout, mainly for typewriters. Soviet computers did not support Georgian keyboards. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a large variety of computers were introduced to post-Soviet countries. The keyboards had QWERTY layout for Latin alphabet and JCUKEN for Cyrillic both printed on keys. Georgia started to adopt the QWERTY pattern. In both cases, the letters which did not exist in the Cyrillic or Latin alphabets were substituted by letters that did not exist in Georgian alphabet. Today, the most commonly used layout follows the QWERTY pattern with some changes.
Greek
keyboard layout in comparison to US layout
The usual
Greek
layout follows the US layout for letters related to Latin letters (ABDEHIKLMNOPRSTXYZ, ΑΒΔΕΗΙΚΛΜΝΟΠΡΣΤΧΥΖ, respectively), substitutes phonetically similar letters (Φ at F; Γ at G), and uses the remaining slots for the remaining Greek letters: (Ξ at J; Ψ at C; Ω at V; and Θ at U).
Greek has two fewer letters than English, but it has two
diacritic marks
which, because of their frequency, are placed on the home row at the QWERTY ";" position; they are
dead keys
. Word-final
sigma
has its own position as well, replacing W, and the semicolon (which is used as a question mark in Greek) and colon move to the position of Q.
The
Greek Polytonic
layout has various dead keys to input the accented letters. In Microsoft Windows, there are also the
Greek 220
layout and the Greek
319
layout.
32
Cherokee Unicode block
The
Cherokee language
uses an 86-character
syllabary
. A keyboard for this language is available for the
iPhone
and
iPad
and is supported by
Google
141
East Asian languages
edit
The orthography used for
Chinese
Japanese
, and
Korean
("
CJK characters
") requires special
input methods
, due to the thousands of possible characters in these languages. Various methods have been invented to fit every possibility into a QWERTY keyboard, so CJKV 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.
In general, the range of possibilities is first narrowed down (often by entering the desired character's pronunciation). Then, if there remains more than one possibility, the desired
ideogram
is selected, 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 seem painstaking, CJKV input methods are today sufficient in that, even for beginners, typing in these languages is only slightly slower than typing an
alphabetic
language like English, where each
phoneme
is represented by one
grapheme
In Japanese, the QWERTY-based
JIS
keyboard layout is used, and the pronunciation of each character is entered using various approximations to
Hepburn romanization
or
Kunrei-shiki
romanization. There are several
kana
-based typing methods.
Of the three, Chinese has the most varied input options. Characters can either be entered by pronunciation (like Japanese and Hanja in Korean), or by structure. Most of the structural methods are very difficult to learn but extremely efficient for experienced typists, as there is no need to select characters from a menu.
There exist a variety of other, slower methods in which 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
).
In contrast to Chinese and Japanese, Korean is typed similarly to Western languages. There exist two major forms of keyboard layouts: Dubeolsik (
두벌식
), and Sebeolsik (
세벌식
). Dubeolsik, which shares its symbol layout with the QWERTY keyboard, is much more commonly used. While Korean consonants and vowels (
jamo
) are grouped together into syllabic grids when written, the script is essentially
alphabetical
, and therefore typing in Korean is quite simple for those who understand 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 validly grouped into syllables, so the computer groups them together as the user types.
Chinese
keyboards are usually in US layout with/without
Chinese input method
labels printed on keys. Without an
input method
handler activated, these keyboards would simply respond to Latin characters as physically labelled, provided that the US keyboard layout is selected correctly in the
operating system
. Most modern input methods allow input of both simplified and traditional characters, and will simply default to one or the other based on the locale setting.
Keyboards used in the
mainland China
are standard or slightly modified
US
(QWERTY) ones without extra labelling, while various input method editors (
IMEs
) are employed to input Chinese characters. The most common IMEs are
pinyin
-based, representing the
Standard Chinese
pronunciation of characters using Latin letters. However, keyboards with labels for alternative structural input methods such as the
Wubi method
can also be found, although those are usually very old products and are extremely rare, as of 2015.
Chinese (Taiwan)
keyboard layout, a US keyboard with
Zhuyin
Cangjie
, and
Dayi
key labels
Computers in
Taiwan
often use US keyboards with
bopomofo
(zhuyin) labels, many also with
Cangjie method
key labels, as Cangjie is a popular method for typing in
traditional Chinese characters
. The bopomofo style keyboards are in
lexicographic order
, from top to bottom and left to right. The codes of three input methods are typically printed on the Chinese (traditional) keyboard: Zhuyin (upper right); Cangjie (lower left); and
Dayi
(lower right).
Hong Kong and Macau
edit
In
Hong Kong
, both Chinese (Taiwan) and US keyboards are found. Japanese keyboards are occasionally found, and UK keyboards are rare.
For Chinese input, Shape-based input methods such as
Cangjie
(pronounced
cong1 kit3
in Cantonese) or Chinese handwriting recognition are the most common input method. The use of phonetic-based input method is uncommon due to the lack of official standard for Cantonese romanisation and people in Hong Kong almost never learn any romanisation schemes in schools. An advantage of phonetic-based input method is that most Cantonese speakers are able to input Traditional Chinese characters with no particular training at all where they spell out the Cantonese sound of each character without tone marks, e.g. 'heung gong' for
香港
Cantonese Yale
hēung góng
; Hong Kong) and to choose the characters from a list. However,
Microsoft Windows
, which is the most popular operating system used in desktops, does not provide any Cantonese phonetic input method, requiring users to find and install third-party input method software. Also, most people find the process of picking characters from a list being too slow due to homonyms so the Cangjie method is generally preferred.
