Alternative keyboard layouts + Speakable Items

Speakable Items is a great idea I'd like to use since I frequently use a tablet to sketch art and am out of reach of the keyboard. For some commands, Speakable Items works great (e.g. "Switch to Safari"), but many commands don't.
This puzzled me, especially since some commands seemed to do something outrageously different than what I command. I cracked open some applescripts to take a look at what was going on, and it appears that Speakable Items makes use of very specific keycodes to emulate keypresses. The problem is the keycodes are only valid when using a standard U.S. "qwerty" layout. I use "dvorak", so pretty much all of the commands that utilize key mappings will fail.
I'm not a lazy man, but I am quite busy. I would love to go through and modify the scripts to use the correct key codes if I had the time, but alas, it seems I am at the mercy of Apple fixing this unexpected bug in their software when ever they feel like it. There doesn't seem to be any place on the Apple web site to submit bug reports ala "Bugzilla", which is a shame. The only workaround I can think of is to temporarily switch back to a "qwerty" layout when ever one wants to issue commands, but this is a kludgey solution at best.
So, if you ever wondered why Speakable Items would not work, and you're using a different keyboard layout, now you know.

You can report the problem by emailing [email protected] with details. If you have an apple developers connection account you can report it at bugs.apple.com if I recall the address correctly. Please email the feedback address even if it seems futile - they probably won't reply but they do pay some attention to the messages. Since it's an accessibility related one, you could also report it to [email protected] where you're more likely to get some answer!
r

Similar Messages

Alternative keyboard layouts

Hey everyone,
So I was considering making the move from QWERTY to a keyboard layout that's a little more efficient, so I thought I'd take a poll to see
who is using what kind of keyboard layout and why. I'm curious about Dvorak, programmer's Dvorak, and colemak, and have been researching each of their individual pros and cons. I'm thinking Dvorak sounds like the best out of all of the above, but colemak sounds relatively intregueing as well. so what's your opinion?

Just to let everybody know I am now 28 years old. I first learned how to type in typing class in junior high. I was using the Qwerty layout. The only nice thing I can say about the Qwerty layout is that it's available at any computer you want to use without any configuration.
Then I looked online for a better way to type and more efficient. That's when I learned about Dvorak keyboard layout. This was about four years ago. I stuck with it for about two years. I felt my right hand was doing a lot more typing than my left hand. It felt too lopsided for me. But that's just my opinion. I went on the hunt for something better than Dvorak and I found the glorious Colemak keyboard layout.
I have been typing with it ever since. My hands are a lot more comfortable and I can type faster now. It took me a month to actually get comfortable with the keyboard layout. If you actually go to this Java applet on Colemak's website.
www.colemak.com/Compare
You can just copy and paste a body of text and click on Calculate it will analyze the typing and compare the three different keyboard layouts. I just hope it becomes an ANSI standard like Dvorak has. I hope that happens in the future.
I just want everybody to know there is a third option out there and its great. If ever Colemak goes away I will be going back to Dvorak. I will never learn the Qwerty keyboard layout ever again.
Just wanted to give my two cents worth.

Arabic Alternative Keyboard Layouts Not Working/Missing on iOS4

hi,
I have two iPhone 4s, one running 4.0.1 and the other on 4.0.2, both have the same issue when selecting the QWERTY or PC keyboard layouts for Arabic they do not change and remain the same as the default layout. please sort this one out!
thanks

I have two iPhone 4s, one running 4.0.1 and the other on 4.0.2, both have the same issue when selecting the QWERTY or PC keyboard layouts for Arabic they do not change and remain the same as the default layout.
The QWERTY and PC layouts are only available when you are using a hardware keyboard. Is that what you are doing?
please sort this one out!
You are just talking to other users like yourself here. To ask Apple to fix something, use the channel they have set up for that:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Setting up alternative keyboard layout

I sometimes use a Russian keyboard and I'd like to get that set up. What packages do I need to install, and is there a wiki article that outlines how to go about setting that up?

when in X, you can switch between layouts with 'setxkblayout us' or whatever you want to set it to.
for most window-managers there's a taskbar-applet so you can easily click it.

Missing alternative international keyboard layout

Hi, there is no internationalization discussion group, so this is probably most closely related, sorry if not:
Most of the Central European keyboards in OS X feature besides QWERTZ layout also QWERTY layout, where such a layout is in practice (e.g. Czech). However, there is no QWERTY layout for Slovak language even though this layout is widely used in the country. This odd nonsense makes OS X poorly accessible for a great portion of people - it's a years lasting pain. QWERTY and QWERTZ layouts differ just inone swapped letter ZY.
Question: can this tiny feature make its way into next OS release? How to approach Apple staff with this?
Thank you!
Mac OS X (10.4)

However, there is no QWERTY layout for Slovak
language even though this layout is widely used in
the country. This odd nonsense makes OS X poorly
accessible for a great portion of people - it's a
years lasting pain. QWERTY and QWERTZ layouts differ
just inone swapped letter ZY.
Try downloading the SlovakQWERTY.rsrc file from this page and see if it works right for you:
http://homepage.mac.com/thgewecke/fs/FileSharing9.html
If not, let us know the exact problems, and we can try to fix them. Making custom keyboards for OS X is usually quite simple.
You put this file in Home/Library/Keyboard Layouts, then logout/login, check its box in System Prefs/International/Input Menu, then select in the "flag" menu at the top right of the Finder.
For internationalization questions it is better to use the Using Tiger forum:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=758
This one is for features designed to help users with vision, hearing and motor skills disabilities.

