Usage

Linux: xmodmap ar-lulua.xmodmap; Run: xmodmap ar-lulua.xmodmap

Learn more

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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 +

547,110 articles from + aljazeera.net, an + Arabic-language news site
149,901 articles from BBC + Arabic, another Arabic-language news site
a + dump of the Arabic + Wikipedia as of July 2019, extracted using + wikiextractor + containing 857386 articles
and a plain-text copy of the Quran from tanzil.net using the + options Simple Enhanced and Text (for inclusion of diacritics)

+ summing up to roughly 1.5 billion characters. + + The plot below shows ا ل ي و م ن can be + considered the most frequently used letters in the Arabic language. +

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Arabic letter frequency distribution

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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 choice to put ي in the top + row seems odd and suggests the authors did not take the time to review + the layout manually, given this letter is the third most frequent one + even in their own research. +
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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 both letters ب ر are in suboptimal positions. +
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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. +

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+ + diff --git a/doc/style.css b/doc/style.css index 995be7a..a61170b 100644 --- a/doc/style.css +++ b/doc/style.css @@ -33,8 +33,11 @@ body { h1, h2, h3 { font-weight: 100; } +h1 { + font-size: 4em; +} h2 { - font-size: 3em; + font-size: 2.5em; } figure { max-width: 70em; @@ -61,11 +64,11 @@ div.title-card { border-top: 1em solid #888a85; } div.title-card .lbox { - margin: 1em; + margin: 2vw; } div.title-card h1 { margin: 0; - padding: 1em; + padding: 0.2em; } div.title-card img.logo { max-width: 20em; @@ -80,6 +83,12 @@ div.title-card .layout img { display: block; margin: 0 auto; } +div.indepth-card { + padding: 10vh 0; + margin: 1em 0; + background-color: #555753; + color: #eeeeec; +} .flexreverse { flex-direction: row-reverse; } -- cgit v1.2.3