--- suzmccarth <suzmccarth@...> wrote:

> I think the point made by Don, and I share it, is
> that however
> simple and unergonmic these pickers look, they are
> better than not
> being able to keyboard your own script at all.
> Obviously, whether it
> is learning the deadkey and shift sequences, or
> learning the
> alphabetic transliteration of the script, these
> skills are not
> easily picked up and prevent access to keyboarding.

Personally, I feel that providing virtual (onscreen)
keyboards is also important.

One problem with character pickers is that many are
written for, or optimised for, Internet Explorer.

> Just a simple customized 'insert symbol' utility
> would do for a
> start. The issue is not so much technical as it is
> believing in the
> first place that digitial literacy and the English
> alphabet are not
> inextricably linked.

True, a keyboard layout should be informed by both the
orthography of the language and pedagogical issues.

The reality is that either an azerty or a qwerty
keyboard is likely to be attached to the computer.
Custom designed keyboards would be much more
expensive. Although keyboard skins, or more probably
keycap stickers would be a m,ore affordable approach.

Alternatively, a graphics tablet system, much like
some i've seen for the Ethiopic script could work as
well, although cost is again an issue.

Taken into account how the written language is taught,
what would be the best way to adapt Vai characters to
a qwerty/azerty keyboard?




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