RE: design prototype: the ultimate unicode keyboard?

From: George W Gerrity (g.gerrity@gwg-associates.com.au)
Date: Sun Jul 17 2005 - 07:54:59 CDT

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    I have been waiting for such a keyboard for over 20 years. I even
    tried to get one with LED matrices on keys, manufactured to my
    specification about 15 years ago, with no luck (at least, at a cost I
    could afford).

    I am surprised that there is even some uncertainty as to how such a
    keyboard might be used for non-latin scripts. Consider, for instance,
    its use with Simplified (mainland) and Traditional (Taiwan) Chinese
    and Japanese: In all three cases, there exist four or five commonly-
    used input methods designed to be used with a standard QWERTY
    keyboard, that depend on remapping keys. The only alternatives are
    expensive, huge (largely unstandardised) keyboards originally
    designed for typesetters.

    Users who normally enter text in Chinese and Japanese have no trouble
    with the remapping because usage patterns develop for touch typing
    just as for users of QWERTY keyboards for Latin characters. The
    problem arises for users like myself, who occasionally want to enter
    Chinese, Hebrew, Greek, etc, and simply can't remember which keys go
    with which method.

    Having such a keyboard, whose visual indicators can be programmed to
    change with input method and with shift, opt and alt keys, would be a
    real boon.

    George
    ------
    Dr George W Gerrity Ph: +61 2 6386 3431
    GWG Associates Fax: +61 2 6386 4431
    P O Box 229 Time: +10 hours (ref GMT)
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