Keyboards & Input
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1. Production keyboards
Also called "physical keyboards" these are produced with key markings that correspond with the keyboard layout for a particular language or languages. In the case of major European languages, Arabic, and some others, there are production keyboards that match these layouts. These may be sold with computers or separately. The only example of a keyboard for Africa in active production (11/2007) is the Konyin keyboard, which is sold separately.
1.1 Keyboards sold separately (not as parts of systems)
- Kọnyin - http://www.konyin.com/ (especially for Nigerian languages)
1.2 Keyboards as part of computer systems
- Keyboards on One Laptop Per Child project's laptops (drafts; need info on whether any have been produced)
2. Keyboard layout creators
Computer keyboard layouts are generally defined in the software for a language. In localising a software for a language, one can specify the keyboard layout. It is also possible to create a keyboard layout for many language needs that can be used with another software. This can be done using a keyboard layout creator such as one of the below:
- Tavultesoft Keyman (page includes links to Tavultesoft site & available keyboards)
- Tavultesoft KeymanWeb (page describes webpage based version of Keyman, with link)
- MSKLC (page includes links to MSKLC page & available keyboards)
- Ukelele
3. Character utilities & virtual keyboards
Several sites include ways of finding or generating characters that can be copied and used in another application. These may be useful in creating documents or webcontent.
- BabelMap (Unicode Character Map Utility) http://www.babelstone.co.uk/Software/BabelMap.html
- Lexilogos claviers multilingues (incl. العربية & conversion utilities) http://www.lexilogos.com/clavier/multilingue.htm
- UniView? (web-based character map and generalised picker utility) http://r12a.github.io/uniview/
- Unicode character pickers http://r12a.github.io/pickers/
- Ergonis PopChar? (commercial character map & input system)
- (for MS Windows? systems) http://www.ergonis.com/products/popcharwin/
- (for Macintosh? OS 10.6) http://www.ergonis.com/products/popcharx/
4. Keyboard layout standards
- ISO/IEC 9995 "Information technology -- Keyboard layouts for text and office systems"
5. Input method frameworks
- XKB?
- Freedesktop [xkeyboard-config] http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/XKeyboardConfig/
- Wikipedia, "X keyboard extension," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_keyboard_extension
- SCIM
- Smart Common Input Method (SCIM) platform project http://sourceforge.net/projects/scim/
- Wikipedia, "Smart Common Input Method," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Common_Input_Method
- KMFL? Keyboard Mapping for Linux http://kmfl.sourceforge.net/
- IIIMF - Internet Intranet Input Method Framework
- IIIMF xcin http://sourceforge.net/projects/tciiimf/
- UIM?
- uim [Universal Input method] - A multilingual input method framework http://code.google.com/p/uim/
- Wikipedia, "Uim," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UIM
- XIM?
- GTK-2?
6. Other resources
- Bisharat "A12n gateway" page, section on Fonts & keyboards (outdated) http://www.bisharat.net/A12N/#font
- "Keybard Help - Typing International Accent Marks and Diacritics: Theory, Charts,& Tips for the QWERTY keyboard (mostly Windows)" (this page is helpful for explaining the "International English" keyboard and a few other issues with Windows; of limited use for extended characters) http://www.starr.net/is/type/kbh.html