Armenian Keyboard layout

[Sarkis11]

What keyboard layout do you use for typing in Armenian? What do you like most about the layout you use? What do you dislike about it?

 

Below is my keyboard layout. It is a mix of the old Olympia typewriter and a transliteration of the Latin characters according to my own taste, my own modification according to the original sounds, which is closer to the Eastern Armenian pronunciation. The punctuation signs remain where the English punctuation signs are in the QWERTY layout, which is what I like most, and some of the extra letters are placed in a relatively logical way according to the morphology: the փ is in the 4 because it looks like a handwritten 4, the ճ is in the 6 because it looks like a 6, and the շ is in the 7 because the capital Շ looks somewhat like a 7. The rest are either arbitrary, or similar to the "Olympia" or the "Armenia" layouts. The numbers are in the number pad and in the upper row with Right-ALT.

 

This is my keyboard layout:

 

1) small case and capital (normal and Shift):

 

՝ ՜ օ Օ ձ Ձ խ Խ փ Փ ռ Ռ ճ Ճ շ Շ ղ Ղ և ( * ) - — էԷ

 

քՔ վՎ եԵ րՐ տՏ ըԸ ւՒ իԻ ոՈ պՊ ջՋ ծԾ ՛ …

 

աԱ սՍ դԴ ֆՖ գԳ հՀ յՅ կԿ լԼ թԹ ’ ‘

 

ցՑ զԶ չՉ ժԺ բԲ նՆ մՄ , « . » ։ ՞

 

2) right ALT:

 

µ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 _ =

 

† ‡ € ՟ ⁂ ¥ § | { } [ ] \

 

¶ $ ½ ¼ ¾ % ‰ ❁ £ “ ”

 

÷ × + − ± # ° < > /

 

 

I never use the և, but I put it in just because it was there, and because someone else might want to have this same layout and like to have that letter. I am against fusing or mixing two letters in one.

 

Do you have a any suggestions or objections? Any way to improve it?

 

By the way, if anyone likes it and wants the keyboard definition files, I can send them; just send me a PM. Although, if you want to have fun making it yourself, you can make it easily with the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator for Windows or with Ukelele for the Mac. Both are free programs. The MLKC is a free download from Microsoft, and Ukelele is a third party freeware that can be found through Google.

Edited September 12, 2011 by Sarkis11