A keyboard layout for language learners: Type in 40+ languages in Windows and macOS

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SpanishInput
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A keyboard layout for language learners: Type in 40+ languages in Windows and macOS

Postby SpanishInput » Sun Nov 14, 2021 7:49 pm

I use a PC and a Mac. My Mac has a US English keyboard. I used the "US International PC" keyboard layout on my Mac to type in Spanish. It was no fun having to switch between US International on Mac and Spanish ISO on Windows. So I switched to the US International layout on my PC, and I noticed conflicts with NVIDIA Ctrl + Alt keyboard shortcuts (Alt Gr = Ctrl + Alt in Windows). I was able to change those shortcuts, but I then stopped to think that if I'm having this problem, other users surely have the same problem. On the Mac side, US International-PC is not optimal for Spanish because you don't get direct shortcuts for Á É Í Ó Ú Ü Ñ, so you always need a two-step process to type those. These differences between the Windows and Mac implementations annoyed me, as I had to adapt every time I switched computers.

So down I went through the rabbit hole of keyboard layout design. Here's the end result. I designed versions for both Windows and Mac, both for standard US ANSI keyboards and for standard UK ISO keyboards. Here's the US version:

Edit: I've replaced this image. BTW, US keyboards are the same in both Windows and macOS, which makes life easier:
spanish-input-US-version.png


Edit: Here's the UK macOS version. Thankfully, changes from the US version are minimal. The main change is swapping £ and #.
spanish-input-UK-macOS-version.png


Edit: And of course I can't forget about our friends using Windows in the UK:
spanish-input-UK-Windows-version.png


Edit: You can get the layout from this web page:
https://www.spanishinput.com/keyboard.html
  • You can use it to type in Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, Turkish, Guaraní, Pinyin and many more.
  • The layout is 100% free and the download page contains no ads or popups. I created it mainly to solve a problem I had, I now use it every day and now I want to share it with other language learners.
  • There are installers for both US and UK versions, for both Windows and Mac. Sorry, but no Linux version is in the works. It's been a while since the last time I used Linux.
  • The download page also has videos with instructions on how to use it in Windows and Mac. The video for the Windows version goes into deep detail about the design decisions behind this layout and goes over every single key. The video for the Mac video is shorter and focuses only on the most popular languages.

Edit: How to use it
  • Characters in blue are typed by holding down any of the "option" keys. Your caps lock key is also an "option" key in this layout.
  • Characters in green are typed by holding down both option and shift at the same time.
  • If the character you want does not appear here, you might be able to type it by using a "dead key". "Dead keys" are used mainly to add diacritics and work this way: You first activate the dead key and then type the letter you want accented. For example, if you want to type ã, first press Option + P (the dead key for the nasal tilde ˜) and then type "a".
  • If you're using Google Docs on a Mac please use Firefox. Google Docs has keyboard shortcuts that conflict with any Mac keyboard layout, not just this one, but Firefox is smart enough to give priority to typed text instead of Google Docs's shortcuts.

Edit: Basic shortcuts for Spanish
  • Á = option + A
  • É = option + E
  • Í = option + I
  • Ó = option + O
  • Ú = option + U
  • Ü = option + 7
  • Ñ = option + N
  • ¿ = option + ?
  • ¡ = option + !

The layout had certain design goals:

-Use the caps lock key as a modifier key, both to solve the problem of accidentally pressing caps lock and to have a comfortable positioned modifier key to activate most of the dead keys. Also because caps lock, unlike option/alt, has the exact same position on both Windows and Mac. On the Windows version this happens automatically. There are instructions for implementing this on the macOS side.

-Place all of the dead keys are on the right side of the keyboard. At the end I had to place two dead keys on the left side, but all the most popular ones are on the right side in a nice cluster.

-Place dead keys and keyboard shortcuts in places that are easy to remember (well, easy to remember for me, at least).

-Cover all official EU languages that use the Latin alphabet, almost all Duolingo languages that use the Latin alphabet (Vietnamese was the exception) and all languages covered by the Colemak layout.

-Do not interfere with every day English typing needs. This meant the apostrophe and the quotation mark must be undisturbed.

-Keep the same physical position of dead keys and shortcuts across Windows and Mac, and across US and UK keyboards. This meant avoiding the three keys that change positions between systems: The grave key, the \ key and the extra key on ISO keyboards right next to left shift. This way you can use this layout on any physical keyboard and any computer, including non-English keyboards, without having things moving around.

-Make it dead easy to type in Spanish.

-On Windows, avoid Ctrl + Alt conflicts. This was achieved by using the Kana modifier instead of the Alt Graph modifier. The Kana modifier is used on the right Ctrl key on the Canadian Multilingual Standard layout, and it's also used in Japanese keyboards. Using kana meant I could not use caps lock, so caps lock is disabled on all versions. Civilized people don't use caps lock, after all.

Something I could not achieve:

-Avoid conflicts with Google Docs shortcuts on macOS. Unfortunately this applies to all macOS keyboard layouts, not just to mine. The only solution is to use Firefox instead of Safari or Chrome for Google Docs.

