لؤلؤة

Goals

Ergonomic typing of unvocalized and vocalized text with 10 fingers

Modern Standard Arabic and Quranic Arabic

Localized numbers (European/Arabic-Indic)

Usable as primary or secondary keyboard

Compose-based

Support for Markdown, RST, Wikitext and similar markup

Other languages using the Arabic alphabet (regional dialects, Urdu, - Persian) are explicitly not supported.

The Arabic Alphabet

- There are 28 letters in the Arabic alphabet, plus quite a few extra - symbols required for proper text input, like the hamza in its different - shapes أ إ آ ء ئ ؤ, ta marbutah ة, alif maqsurah ى and various diacritics for vowelized texts. - - Since the usability of a keyboard layout depends on the text entered - it is necessary to study letter and letter combination frequencies first. - - The corpus used for the following analysis consists of -

- The plot below shows ا ل ي م و ن can be - considered the most frequently used letters in the Arabic language. - - Together they account for more than 55% of all letters in the corpus. -

Goals

Ergonomic typing of unvocalized and vocalized text with 10 fingers

Modern Standard Arabic and Quranic Arabic

Localized numbers (European/Arabic-Indic)

Usable as primary or secondary keyboard

Compose-based

Support for Markdown, RST, Wikitext and similar markup

Other languages using the Arabic alphabet (regional dialects, Urdu, + Persian) are explicitly not supported.

الأبجدية العربية

The Arabic Alphabet

+ There are 28 letters in the Arabic alphabet, plus quite a few extra + symbols required for proper text input, like the hamza in its different + shapes أ إ آ ء ئ ؤ, ta marbutah ة, alif maqsurah ى and various diacritics for vowelized texts. + + Since the usability of a keyboard layout depends on the text entered + it is necessary to study letter and letter combination frequencies first. + + The corpus used for the following analysis consists of +

+ + + {% for c in corpus|sort(attribute='source.name') %} + + + {% set count = c.get ('count') %} + {% if count %} + {# use new style formatting, for some reason %7,d does not work #} + + {% else %} + + {% endif %} + + {% set stats = c.get ('stats') %} + {% for k in ('words', 'characters') %} + {% set i = stats[k]|approx %} + + {% endfor %} + + {% endfor %} + + {% for k in ('words', 'characters') %} + {% set i = corpustotal[k]|approx %} + + {% endfor %} + +

Source		Words	Characters
{{ c.source.name }}	{{ '{:7,d}'.format(count[0])\|numspace }} {{ count[1] }}		{{ '%5.1f'\|format(i[0])\|numspace }} {{ i[1] }}
Total		{{ '%5.1f'\|format(i[0])\|numspace }} {{ i[1] }}

+ +

+ The plot below shows ا ل ي م و ن can be + considered the most frequently used letters in the Arabic language. + + Together they account for more than 55% of all letters in the corpus. +

+ +

Arabic letter frequency distribution

+ +

Layout properties

+ +

The following evaluation uses color coding to identify fingers:

red: little finger
blue: ring finger
magenta: middle finger +
violet: index finger
cyan: thumb

Asymmetry is defined as the difference between left and right hand usage.

+ +{% macro fingerhandstats(stats) %} +{% set hands = stats.hands %} +{% set fingers = stats.fingers %} +

+{% for hand in Direction %} + {% set handpct = hands[hand]/stats.buttonPresses*100 %} +

{{ '%.2f'|format(handpct) }}%

+ {% for finger in fingerOrder[hand] %} + {% set fingerpct = fingers[(hand, finger)]/stats.buttonPresses*100 %} + {# finger width is relative to parent (i.e. hand) #} + {% set fingerwidth = fingers[(hand, finger)]/hands[hand]*100 %} +

+ {% endfor %} +

+ {% if loop.first %} +

Asymmetry: {{ '%.3f'|format(stats.asymmetry) }}

+ {% endif %} +{% endfor %} +

+{% endmacro %} + +

+ {{ fingerhandstats(layoutstats['ar-lulua']) }} +

+ +

Related work

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+ Trying to unify existing layouts, the Arab Standardization and + Meterology Organization (ASMO), now part of + AIDMO, published an Arabic + keyboard layout in 1987 as + standard 663. + + This, however, turned out to be a failure, due to lack of adoption by + the typewriter industry. +
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+ Instead we’re currently using this layout (on Linux), which is + similar, but not quite the same. + + Most notably this layout arranges letters by their visual similarity. + + Thus it allocates suboptimal or even awkward positions to frequently + used letters like ا ل and + ذ. +
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+ The work by Malas et al. (2008), + Toward Optimal Arabic Keyboard Layout Using Genetic Algorithm, + presents an alternative layout generated by a genetic algorithm. + + They used a snapshot of the Arabic Wikipedia probably from around 2008 and + optimized for typing speed only, claiming 35% faster typing compared + to the currently used layouts. + + However the decision to put ي in the top + row seems odd. + + Assigning the same left index finger to ا + ي و, which are three of the most frequent letters, heavily + strains this particular finger. +
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+ In 2015 patent + 9,041,657 B2 + was filed in the US, presenting yet another computer-generated layout. + + Its genetic algorithm was seeded with just 54 Arabic e-books consisting + of 7 million characters in total. + + Overall it claims to be 9% faster than default layouts. + + This layout rips off most of the standard layout’s second layer, + but amusingly fails to include a question mark, while it does + provide *three* single-quote marks ’ and *two* Arabic + semicolon ؛. + + Additionally it places ي in an even + worse position than Malas’ layout. +
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+ In the paper + A new optimal Arabic keyboard layout using genetic algorithm + Khorshid et al. present yet another + layout. + + They claim a 36% improvement over the standard keyboard based on + their criteria for ergonomic layouts. + + However in their layout from figure 8 the letters ل ب ر are in suboptimal positions. + + Also it seems their algorithm favors the bottom row instead of the + easier to use top row. +
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+ The Arabic Phonetic Keyboard + simply maps the QWERTY layout to Arabic letters, based on their sound. + Thus Q becomes ق, Y becomes ي and so on. + It claims to be optimized for writing vowelized texts, especially + Quranic Arabic, and thus includes quite a few combining characters and + special symbols. + Although it claims to make frequently used letters easily available – + based on the work of Intellaren – it makes no effort to arrange letters + according to their usage frequency. +
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+ While technically speaking not a layout but alternative input + method, Intellark by + Intellaren is worth mentioning. + + It is based on repeatedly pressing the same button to modifiy the + current character. + + For example pressing A on the QWERTY keyboard cycles through the + alternatives ا أ إ آ and ء. + + Obviously this is slow, error-prone and violates Dvorak’s guidelines + for keyboard layout designs. +

Source		Words	Characters
{c["source"]["name"]}	{count[0]//1000:d},	{count[0]%1000:03d}\u202f{count[1]}			{i[0]}.	{i[1]}\u202f{i[2]}
Total			{i[0]}.	{i[1]}\u202f{i[2]}

Source

Words

Characters

{c["source"]["name"]}

{count[0]//1000:d},

{count[0]%1000:03d}\u202f{count[1]}

{i[0]}.

{i[1]}\u202f{i[2]}

Total

{i[0]}.

{i[1]}\u202f{i[2]}

Ergonomic Arabic Keyboard Layout

Goals

Usage

Learn more

الأبجدية العربية

The Arabic Alphabet

Layout properties

Related work

Acknowledgements

Ergonomic Arabic Keyboard Layout

Goals

Usage

Learn more

الأبجدية العربية

The Arabic Alphabet

Layout properties

Related work

Acknowledgements