A keyboard for typing hieroglyphs
We are working on a larger project in which a lot of hieroglyphic text is produced. This text will of course be encoded in Unicode and according to our recommendations. But how is so much text produced? If you first annotate the hieroglyphs according to Manuel de Codage, you can easily convert them into Unicode. To do this, you can use our very simple web service. Or you can use the great tool from the great STaTbS21D project. You know all this so far, don’t you?
If you have created a text in hieroglyphs, you must proofread it and be able to make corrections. How do you enter hieroglyphs directly? Christian Casey has created a great solution: a virtual keyboard. However, this keyboard contains Unicode hieroglyphs, which are not independent signs. According to our recommendations, they should not be used. There is a risk that we may inadvertently use such characters when making corrections. Of course, we don’t want that to happen. Our German team members, Sebastian and Wilfried, have created their own Keyman keyboard. It’s really very easy to do. We recommend that you create your own keyboard. Download Keyman Developer and get started.
Everyone probably has their own preference for which hieroglyph should be on which key. For example, where should 𓃹 be, and where should 𓏠 be? What one person prefers, another may find creepy. For this reason, make your own keyboard. Another problem is that there are more hieroglyphs than there are keys on the keyboard. You need tricks to enter all the signs. In Christian Casey’s keyboard, you enter the Gardiner number and press the spacebar. The spacebar indicates that the input is complete and a hieroglyph should be produced. Sebastian and Wilfried wanted to avoid this extra step. But how does the keyboard know when the input is complete? They use the following trick: whenever the input is not yet complete, they press the Shift key during input. The Shift key is not pressed for the last element. 𓅓 has the Gardiner code G17. The character is therefore entered as follows: SHIFT+G, then SHIFT+1, then 7. 𓊽 has the code R11: SHIFT+R, then SHIFT+1, then 1. O.k?
They are Gardiner code experts and are happy with their system. To make others happy, too, they have built in a few shortcuts that take phonetic values into account. 𓅓 can be entered simply by pressing the m key. 𓊽 has the phonetic value ḏd. What do you do there? The principle is similar to that of the Gardiner codes: Press SHIFT+d, then d; the end of the input is indicated by not pressing Shift on the last element. This method is not perfect because it does not correspond exactly to the input according to the Manuel de Codage. But they were happy with it.
Were you surprised that their nationality was mentioned here? It is relevant here. Germany uses a different keyboard than the USA. The main difference is the position of the Y and Z keys. Where the Z key is in the USA, the Y key is in Germany. And vice versa! The keyboard designed by Sebastian and Wilfried follows the German layout. If you have a “normal” keyboard, you must first press SHIFT+Y, then 1 for 𓏤. It’s counterintuitive, of course. If you still want this keyboard, download and install it in your Keyman here. Then, create a better one that fits your desires!
Have fun!
This work is marked with CC0 1.0 Universal
