Tips For Computer Keyboard Development
General
If there are differences between the macOS and Windows versions of the keyboard layout of the majority language, you should keep those differences also in thelayout for the minority language. The idea is that we stay within the traditionand specifications of each platform, and we try to make the differences as smalland as systematic as possible. This should make for the best user experience.
Windows
For most of the languages in the Giella infrastructure, there is no predefinedlocale within Windows. You can create one yourself to go along with the keyboardlayout, like this example from Võro:
windows: config: locale: vro-Latn languageName: Võro kiilThis will make it possible to install spellers, and tie the speller tothe keyboard language, so that MS Office and other applications in Windows willautomatically use the correct speller when switching keyboards.
macOS
You should consider adding a separate Cmd-key layer, to make the command keybehave identically to the majority language layout. If not, the command key willbe tied to the actual letters produced when pressing the relevant keys, whichwill not always be what the users expect. Example:
- when pressing Cmd + Q when using the North Sámi keyboard from Apple,the output is Cmd + Á, since the letter “Á” has been placed on Q.
- to avoid this, one can specify a separate Cmd layer, where Q isactually producing the letter “Q” instead of the North Sámi “Á”. When donelike that, Cmd+Q will trigger the behavior expected by the users.