This is a language-neutral touch (only) keyboard for mobile devices. The keyboard provides all Ethiopic letters in active use on a single layer in a circular, semi-clockwise orientation. It is meant to be intuitive for new typists but supports faster typing for experienced typists compared to the similar Mesobe Fidelat Keyboard keyboard.
The mobile keyboard uses the “Mesob” style layout of letters where letters are arranged in a series of 4 rings. Modifier keys that will change the vowel of a letter appear dynamically on screen in selection “Halos”.
The Mesob layout also has the goal of providing all letters actively used b the languages written with Geʾez script in a single keyboard “layer”. Given the high number of letters appearing on the keyboard, it is a better fit for larger size mobile phones. Consider using the more compact GFF Amharic Keyboard for regular sized mobile phones.
The most frequently used letters generally appear in inner rings, and less used letters appear in the out rings. Letters are arranged in a semi-alphabetic arrangement in the clockwise direction, but not strictly so. Some effort is made to group related letters together (related either by sound or shape).
Tapping a key once enters it on to the screen in the 6th (ሳድስ) form and a “halo” appears on the keyboard of the related letters. Tapping a related letter will update the first letter, or tap the 6th letter again to go back to the starting keyboard.
Note the highlighted arrow button, ▶
, above the Enter key, it will appear for large families of related letters. When you need them, the ▶
button will bring up a 2nd halo of letters that are used less frequently. Note the reverse ◀
button which will go back to the first halo.
On the letter keyboards, the ።
and ’
keys are the use popup menus to offer the most frequently used punctuation that did not fit easily on the keyboard. Tap the @
key to access all available Western punctuation as shown:
Tap the 1/፩
key on the letter keyboards to shift to numerals. The numerals layer presents the Western numbers, Geʾez numbers, and all Geʾez punctuation.
This keyboard is copyright © Geʾez Frontier Foundation, 2022. It is distributed under the MIT free software license:
The MIT License (MIT)Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. |