Getting data into applications by keyboards should be one of the simplest features on Windows. However, once fonts or rendering engines are added to the equation, it is anything but simple. Adding many different keyboard layouts on top of over 100 languages contributes to the chaos. Once you add the ability to define your own keyboard layouts where all of Unicode can be supported, it becomes downright complicated!

This presentation will discuss the following:

• the interaction between input, fonts, and rendering engines;
• the many features that keyboard layouts support such as dead keys and ligatures;
• code pages vs. Unicode and input;
• when IMEs are preferred and when they are not;
• the collation issues that enter into the equation;
• the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator, which simplifies all of the above.