Tastaturlayouts

Tastaturlayouts refer to the arrangement of printable and non-printable keys on a keyboard, designed to optimize the input of characters for a particular language or set of languages. They describe which key produces which character, independent of the physical keyboard’s shape or brand. Different layouts may coexist on a system, with users switching between them to type in multiple languages or to improve typing efficiency or accessibility.

Common Latin-script layouts include QWERTY (widely used in the US and UK), QWERTZ (Germany and Central Europe), and AZERTY (France and Belgium). Alternative or optimized layouts such as DVORAK and Colemak aim to reduce finger movement and increase typing speed. Non-Latin scripts have specialized layouts, for example JIS keyboards for Japanese and JCUKEN for Russian, often used together with input methods to compose ideographic or Cyrillic characters. Many layouts support dead keys to add diacritics or combine characters.

Standards and hardware distinctions exist: a layout is a software mapping from physical keys to code points, described by mappings and modifiers rather than glyphs. Standards such as ISO/IEC 9995 influence layout concepts and labeling, while variations like ANSI and JIS reflect regional differences in key arrangement and spacing. Operating systems provide keyboard layout switching, with per-language, per-application, and accessibility options.

Practical considerations include typing speed, language coverage, and accessibility. People choose layouts based on language needs, ergonomic preferences, or personal familiarity. The concept also encompasses input methods that compose characters rather than directly mapping a key to a single glyph, and it includes developments in customizable or adaptive layouts for multilingual use.