EDIT: I've edited this post because when I first wrote it I was not in my best mood. The original title was "An unnecesary, unoriginal and naïve keyboard layout for language learners". The text below this line was part of the original post. Please ignore my moodiness and thank you for the warm welcome to this forum.

"If you are already able to type your TL in your computer, please ignore this post. There's nothing to see here and this post is not worth your valuable time."
"The name of the layout has been redacted and there will be no links in this post so as not to break forum rules."
"Feel free to copy the layout and assemble it with the keyboard layout design software of your choice. If you want it bre-built for Windows and Mac, you'll have to use your Google skills. I'm not risking a ban by posting links here."
"------Criticism-------
I'll save you time and write all the criticism I can think of myself:
-You know multilingual keyboard layouts have existed for a long time, right? There's the German T2 and T3, and also Bepo and Colemak, and ABC extended on the mac.
-Yes, but I'm not leaving Qwerty anytime soon, there's no ABC extended on Windows and the ABC extended shortcuts are uncomfortable and difficult to remember for me.
-You're not a linguist or a computer scientist, so it's naïve of you to pretend you can create a keyboard layout. You should have asked experts before attempting this.
-Feel free to create your own layout, or modify this one. No one is forcing you to use this.
-You're overselling this. There are easier ways to type accents on a computer.
-Then keep doing so.
-This is an old idea. Such and such software is the easiest way to type in Spanish.
-Cool.
-I'm angry that you have already written the criticism I was going to write.
-Feel free to expand on it. The Argument Clinic is one of my favorite Monty Python sketches."
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Last edited by SpanishInput on Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: An unnecesary, unoriginal and naïve keyboard layout for language learners

Postby Deinonysus » Mon Nov 15, 2021 4:12 pm

I'm always glad to see a fellow keyboard layout enthusiast! My own layout, which I've posted about a bit here, is not QWERTY based but it does share some design goals of your layout, with the most important special characters directly accessible with the right alt key, and a bunch of deadkeys for creating other special characters. I think your layout is a solid improvement over the US International layout for those who want a QWERTY layout.

The rule about posting links is to prevent spammers from signing up, advertising, and then leaving. But you have quickly become a regular here so I'm sure if you get in touch with a mod or administrator they will let you post a link.

I think you were trying to put some humor into your post but unfortunately it comes off as a bit self-depracating and defensive. I don't think there's any need for that, since I think you had a clear vision of what your goals were and I think you did a good job in achieving them.
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Re: An unnecessary, unoriginal and naïve keyboard layout for language learners

Postby Iversen » Tue Nov 16, 2021 12:25 am

Wearing my moderator hat: as Deinonysus notes you have already contributed so much valuable stuff to the forum that we don't see you as a spammer. You can post links, but if possible to non-commercial sources and not to sites that thrive on pirated materials.

As for foreign keyboards: my Danish keyboard allows me to type things like ñ and ô and è and ü (and of course also the Danish letters æøå), but I use ALT plus a memorized number to produce things like the German ß and French-Portuguese-Albanian ç - I have forgotten the number for the inverted exclamation mark in Spanish, but I know where to find it if I needed it. As for Esperanto and Romanian and Polish and Slovak they have so many letters with funny diacritics that I prefer using the Lexilogos virtual keyboards which I also I use for anything in Greek or Cyrillic.
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Re: A keyboard layout for language learners: Type in 40+ languages in Windows and macOS

Postby SpanishInput » Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:46 pm

Deinonysus wrote:I'm always glad to see a fellow keyboard layout enthusiast!

Thank you, Deinonysus! The Colemak layout was my main source of inspiration for this project. A couple of days after my original post I found your keyboard layout. Just wow. I'm far from your level, but... Have you considered switching from AltGr to another modifier such as kana/loya/roya, to prevent conflicts with shortcuts?

Iversen wrote:You can post links, but if possible to non-commercial sources and not to sites that thrive on pirated materials.

Thank you, Iversen! I've included a link to the download page. It's my own site/blog. The page contains no ads, no pop-ups, no products and no "sign up to receive tips".

To both of you: Sorry about my original moody/self-deprecating post. I've edited it, clearly marking what was added. I've also preserved the original moody parts at the end of the post for continuity's sake.
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Re: A keyboard layout for language learners: Type in 40+ languages in Windows and macOS

Postby Deinonysus » Sat Nov 20, 2021 3:58 pm

SpanishInput wrote:
Deinonysus wrote:I'm always glad to see a fellow keyboard layout enthusiast!

Thank you, Deinonysus! The Colemak layout was my main source of inspiration for this project. A couple of days after my original post I found your keyboard layout. Just wow. I'm far from your level, but... Have you considered switching from AltGr to another modifier such as kana/loya/roya, to prevent conflicts with shortcuts?

Iversen wrote:You can post links, but if possible to non-commercial sources and not to sites that thrive on pirated materials.

