US International Keyboard Layout

Download Frontype Virtual US International Keyboard

From Wiki:

U.S. keyboards are used not only in the United States, but also in other English-speaking countries (e.g., Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand), except for the United Kingdom and Ireland, which use a UK standard instead.

The US keyboard layout has a second Alt key instead of the AltGr key and does not use any dead keys, and thus offers no way of inputting any sort of diacritic or accent; this makes it unsuitable for all but a handful of languages. On the other hand, the US or UK keyboard layout is occasionally used by programmers in countries where the keys for []{} are located in less convenient positions on the locally customary layout.

The US keyboard layout can be configured to type accents efficiently on some operating systems (including Windows). This is known as the US-International layout, which uses dead keys on the standard US keyboard, with the right Alt key then acting as an AltGr key. Accented characters can be typed by pressing the appropriate accent key, then the letter on the keyboard in its unaccented form. Dead keys for accents share the same key as ‘, `, “, ^ and ~.

An accent key is activated by pressing it (without holding it), and next pressing the letter that requires an accent. After the two strokes, the single accented character would appear on the screen. Note that only certain letters (such as vowels and n) can have accents in this way. If one wishes to use the normal single quotation mark, caret and so on, one would press the accent key followed by the space bar; this is a minor inconvenience when using quotation marks and apostrophes before vowels while typing English. Accented characters can be typed with the following combinations:

• ‘ + the letter (é), versus ‘ + space + the letter (’e)
• ` the letter (è)
• ” the letter (ë), versus ” + space + the letter (”e)
• ^ the letter (ê)
• ~ the letter (ñ)

There are also alternative US-International formats, whereby modifier keys such as shift and alt are used, and the placement of the accented characters are different from the placement of their unaccented counterparts.

• The US-International keyboard layout is used in the Netherlands.
  • In The Netherlands often just a second Alt is shown instead of AltGr, but it has the same function. The standard Dutch layout is rarely used, excluding very few specialized industries.

From Microsoft:

How to Use the United States-International Keyboard

Adding the United States-International Keyboard Layout

To add the United States-International keyboard layout, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Under Pick a category, click Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options.
3. Under or pick a Control Panel icon, click Regional and Language Options.The Regional and Language Options dialog box appears.
4. On the Languages tab, click Details.The Text Services and Input Languages dialog box appears.
5. Under Installed services, click Add.The Add Input language dialog box appears.
6. In the Input language list, click the language that you want. For example, English (United States).NOTE: When you use the United States-International keyboard layout, you should also use an English language setting.
7. In the Keyboard layout/IME list, click United States-International, and then click OK.
8. In the Select one of the installed input languages to use when you start your computer list, click Language name - United States-International (where Language name is the language that you selected in step 6), and then click OK.
9. In the Regional and Language Options dialog box, click OK.Notice that the Language bar appears on the taskbar. When you position the mouse pointer over it, a ToolTip appears that describes the active keyboard layout. For example, United States-International.
10. Click the Language bar, and then click United States-International on the shortcut menu that appears.The United States-International keyboard layout is selected.

Creating Extended Characters

The United States-International keyboard layout assigns new functions to the right ALT key (the ALT key on the right side of the keyboard). Use the right ALT key in combination with other keys to create extended characters.

The following table illustrates characters that you can create by using the combination of the right ALT key plus another key, as well as those that you can create by using the right ALT key plus the SHIFT key plus another key:

Creating International Characters

When you press the APOSTROPHE (‘) key, QUOTATION MARK (“) key, ACCENT GRAVE (`) key, TILDE (~) key, ACCENT CIRCUMFLEX key, or CARET (^) key, nothing appears on the screen until you press a second key. If you press one of the letters designated as eligible to receive an accent mark, the accented version of the letter appears. If you press the key of a character that is not eligible to receive an accent mark, two separate characters appear.

In other words, when you use the US-International keyboard layout, Windows automatically accents letters that customarily receive an accent but does not automatically accent letters that do not customarily receive an accent.

The following table illustrates the accented characters that you can create:

How to Use StickyKeys

Key combinations require you to press and hold down two or more keys at once. Single-handed typists or users who use a mouth-stick have difficulty doing this. StickyKeys enables you to press a modifier key (CTRL, ALT, or SHIFT), or the Windows logo key, and have it remain active until another key is pressed.

To turn on StickyKeys, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Under Pick a category, click Accessibility Options.
3. Under or pick a Control Panel icon, click Accessibility Options.The Accessibility Options dialog box appears.
4. On the Keyboard tab, click to select the Use StickyKeys check box, and then click OK.

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