New Keyboard Layouts Available (Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Coptic - betas)

[ArchivePoster]

Posted by: Vincent M. Setterholm
         

I've designed a number of new Keyboard Layouts that are available for download from the Logos Beta Test webpage. This suit of keyboards, covering Greek, Hebrew, Coptic, and Syriac, are designed to facilitate, as much as possible, phonetic input based on English pronunciation and a QWERTY keyboard. Additionally, wherever possible, I've tried to be consistent from one keyboard to another, so the Syriac and Hebrew layouts are quite similar, and the Greek and Coptic layouts are quite similar.

 

The Hebrew keyboard supports all the conventions documented in the SBL Hebrew font. (A handful of people on this list may have seen my first draft of this keyboard - input has been rather greatly simplified since the initial release.)

 

The Coptic Keyboard uses the new Unicode 4.1 code points. (The Coptic extensions to the Greek alphabet are also supported on the Greek keyboard, but that support will probably be removed in the future once there are good, professional Coptic font solutions available that use the 4.1 code points.)

 

One of the wonderful benefits of Unicode is that the output is standardized while the input method can be customized to meet the individual's needs. I have no illusions that these layouts will meet everyone's needs, but I think they represent a solid choice for English speakers who haven't already spent a lot of energy learning another system, or for whom consistency across languages is important.

 

The keyboards can be found at:

 

http://www.logos.com/support/lbs/fonts/HebrewKeyboard

http://www.logos.com/support/lbs/fonts/GreekKeyboard

http://www.logos.com/support/lbs/fonts/SyriacKeyboard

http://www.logos.com/support/lbs/fonts/CopticKeyboard

 

Cheers,

Vincent M. Setterholm

Logos Bible Software

         

[ArchivePoster]

Posted by: twuandy
         
Dear Vincent,
I'm not sure what you're offering.  I've downloaded the Coptic church font
that doesn't have upsilon (epsee) - at least not when working from the Word
2003 keyboard  And I've downloaded - at Ken's suggestion - the New Athena
Unicode font.  With which font does your keyboard work?  How do I coordinate
your keyboard with the font?
Andy


>From: "Vincent M. Setterholm"
>Reply-To: "SBL Fonts"
>To: "SBL Fonts"
>Subject: New Keyboard Layouts Available (Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Coptic -
>betas)
>Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 20:23:13 -0700
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>     New Message on SBL Fonts
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>       New Keyboard Layouts Available (Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Coptic -
>betas)
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>               From:
>               Vincent M. Setterholm
>
>
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>
>               I've designed a number of new Keyboard Layouts that are
>available for download from the Logos Beta Test webpage. This suit of
>keyboards, covering Greek, Hebrew, Coptic, and Syriac, are designed to
>facilitate, as much as possible, phonetic input based on English
>pronunciation and a QWERTY keyboard. Additionally, wherever possible, I've
>tried to be consistent from one keyboard to another, so the Syriac and
>Hebrew layouts are quite similar, and the Greek and Coptic layouts are
>quite similar.   The Hebrew keyboard supports all the conventions
>documented in the SBL Hebrew font. (A handful of people on this list may
>have seen my first draft of this keyboard - input has been rather greatly
>simplified since the initial release.)   The Coptic Keyboard uses the new
>Unicode 4.1 code points. (The Coptic extensions to the Greek alphabet are
>also supported on the Greek keyboard, but that support will probably be
>removed in the future once there are good, professional Coptic font
>solutions available that use the 4.1 code points.)   One of the wonderful
>benefits of Unicode is that the output is standardized while the input
>method can be customized to meet the individual's needs. I have no
>illusions that these layouts will meet everyone's needs, but I think they
>represent a solid choice for English speakers who haven't already spent a
>lot of energy learning another system, or for whom consistency across
>languages is important.   The keyboards can be found at:  
>http://www.logos.com/support/lbs/fonts/HebrewKeyboard
>http://www.logos.com/support/lbs/fonts/GreekKeyboard
>http://www.logos.com/support/lbs/fonts/SyriacKeyboard
>http://www.logos.com/support/lbs/fonts/CopticKeyboard   Cheers, Vincent M.
>Setterholm Logos Bible Software
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[ArchivePoster]

Posted by: Vincent M. Setterholm
         

Andy,

This keyboard should work with any font that follows the Unicode 4.1 standard. Because not all applications support Unicode 4.1 yet, you may experience problems with certain characters in certain applications (for example, the double-oblique hyphen is sometimes converted to a bullet in Word 2003). Some applications may display the Coptic correctly, but have problems searching Coptic, because they rely on an old version of ICU to tell them what properties various characters have - one that doesn't contain information on the 4.1 code page for Coptic.

 

There does seem to be a shortage of Unicode 4.1 compatible Coptic fonts, but that should change over time. If you want to use New Athena Unicode, I recommend downloading the latest version. The previous version was missing a few characters used in Coptic, which the font designer kindly added. Some of the diacritics don't position very well in this font, but I still use it as a temporary solution while waiting for a better one to present itself.

         

[ArchivePoster]

Posted by: twuandy
         
Dear Vincent,
I installed the keyboard, and it seems to work well with New Athena.  Thanks
very much.  How's the work coming on getting the Peshitta into Logos?  Give
my regards to Mike.  Are you going to have a presence at SBL in
Philadelphia?
Andy


>From: "Vincent M. Setterholm"
>Reply-To: "SBL Fonts"
>To: "SBL Fonts"
>Subject: Re: New Keyboard Layouts Available (Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Coptic
>- betas)
>Date: Sun, 9 Oct 2005 13:10:12 -0700
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>     New Message on SBL Fonts
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>       New Keyboard Layouts Available (Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Coptic -
>betas)
>
>
>
>
>       Reply
>
>
>
>                Â 
>
>                   Reply to Sender
>                     Recommend
>
>                   Message 3 in Discussion
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>               From:
>               Vincent M. Setterholm
>
>
>
>
>               Andy, This keyboard should work with any font that follows
>the Unicode 4.1 standard. Because not all applications support Unicode 4.1
>yet, you may experience problems with certain characters in certain
>applications (for example, the double-oblique hyphen is sometimes converted
>to a bullet in Word 2003). Some applications may display the Coptic
>correctly, but have problems searching Coptic, because they rely on an old
>version of ICU to tell them what properties various characters have - one
>that doesn't contain information on the 4.1 code page for Coptic.   There
>does seem to be a shortage of Unicode 4.1 compatible Coptic fonts, but that
>should change over time. If you want to use New Athena Unicode, I recommend
>downloading the latest version. The previous version was missing a few
>characters used in Coptic, which the font designer kindly added. Some of
>the diacritics don't position very well in this font, but I still use it as
>a temporary solution while waiting for a better one to present itself.
>
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