Hi Grad, AFAIK there is an international standard on how keys should be labeled with letters. It's called "ITU E.161 : Arrangement of digits, letters and symbols on telephones and other devices that can be used for gaining access to a telephone network" :) and if you feel like reading all the details you can download it at:
http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-E.161-200102-I/en It's quite a recent standard (~2001) and before this there used to be a few variations (although not in order to accommodate accented characters) according to this article: http://dialabc.com/motion/keypads.html The standard itself doesn't seem to cover any localization concerns, and I guess because it's an international standard the keyboard is now the same around the world. However, as is mentioned towards the end of the 2nd page linked above, the use of letters on the keypad is mostly an American phenomenon. In the UK, I have never seen any numbers like 1-800-CALL-NOW and I have only ever been asked to enter digits in any of the automated telephone services that I've had to call. I think you can safely do your keyboard layout according to the ITU standard, and not worry too much about international users. I suppose most people who go online or interact with services outside their home country already know a latin-ized version of their name that they consistently use. Cheers, Alex On Jan 28, 2008 4:22 PM, Grady Kelly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hey Alex, > > The software is a softphone (web based phone). The dial pad is really > only used for traversing phone systems. For instance, you call a number and > you have to enter the first 3 digits of the persons last name. When you do > this, the touch tones generated from the keypad are what give the phone > system the information that they need. But now that I am thinking about > that more, it makes me wonder about how a keypad in one language would enter > information into a phone system that is another language ... > > > Grady Kelly > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.gradykelly.com > > > > On Jan 28, 2008 9:15 AM, Alexander Baxevanis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > Hi Grad, > > > > I don't think I've ever seen the phone keypad lettering being adapted > > to other languages in normal (desk) phones. In mobile phones, where > > the numeric keypad is used for text entry, the assignment of letters > > to keys depends on the manufacturer, but for languages using a > > variation of the alphabet accented characters will go on the same key > > as the character without the accent, for example "ñ" will go on the > > same key as "n". For some languages such as Greek (my native tongue) > > I've seen completely different approaches by each manufacturer (not > > sure if things have been standardized now) and only a few manufactures > > would care to produce a different keyboard faceplate that shows the > > Greek key assignment. Other languages/scripts (not sure if this is the > > correct terminology) such as Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Hindu etc. > > have more complex input methods, you can probably find a lot about > > that on the net... > > > > Not sure what you're trying to do, is it related to a service accessed > > by a fixed phone or a mobile? > > > > Regards, > > Alex > > > > > > > > > > On Jan 28, 2008 3:50 PM, Grady Kelly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > This may be an odd question ... > > > > > > I have mentioned in an earlier post about designing a telecommunications > > > application, and localization. > > > > > > You all know how the phone dial pad has letters associated with the > number? > > > For instance, 2 is ABC, 3 is DEF, etc. How is this done in other > > > languages? For instance, Spanish has 2 extra letters than the english > > > alphabet, the "ñ" and double L "ll" are they on the spanish phones? > What > > > about other languages? > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > > > Grady Kelly > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > http://www.gradykelly.com > > > ________________________________________________________________ > > > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > > > February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > > > Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > > > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > > > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > > > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
