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.

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. +

Ergonomic Arabic Keyboard Layout

Goals

Usage

Learn more

الأبجدية العربية

The Arabic Alphabet

Layout properties

Related work

Acknowledgements