Thank you, Iversen! I've included a link to the download page. It's my own site/blog. The page contains no ads, no pop-ups, no products and no "sign up to receive tips".

To both of you: Sorry about my original moody/self-deprecating post. I've edited it, clearly marking what was added. I've also preserved the original moody parts at the end of the post for continuity's sake.
No need to apologize, I figured your intention was humor, I just wanted to let you know that I didn't think it came off quite as you intended it.

I was a Colemak user for a while but I had a tough time typing in other languages (I think French and Esperanto), so I decided to make my own layout instead. The workman layout was also a big inspiration although I've never used it.

I have never experienced that issue with Ctrl+Alt shortcuts, and in fact I think I think it's important to be able to use the left Ctrl+Alt keys for special characters on the right hand. Repeatedly twisting my thumb to hit the right alt plus a right hand key was causing me a lot of thumb pain.

But, you did give me a very good idea! I turned the right Ctrl into a kana layer toggle which turns the numbers and minor punctuation into deadkeys. When this mode is activated the deadkeys can be accessed without using the AltGr key and that also frees up room for extra AltGr special characters. These changes Vietnamese support viable! There is a maximum of three keystrokes to write any lowercase vowel with tone. The standard Vietnamese layout never requires more than two keystrokes for a lowercase letter with tone, but I think a lot of high-frequency letters are better placed on my layout so I don't think it's necessary a worse typing experience.
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Re: A keyboard layout for language learners: Type in 40+ languages in Windows and macOS

Postby feleslucis » Sat Nov 27, 2021 5:31 pm

Hey, I would like to know more about creating a good keyboard layout. The truth is that I'm working with some guys in the revival process of the Coptic language, but the problem is that many of the existing Coptic keyboards for Windows aren't compatible with accentuation, which is something we plan to add so it would make the process of reading the language faster. Coptic would need the Djinkim (an accent similar to the grave accent from Portuguese and Italian, but longer), a supralinear stroke, the accute accent, the diaresis (the two points in ü) and a point diacritic like the one in the letter i. Do you believe it would be easy to develop a Coptic keyboard with these additional symbols?
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Re: A keyboard layout for language learners: Type in 40+ languages in Windows and macOS

Postby SpanishInput » Sat Nov 27, 2021 7:00 pm

feleslucis wrote:Do you believe it would be easy to develop a Coptic keyboard with these additional symbols?

Hi! That's a nice project!
Well, your first step is probably to survey all existing keyboard layouts for Coptic. There might already be something close to what you want. Then, check if all the final characters you want already exist as pre-composed unicode characters. If that's the case, you'll just need to use dead keys to produce these codes.

If a character you want does not exist as a pre-composed character, as is the case with the guarani g̃, you'll need to produce them with combining diacritics.

In the video about the Windows version of the Spanish Input keyboard I discuss dead keys, and mention precomposed characters and the combining tilde: https://youtu.be/ZqomBfuAw40

On Windows, I recommend using KbdEdit to create your layout. On macOS, Ukelele is pretty much the only option. Are you familiar with any of them?
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Re: A keyboard layout for language learners: Type in 40+ languages in Windows and macOS

Postby feleslucis » Sun Nov 28, 2021 12:46 am

SpanishInput wrote:
feleslucis wrote:Do you believe it would be easy to develop a Coptic keyboard with these additional symbols?

Hi! That's a nice project!
Well, your first step is probably to survey all existing keyboard layouts for Coptic. There might already be something close to what you want. Then, check if all the final characters you want already exist as pre-composed unicode characters. If that's the case, you'll just need to use dead keys to produce these codes.

If a character you want does not exist as a pre-composed character, as is the case with the guarani g̃, you'll need to produce them with combining diacritics.

In the video about the Windows version of the Spanish Input keyboard I discuss dead keys, and mention precomposed characters and the combining tilde: https://youtu.be/ZqomBfuAw40

On Windows, I recommend using KbdEdit to create your layout. On macOS, Ukelele is pretty much the only option. Are you familiar with any of them?


Heya, thank you for responding so swiftly! The one Coptic keyboard which has, at least, the Jinkim and the supralinear stroke is the Keyman Coptic keyboard, but it lacks the diaresis, the accute accent and the dot diacritic. Unfortunately, I know nothing about those programs. Do you believe it's easy to learn to use them? I'll search for KbdEdit.
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Re: A keyboard layout for language learners: Type in 40+ languages in Windows and macOS

Postby SpanishInput » Sun Nov 28, 2021 8:47 pm

feleslucis wrote:I know nothing about those programs. Do you believe it's easy to learn to use them?

Yes, they're easy to use once you have the key concepts (no pun intended) down. Make sure to research these terms before attempting anything:
-Dead keys
-Unicode
-Combining diacritics
-Virtual key
-Shift states
-Dead key state (macOS only)
-Dead key terminator (macOS only)

Also, after you install either KbdEdit or Ukelele, poke around keyboard layouts that are already installed in your system. On Windows, take a look at the Canadian Multilingual Standard Keyboard. On macOS, take a look at ABC extended.
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