Extended keyboards: Can they save typography?

[@TypographyGuru]

My typography keycaps on Kickstarter ☞ www.kickstarter.com/projects/schriftkontor/typografie-tastatur

[@captainkeyboard1007]

Thank you for making this story for a typist and a keyboard specialist who has a sheer knack for typesetting like me.⌨

[@jessemkahn]

i’m only a minute in, but i think i can pretty safely say my favorite part of this video is your sassy introduction. it’s like you can’t believe you even have to address this! 😂😂😂

[@titarch]

I personally use a compose key system with an additional alt layout with most common special characters I need in a very intuitive way. My case is a bit special and a result of different needs: - As a software engineer I like having access to the default qwerty keyboard by default - As a french person I like having access to typical french accents and punctuation The solution x11 layout is fr us variant with rwin compose key, let me give you some example of how that works: It behaves mostly like your typical us qwerty but: Using right alt key in combination with other key gives common french characters: - alt + e = é - alt + u = ù - alt + c = ç - works with shift which is not in azerty keyboards: Shift+alt+c = Ç - alt + [ = «, alt + ] = » - a lot more For anything else I have the intuitive compose key, you can replace e by any other letter: - compose + ' + e = é - compose + ` + e = è - compose + ^ + e = ê - compose + " + e = ë - much more: compose + t + m = ™, compose + - + L = £, compose + G + d = δ, compose + . + . = … This all minimizes the amount to learn and makes things very intuitive and I cannot imagine going back

[@casperdewith]

Great to know that Germany now has a new keyboard standard (with the ẞ). So it is possible. And your keycaps look awesome! For myself, I created a custom layout with exactly the symbols and accented characters that I need. I get them with AltGr, and Compose for the more obscure characters.

[@diakritika]

I made a program called Šibboleth in 2006 to have all diacritical characters readily available on a standard keyboard (s + < + # → š) for my master thesis on … diacritical characters :) But your approach is clearly on another level.

[@thlinard]

AFNOR, the French Standardization Association (equivalent to DIN in Germany) defined in 2019 an extended keyboard (NF Z71-300) with apostrophe, 2 quotation marks, both dashes, etc.

[@DailyMontaigne]

To get easy keyboard access to all the Latin-based characters in the Windows character map, I use three Elgato Stream Decks placed side by side as keyboard accessories. First of all, it would be very helpful to create individual Stream Deck profiles for special character sets (Latin, Chinese, Arabic, whatever). All this in addition to the typography keycaps introduced by Typography Guru. My Stream Deck solutions only work when you are stationary, but with an enhanced keyboard you have mobile access everywhere without having to carry a Stream Deck with you when you are travelling, for example.

[@TypographyGuru]

Yeah, keys which can change their display dynamically could solve a lot of problems too.

[@kherwaal]

श्रीमान मेरा मानना है कि ज्ञान को किसी एक भाषा तक सीमित नहीं रखना चाहिए। मुझे आपका वीडियो बहुत पसंद आया। मुझे आशा है कि आने वाले वीडियो‍ आप हिंदी भाषा में भी उपलब्ध कराएंगे धन्यवाद 🙏♥️

[@djkasperg]

Wow! This is fantastic. If you're doing a danish version I'll definitely buy one. Is there any way you'd make a video going through what each symbol on each key means? I'd be a great learning experience.

[@RichardRutterUK]

Thanks Ralf. Great video - really informative - good to know there's at least a German standard for this. Personally I'd pay good money for an English (ideally British English) keyboard with these options shown, seeing as I struggle to remember even alt-hyphen is the shortcut for an en dash. Nice job with the Opentype alternates and colour font by the way!

[@marklsimonson]

Great video. One little detail wasn't quite right: 7-bit ascii _did_ include lowercase, even though some early computers didn't, probably to save memory.

[@TypographyGuru]

You are right. I didn’t express that well. Early computers and software could be uppercase-only, but not necessarily because 7-bit sets were being used.

[@amotaba]

Wow, a new video

[@Krasnoye_Plamya]

I still prefer alt-codes. It works with different language layouts. I speak Czech, German, English, and Russian. That would be at least 4-5 layout-sets I have to remember. This way works in all languages.

[@tobiaslunte6992]

You say that custom layouts can't be the solution, but tbh, if there was an easier way to take them with you onto others' machines, they could be excellent. As a programmer, I have completely different needs for special characters that aren't addressed by the new German layout, but my personal layout works great for them. Well, as long as I'm on my machine that is.

[@TypographyGuru]

”Can’t be a solution” in terms of establishing an extended character set for a broader audience. Apart from that, I support anything that helps.