Philippe, I have taken the liberty of adding this to the collection of diverse African language keyboard projects at http://www.bisharat.net/A12N/Projects/ .
One of the things I've been interested to promote is getting a clearer idea of what the character needs are where and for what uses (via the A12n page & A12n-collaboration). It does appear that the Unicode repertoire currently covers most language needs. Manageable keyboard layouts may necessitate limiting range of coverage to several countries (and the languages within them) or a subregion. The Sahel, in my opinion, offers a relatively simpler subset of issues to start addressing (tone markings in the tonal languages of the region are generally not needed in most circumstances). The issues of combinations for diacritics and tones present some complications for some languages, but here too it is best to analyze the issues looking at specific languages. For instance some languages of southern Nigeria, notably Igbo and Yoruba, with dot-under characters and greater importance of marking tone, pose some complications (some of these have been explored on the Igbo and Yoruba boards - http://www.quicktopic.com/17/H/tCcDxVXHgQxN and http://www.quicktopic.com/15/H/KKgbRqJUAR8 , respectively). These are just some too quick comments (I'm running up against various deadlines). Don Osborn Bisharat.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Philippe Verdy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Unicode Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2004 7:27 PM Subject: Pan-Sahelian keyboard project (French layout) > Here you'll find a tentative French-based Pan-Sahelian keyboard layout. > - in Excel format: > http://www.rodage.org/pub/French-Sahel.xls > - as a PDF snapshot: > http://www.rodage.org/pub/French-Sahel.pdf > > The layout uses AltGr and AltGr+Shift maps for non-African characters and it > supports most of the European languages, with which Pan-Sahelian languages are > used. The layout is fully compatible with an existing French keyboard layout > (yes it has the Euro, and all French AltGr keys), to minimize the cost of > building such keyboards, which could be distributed as a low-cost plate of > plastic stickers to put on an existing French keyboard. > > It uses an "Afr" deadkey which can be entered prior to the African characters > entered without the AltGr key. Some keyboards support a "Fn" key which could be > used as a modifier (working like a second AltGr key). > > Two snapshots are displayed: > - one simplified to just display the important characters in the AltGr and Afr > maps. When a character has both a lowercase and uppercase version, only the > lowercase is displayed centered vertically. This enhances the > readability/usability of the keyboard (exactly like on classic keyboards where > lowercase unaccented letters are showing only the uppercase version aligned > vertically on the top). > - the second snapshot shows the complete assignments. Unused positions are shown > with a dark grey background. > > Some African keys are shown on a redish background (in the Excel version) for > characters which must be composed in Unicode, and are still approximative and > possibly candidates for addition in the Unicode standard. These keys cause > problems for now, as it is not clear how these letters will be encoded in > Unicode: as a combining sequence? The most problematic characters are those > African letters with hooks. > > I'd like suggestions about these missing characters (sometimes only the > lowercase letter is assigned not the uppercase one)... > >
