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

From: Ed Trager <ed.trager_at_gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2012 08:36:39 -0400

On Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 1:15 AM, Mark Davis ☕ <mark_at_macchiato.com> wrote:
> FYI, we have a draft proposal for keyboard data for CLDr
> that may be interesting for you.
>
> http://unicode.org/repos/cldr/trunk/keyboards/
>

Yes, I have been meaning to look at this!

> ________________________________
> Mark
>
> — 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 - 07:40:34 CDT

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