Re: Key Curry : Attempting to make it easy to type world languages and orthographies on the web

From: Mark Davis ☕ <mark_at_macchiato.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2012 22:15:55 -0700

FYI, we have a draft proposal for keyboard data for CLDr that may be
interesting for you.

http://unicode.org/repos/cldr/trunk/keyboards/

------------------------------
Mark <https://plus.google.com/114199149796022210033>
*
*
*— Il meglio è l’inimico del bene —*
**

On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 20:02, Philippe Verdy <verdy_p_at_wanadoo.fr> wrote:

> Also, beware: there are several AZERTY variants. The Belgian variant
> is different from the variant used in France (notably in the first
> row).
>
> You should also know that some ASCII symbols or punctuations are typed
> with AltGr (the RightAlt, which acts in fact like LeftAlt+Ctrl, the
> Cltr key can be the left or right one, but only the left Alt can be
> used to enter character numerically on Windows or type menu
> accelerators), for example these characters :
> ~ # { | ` \ ^ @ ] }
>
> In Europe the Euro symbol is generally placed also on AltGr+E (or
> LeftAlt+Ctrl+E) on most European keyboards, with the exception of the
> British English keyboard where it is placed on the first row.
>
> There's only 1 Alt key on a French keyboard, and on most European
> keyboards, including those using a QWERTZ (German) or QWERTY (British)
> variant; only the default US English keyboard has 2 Alt keys, the
> International US keyboard also features the AltGr key (for typing more
> characters than just plain ASCII) and only 1 Alt key on the left.
>
> Le 18 avril 2012 04:51, Philippe Verdy <verdy_p_at_wanadoo.fr> a écrit :
> > Your input method only needs to detect the characters, don't use the
> > keycodes at all, they are not portable.
> >
> > Note: there are more keys than what you think: not just the A/Q and
> > Z/W pair are swapped, the M is placed on the side of L instead of N,
> > and all punctuation signs are moved, as well as all keys in the first
> > row, plus the <> key on the left of WXCVBN...
> >
> > Don't assume any CTRL, ALT, or AltGr (CTRL+ALT) combination, don't
> > assume the SHIFT key, and beware that the CAPSLOCK mode on a French
> > keyboard is disabled when pressing SHIFT...
> >
> > You don't need keycodes for your input method that just associates
> > pairs of characters (a letter plus a punctuation sign), just use the
> > characters as they are typed.
> >
> > Le 18 avril 2012 03:56, Ed Trager <ed.trager_at_gmail.com> a écrit :
> >> Thank you, Philippe!
> >>
> >> On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 8:07 PM, Philippe Verdy <verdy_p_at_wanadoo.fr>
> wrote:
> >>> Apparently your online input method does not support any other native
> >>> keyboard than a US QWERTY;
> >>
> >> Yes - excellent criticism; and at this time this is unfortunately
> >> true. I thought about this problem when reading French language
> >> materials to research the Pan-African keyboard.
> >>
> >> Originally I thought that the solution to this problem would require
> >> crafting keyboard layouts specifically for AZERTY. However, I now
> >> think that a much more general solution can be implemented without
> >> needing to actually alter the QWERTY-based keymaps.
> >>
> >> Only a few keys on the keyboard differ between QWERTY and AZERTY, so
> >> it should be possible to just remap those keys (or their key codes) on
> >> the fly in the processing stream. I would be very happy to discuss
> >> with you how to solve this (off list). I don't personally have access
> >> to any AZERTY devices and most of the Francophone people I know who
> >> probably use AZERTY are not technically savvy. However if you and
> >> possibly some other folks on this list or elsewhere have some time to
> >> answer my various questions --and contribute your opinions on what you
> >> think is the correct way that it should work-- then I think it is a
> >> very solvable problem. Also, if done correctly, such a solution can
> >> be used for other common keyboard layouts beyond AZERTY too.
> >>
> >> - Ed
> >>
> >>> you seem to bond keycodes instead of the
> >>> punctuation characters indicated. E.g. an a French Azerty keyboard
> >>> typing "c;" does not replace it with "ç", you have to type "c$"
> >>> instead (the dollar sign is typed on a French keyboard on the last key
> >>> of the second row, near the Enter key, where the US keyboard maps the
> >>> semicolon).
> >>> Why do you use scancodes to make the compositions ?
> >>>
> >>> It's hard to convince people that your input method is "Pan European"
> >>> if it requires a native US keyboard.
> >>>
> >>> Le 17 avril 2012 23:40, Ed Trager <ed.trager_at_gmail.com> a écrit :
> >>>> A long time in the making, I am finally making "Key Curry" public!
> >>>>
> >>>> "Key Curry" is a web application and set of web components that allows
> >>>> one to easily type many world languages and specialized orthographies
> >>>> on the web. Please check it out and provide me feedback:
> >>>>
> >>>> http://unifont.org/keycurry/
> >>>>
> >>>> In addition to supporting major world languages and orthographies, I
> >>>> hope that "Key Curry" makes it easy for language advocates and web
> >>>> developers to provide support for the orthographies of minority
> >>>> languages -- many of which are not currently supported (or are only
> >>>> poorly supported) by the major operating system vendors.
> >>>>
> >>>> Under the hood, the software uses a javascript user interface
> >>>> framework that I wrote called "Gladiator Components" along with the
> >>>> popular "jQuery" javascript library as a foundation. I have used HTML
> >>>> 5 technologies such as localStorage to implement certain features.
> >>>>
> >>>> Currently, Key Curry appears to work well in the latest versions of
> >>>> Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari on devices with standard QWERTY
> >>>> keyboards (e.g. laptops, desktop computers, netbooks, etc.). Recent
> >>>> versions of Opera and Internet Explorer version 9 appear to have bugs
> >>>> which limit the ability of Key Curry to operate as designed. The app
> >>>> is not likely to work well on older versions of any browser. I have
> >>>> not yet tested IE 10 on Windows 8.
> >>>>
> >>>> Although Key Curry appears to load flawlessly on the very few Android
> >>>> and Apple iOS tablet and/or mobile devices that I have "dabbled" with,
> >>>> the virtual keyboards on those devices are very different from
> >>>> physical keyboards and I have not yet investigated that problem area
> >>>> at all - so don't expect it to work on your iPad or other mobile
> >>>> device.
> >>>>
> >>>> Constructive criticism and feedback is most welcome. I have many
> >>>> additional plans for Key Curry "in the works" - but I'll leave further
> >>>> commentary to another day!
> >>>>
> >>>> - Ed
> >>>>
>
>
>
Received on Wed Apr 18 2012 - 00:21:30 CDT

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