Enhancing Usability regarding Input Methods in the X desktop

[Andreas Laestadius]

In my humble oppinion, there is a usability issue with
the current way the linux desktop handles input
methods. Localization and translation efforts are all
good, however, currently the Linux desktop is
multi-monolingual at best.

It might or might not be easy to implement, but  as a
usability aspect, the X desktop needs a unified,
locale independent and on demand way of setting of the
input method.

This is a significant usability issue for many
multilingual people. I for one switch frequently
between Swedish, English and Japanese, and I know many
people (translators, other multilingual professionals)
have the need to use multiple character sets, input
modes in the same document and / or switch often
between different modes.

Using the LANG variable (as many applications do) to
set the _input_ method for an application is not the
answer, that's localization down the monolingual-lane,
not true i18n.

I am sorry if I come off like requesting a feature (or
stating some kind of wish list), but I strongly feel
for this usability issue.

Where would be the right place for the implantation
for this? Is there any project dealing with this at
present?

Cheers,

Andreas Laestadius


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