05 October 2012

Indic keyboad for computers

I strongly feel that all the keyboards on Laptop/computers in India must have 2 additional keys(or reuse of existing keys).
  • for toggling between English & Indian languages
  • for typing Rupee symbol
Korea, China, Japan, Turkey, France, Germany, Brazil and many more have customized keyboard layouts for their computers which enables them to type in their languages. They chat & send official mails in their languages. Why don't we Indians have such a keyboard on computers sold in India ? We can instal some fonts/apps but the Indic fonts must come by default in Operating systems & a key should be present to toggle between English & Indic languages. The 'Menu' key(present between right-Alt & right-Ctrl) can be used for it. (The default Indian language can be configurable for this.)

We got a new unique identity/symbol for our currency on 15th July 2010. It's more that 2 years & we don't have a key on computer keyboards. We can instal some fonts & type rupee symbol. But this is not known to many people. Also documents with such fonts may not be portable if similar fonts are not installed on reader's computer. So we need a key on computers to type Rupee symbol. The font/character must come as default in OS. A key must be assigned for it & the symbol must be printed on that key. I think 'R' key or key left side of digit 1(`) or key for digit 6 or key for backslash(\). If it is not possible to implement with a single key press, any other combination key can be used. It could be Menu/Ctrl/Alt/Shift/Fn key.
My choices are:
  • Fn+R : I think this combination does not have any assigned action
  • Win+R : but it is already in use for 'Run'
  • Menu+R : but this combination is difficult to type with a single hand
  • Menu+\ : currently this pops up a menu after typing \
  • Win+` : currently this types only '
Any such combinations are OK if they are easy to use.

Why don't manufacturers add these new features which will ease the use of computers ?

More to read -
Which all countries have symbols for their currencies : Click here