From: Karl Pentzlin (karl-pentzlin@acssoft.de)
Date: Sun Jan 03 2010 - 15:01:08 CST
Am Sonntag, 3. Januar 2010 um 20:53 schrieb Doug Ewell:
DE> All of which reminds me that I'm *still* waiting for a good Latin-script
DE> keyboard layout
ISO/IEC SC35/WG1 already supplies the means for such (while not
standardizing specific layouts; this is left to the national bodies) and is
heavily working on improvements.
DE> that:
DE> 1. is based on the U.S. English layout and does not redefine any of its
DE> Level 1 or 2 keystrokes
DE> 2. supports as many characters as possible, in an intuitive way
Intuitivity is in the eye of the beholder.
For people not used to the U.S. English layout, this layout is by no
means intuitive. Thus, your requirements 1. and 2. contradict for most
people in the world. A realistic requirement, however, is:
... in a way which can be experienced as intuitive when learned and
used for some time.
DE> 3. can be implemented with existing 101-key hardware (no new physical
DE> keys)
Please have a look at:
http://www.open-std.org/JTC1/SC35/WG1/docs/info1-9995-3.pdf
The revision of ISO/IEC 9995-3 is now in the FDIS ballot stage and thus stable.
It tries to be a compromise between required compatibility to older standards
and being intuitive as far as possible for an audience as large as possible.
DE> 4. can be implemented using Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (no more
DE> than 4 shift states; Ctrl+char is not useful)
"4 shift states" is not compatible with the group/level concept of
ISO/IEC 9995 which has successful implementations in several keyboard
standards in different countries. There are three levels which usually
are recognized as shift states (the third one is commonly invoked by
the AltGr key, if one is present, or by Ctrl+Alt), and usually one or
two groups.
Ctrl+char is not used anyway in this concept.
Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (V1.4) is definitely an outdated tool.
- Karl
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