--- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "Peter Constable" <petercon@...> wrote:

Rather, the defining characteristic is that there is
> indirect entry path involving an intermediate textual
representation,
> requiring a special UI

UI?

for showing the processing of that intermediate
> representation.
>
> If an input method for Tamil uses some special UI element that shows
> some intermediate text representation that is processed prior to
> entering the final text, then it would be, by definition, an IME.

What do you mean by representation? The transliteration IME's, the
most popular type of IME for Indic scripts, can sometimes be used in
a transparent mode where the intermediate text (English text) is
represented. However, in the non-transparent mode the intermediate
English text can be invisible - it is not visually represented.
Therefore, it takes detailed knowledge of the software to decide if
it is a non-transparent transliteration or a phonetic keyboard.

Suzanne McCarthy