Although thorough training and practice are required to use
Cangjie
, many Cantonese speakers have taken
Sucheng
input method because of the fast typing speed availed by the input method. This method is the fastest because it has the capability to fetch the exact, unambiguous Chinese character which the user has in mind to input, pinpointing to only one character in most cases. This is also the reason why no provision for an input of phonetic accent is needed to complement this Input Method. The Cangjie character feature is available on both macOS and Windows. On macOS,
handwriting recognition
input method is bundled with the OS.
Macau utilizes the same layouts as Hong Kong, with the addition of Portuguese (Portugal) or English (US) layout for the Portuguese language.
Malaysia and Singapore
edit
In Malaysia and Singapore, English (US) or Traditional Chinese (Taiwan) layout keyboards are found to input the Chinese language. Some people use Pinyin to put Traditional Chinese Characters which are same as Taiwanese Layout.
Japanese
(OADG 109A) keyboard layout with Hiragana keys
Japanese Apple keyboard layout with Hiragana keys
English (US) keyboard with Japanese key labels
The
JIS
standard layout includes Japanese
kana
in addition to a QWERTY style layout. The shifted values of many keys (digits, together with
:*
) are a legacy of
bit-paired keyboards
, dating back to ASCII telex machines and terminals of the 1960s and 1970s.
For entering Japanese, the most common method is entering text phonetically, as
romanized
(transliterated) kana, which are then converted to
kanji
as appropriate by an
input method editor
. It is also possible to type kana directly, depending on the mode used. To type
たかはし
, "Takahashi", a Japanese name, one could type either
in Romanized (
Rōmaji
) input mode, or
in kana input mode. Then, the user can proceed to the conversion step to convert the input into the appropriate kanji.
The
extra keys
in the bottom row (
muhenkan
henkan
, and the
Hiragana
Katakana
switch key), and the special keys in the leftmost column (the
hankaku/zenkaku
key at the upper left corner, and the
eisū
key at the
Caps Lock
position), control various aspects of the conversion process and select different modes of input.
The "Thumb-shift" layout. There are multiple legends and the two modifying keys. "
シフト
" means
L/R Thumb Shift
, "
後退
" means
← Backspace
, "
取消
" means
Delete
, and "
空白
" means
Space
keys.
The Oyayubi Shifuto (Thumb Shift) layout is based on kana input, but uses two modifying keys that replace the space bar. When a key is pressed simultaneously with one of the keys, it yields another letter. Letters with the "dakuten" diacritic are typed with the opposite side "thumb shift". Letters with "handakuten" are either typed while the conventional pinky-operated shift key is pressed (that is, each key corresponds to a maximum of 4 letters), or, on the "NICOLA" variation, on a key which does not have a dakuten counterpart.
The
key in the QWERTY layout, that should be pressed with R index finger, individually yields は, but with the
R Thumb Shift
key, it yields
. Simultaneous input with
L Thumb Shift
yields
, which is the individually mapped letter with the aforementioned dakuten. While the pinky-operated
⇧ Shift
key is pressed, the same key yields
. (This same letter must be typed with
L Thumb Shift
on the NICOLA variant.)
In Japan, 106-key Japanese keyboards and 101-key English (US layout) keyboards are usually found. For Romanized input users, sometimes 106-key Japanese keyboard sold without printed hiragana.
142
143
Pressing the Han/Eng (
한/영
) key once switches between
Hangul
as shown, and QWERTY (US layout). There is another key to the left of the space bar for
Hanja
한자
or
漢字
) input. If using an ordinary keyboard without the two extra keys, typically, the right Alt key becomes the Ha/En key, and the right Ctrl key becomes the Hanja key.
Apple Keyboards
do not have the two extra keys, and users can use a key combination (Cmd-Space), the Caps Lock key, or the Globe/Fn key to switch input methods.
The terms Dubeolsik and Sebeolsik are originally descriptions of how many sets of keys the layout has. Earlier typewriters had anywhere from 3 to 5 sets.
Dubeolsik keyboard layout
Based on an earlier
teleprinter
keyboard layout from 1969, Dubeolsik (
두벌식
; 2-set) is the national standard Korean keyboard layout since 1983.
citation needed
It is by far the most common layout used in South Korea.
citation needed
Consonants
occupy the left side of the layout, while
vowels
are on the right.
Sebeolsik layouts used today are based on mechanical typewriter layouts invented by Dr.
Kong Byung Woo
in 1949. For most layouts, there are extra keys for ㅗ and ㅜ for typing compound vowels (ㅘ, ㅙ, ㅚ, ㅝ, ㅞ, ㅟ), and ㅃ/ㄸ/ㄲ/ㅆ/ㅉ are typed by pressing ㅂ/ㄷ/ㄱ/ㅅ/ㅈ twice, both remnants of the typewriter design.
Sebeolsik 390 keyboard layout
Sebeolsik 390 (
세벌식 390
; 3-set 390) was released in 1990. It is based on Kong Byung Woo's earlier work. This layout is notable for its compatibility with the QWERTY layout; almost all QWERTY symbols that are not alphanumeric 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). However, 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.
Sebeolsik Final keyboard layout
Sebeolsik Final (
세벌식 최종
; 3-set Final) is the final Sebeolsik layout designed by Kong Byung Woo, hence the name. 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. They are more ergonomic than the Dubeolsik, but are not in wide use.
Sebeolsik Noshift keyboard layout
Sebeolsik Noshift is a variant of sebeolsik which can be used without pressing the
shift key
. Its advantage is that people with
disabilities
who cannot press two keys at the same time will still be able to use it to type in Hangul.
depending on OS and (where applicable) institutional policy.
Using, for example,
AltGr
to add a third and fourth function to each key; the AltGr key may itself be a reassignment of the right-hand Alt key.
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