International keyboard layouts
Inspired by Steffens EurKEY, I wanted to fit a multilingual layout in the compact Voyager, while still keeping all symbols needed for daily use and programming, and without crazy layers.
Goals, and non-goals
The purpose of this project is to provide an ergonomic way to write language correctly, without weird keyboard shortcuts. This poses some challenges in a compact layout where I've only left 43 keys “assignable”.
- Prioritize writing
- Place commonly used symbols in every language in the more accessible locations (¿ in Spanish as an example)
- Make it easy to write in multiple languages simultaneously
- Avoid Shift and AltGr-combos that are hard to reach
- Avoid mixing symbols and letters on the same key, so it's easier to re-arrange letters (QWERTY, Colemak, etc.)
- Group and arrange symbols in a natural way
Non-goals
- Remove deadkeys
- Be the be-all and end-all of keyboard layouts
- Create a new re-arrangement of letters (Use existing QWERTY, Colemak, etc. instead)
Latin
This layout should let you write nearly all latin-based languages in Europe and America. It's constantly evolving and I hope to release layout files for all OSes once it's a bit more settled.
|
Esc
@
#
|
ˇ
<
«
‹
|
´
(
‘
“
|
`
)
’
”
|
ˆ
>
›
»
|
˜
=
‚
„
|
˙
\
/
|
7
˚
{
$
|
8
˘
[
€
|
9
¯
]
£
|
¨
}
%
|
?
¿
§
|
|
|
Q
|
W
|
E
œ
|
R
|
T
þ
|
Y
|
U
4
|
I
ı
5
|
O
ø
6
|
P
|
!
¡
|
|
|
|
A
æ
|
S
ß
|
D
ð
|
F
|
G
|
H
|
J
1
|
K
2
|
L
ł
3
|
+
&
|
'
"
*
|
|
|
Z
ʒ
|
X
|
C
|
V
|
B
|
N
ŋ
|
M
0
|
,
;
¸
,
|
.
:
˛
.
|
-
_
–
|
|
The accompanying config for the Voyager can be found at the oryx page
The numbers keys are accessed through a seperate layer, but are shown here for completeness and placement
Deadkeys
| Key | Produces |
|---|---|
| ˇ Caron | Ǎǎ Čč Ďď Ěě Ǧǧ Ľľ Ňň Řř Šš Ťť Žž |
| ´ Accute | Áá Ćć Éé Íí Ĺĺ Ńń Óó Ŕŕ Śś Úú Ẃẃ Ýý Źź ´ |
| ˝ Double accute | Őő Űű |
| ` Grave | Àà Èè Ìì Òò Ùù Ẁẁ Ỳỳ ` |
| ˆ Circumflex | Ââ Ĉĉ Êê Ĝĝ Ĥĥ Îî Ôô Ŝŝ Ûû Ŵŵ Ŷŷ ¹²³ ^ |
| ˜ Tilde | Ãã Ẽẽ Ĩĩ Ññ Õõ Ũũ ~ |
| ˙ Abovedot | Ȧȧ Ċċ Ėė Ġġ Ŀŀ Ṅṅ Ṡṡ · |
| ˚ Abovering | Åå Ůů ° |
| ˘ Breve | Ăă Ĕĕ Ğğ Ĭĭ Ŏŏ Ŭŭ |
| ¯ Macron | Āā Ǣǣ Ēē Ḡḡ Īī Ōō Ūū Ȳȳ ¯ |
| ¨ Diaeresis / Umlaut | Ää Ëë Ḧḧ Ïï Öö Üü Ẅẅ Ẍẍ Ÿÿ ¨ |
| – Stroke | Đđ Ǥǥ Ħħ Ŧŧ – |
| ¸ Cedilla | Çç Ģģ Ķķ Ļļ Ņņ Şş Ţţ ¸ |
| , Belowcomma | Çç Ģģ Ķķ Ļļ Ņņ Șș Țț |
| ˛ Ogonek | Ąą Ęę Įį Ǫǫ Ųų ˛ |
Current issues and open questions
-
Some deadkeys are on different layers than the base layer, which means a lot of clicks to produce a single letter. It's especially difficult to write romanian because of the placement of the ,-deadkey.
-
Is deadkeys like ˚ Space for “°” (degree) and ˙ Space for “·” (interpunct) confusing?
-
Should the Latvian letters “Ģ”, “Ķ”, “Ļ” and “Ņ” be under the ¸-deadkey or the ,-deadkey? ... or both?
Other scripts
Currently this aims to cover all languages that uses the latin script. I aim to make separate versions for other scripts with similar setup for symbols, so it's seamless to switch between.