[SCIM] Re: Custom Keyboard Layout Editor/Interpreter for SCIM

[Yukiko Bando]

Hello,

On Thursday 30 December 2004, Mike FABIAN wrote:

> > On Mon, 22 Nov 2004,  Yukiko Bando wrote:
> >> With M17N, SCIM can support more than thirty languages, but there is not
> >> an easy way to type Western/Eastern European languages on a
> >> Japanese/Chinese or US standard keyboards.
>
> There are inut methods in M17N which are very nice for that purpose,
> for example M17N-t-latn-post, M17N-t-rfc1345, and recently Kenichi
> Handa added M17N-t-latn-pre.

Thank you for the information.  I hadn't really tried out input methods 
categorized in "Other" of the SCIM menu...

> >> Users have to change the whole keyboard layout to
> >> another language (this is what KDE offers) or use Multi keys to input
> >> non-English characters unless they use customized xmodmaps.  The first
> >> option is confusing because it often causes mismatch between the glyph
> >> printed on a key and what users actually get.
>
> Yes, I don't like switching keyboard layouts either, it is too
> confusing, I think it is more efficient to stick with one layout and
> use input methods for everything which is not on that keyboard layout.
>
> >> The second one is not for everyone either,
> >> IMHO.  Multi keys are not as easy to use as dead keys...
>
> M17N-t-latn-pre and M17N-t-latn-post are equally efficient as dead
> keys, using these input method one needs only 2 keystrokes for accented
> characters, just as with dead keys, not 3 keystrokes as with
> Multi_key.
>
> M17N-t-rfc1345 is less efficient than M17N-t-latn-pre and
> M17N-t-latn-post because it needs 3 keystrokes for most accented
> characters, just like Multi_key but on the other hand it allows the
> input of many more special characters.
>
> M17N-t-latn-pre is currently my preferred way to type German.

One has to always press Shift to type apostrophe and grave to generate letters 
with an acute/grave accent on Japanese keyboards, but M17N-t-latn-pre seems 
much easier to use than Multi_key.  I agree that it is very good for people 
who don't want to switch keyboard layouts or bother to tweak one.  
 
> >> 1. Users choose one from the SCIM's input methods menu:
> >>
> >>     Custom Keyboards > MyHungarian
> >>     Custom Keyboards > MySpanish
>
> That has about the same effect as using the M17N input methods
> now, I don't really see an advantage here.

I see.  It might be better to ask Handa-san to make M17N input methods a 
little bit more user friendly rather than invent a new tool for the same 
purpose.  Here are what I'd like to see in a future version of M17N-lib or 
scim-m17n. :)  

- I had to refer to /usr/share/m17n/latn-pre.min to find out how to type 
accented characters.  Are there any online documents which describe how to 
use each M17N input method?  If there are, I think it would be nice to 
mention such URLs in the SCIM Help.

- How about providing more variations of M17N-t-latn-pre each of which is 
modified to (a) specific language(s)?  For example, ". /" is used to generate 
letters with an above dot, but it is unnecessary in West European languages 
such as French, Spanish, Portuguese etc.  With M17N-t-latn-pre on, it seems 
that one has to press Space to type "./".

-  How about a GUI configuration tool for M17N (just like the one for 
scim-table) in the SCIM setup panel where one can disable unnecessary key 
sequences (eg ./) and even customize such definitions?  Is it possible?

Regards,

Yukiko