My keyboard layout has changed. I no longer have an @ key.

About an hour ago, my keyboard layout changed (but only when using firefox) so that, for example, Shift+2 no longer produces @, but rather double quotes ("). Also, pressing the [ key now produces nothing, but the next key I hit after it will produce a hat. Example, the [ key and a g will give ^g. There are other peculiarities, such as the / key now shows é, and a few others.
Everything I check on the internet seems to be telling me the problem lies in my keyboard layout settings in Windows, and possibly having to press LeftAlt+LeftShift (or just Alt+Shift) to readjust them, or bringing up the language bar, etc. But all of my efforts to fix language indicate to me that I'm currently operating with a US keyboard layout (which is what it`s supposed to be), and again, this ONLY happens in firefox and no other programs.
Any ideas?

See:
* http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/The-Language-bar-overview The Language bar (overview)
It is possible that you have switched the keyboard layout by accident.
* Make sure that you have the Language bar visible on the Windows Taskbar.
* You can do that via the right-click context menu of the Taskbar: Toolbars > Language Bar.
* Check the keyboard language (keyboard layout) setting for the application that has focus via the icon on the Language bar.
* You need to do that while Firefox has focus because Windows remembers the keyboard layout setting per application.
* The default keys to rotate the layout is a combination (Ctrl+Shift or Alt+Shift) that can easily be used in Firefox to activate a menu item.
* To avoid an unintentional switch assign a specific key sequence (Alt/Ctrl+Shift+number) to select keyboard layouts and remove the key combination to rotate layouts (Alt+Shift or Ctr+Shift)

How do I use AppleScript keystroke command as a speakable item?

I am attempting to do what I thought was a rather simple task, but have not had success.
I would like to use the following script as a voice command to speak selected text in a file, opened for example by Preview, when the key is pressed.
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "." using control down
I have placed the script application in the System Preferences, Speech, Speakable Items Folder. The item is being recognized; however, it appears that it is not functioning in the correct window context. I would like this to work regardless of the application text (hence the Text to Speech option). How do I set this up before the keystroke command in the script?
As an aside, is there a way to convert a script file to a SpeakableItems.app document file?

I am not sure if this is what you are looking for.
But have you saved the below workflow as a Service and use a keyboad shortcut?
I have this as a Service and my keyboard short cut is Command-Shift T.
Once I select a paragraph in Preview and press the short cut it speaks the text for me.
Maybe you already thought of this. But here you go.

Safari changes my keyboard layout when on password field

Hi,
after upgrade to Safari 5, I got really strange problem.
I have two keyboard layout configured, U.S., which I use regulary, and Czech, to which I switch on rare occasions when I need to write something in my native language. I have configured keyboard shortcut Shift-Cmd-Space for switching between those layouts.
Now, the problem is that whenever I enter a password field on a web page form in Safari, it immediately switches to the Czech layout and disables the U.S. one, so I even can not switch back! The keyboard shortcut does not work and the "U.S." item in the keyboard indicator menu is grey.
This is extremely annoying. Does anyone have an idea what is causing it and how can I fix it?
Also, I think (but I'm not sure) that I have sometimes seen this before. But now (probably after Safari 5 installation) it happens on all the passwords fields I tried (even on pages I never visited before).
regards,
Bob
mid-2008 15" MacBook Pro, Snow Leopard, Safari 5, all available updates. In the Language & Text section of the preferences, I have following settings:
Language: First English, then Czech, then the rest.
Formats: Region: Custom (mostly czech with some tweaks)
Input Sources: Keyboard & Character Viewer checked, Czech-QWERTY checked, English checked. Selected "Use the same one in all documents", checked Show input menu in menu bar.

Problem solved! I have installed Keywurl some time ago (I really missed Firefox's bookmark keywords). After I upgraded to Safari 5, Keywurl said "Ooops, I'm not tested with Safari 5, disabling myself", so I did not suspected it. But out of deseperation, I tried to remove the plugin completely from the disk. And it worked! No more problems with keyboard layout in password field. Strange, but at least it works.
Bob

Speakable Items for all Apps?

We've installed two iMac G5's on walls in a new waiting room/meeting room. The wireless keyboards and mouse are put away so that they aren't stolen. I've activated Speakable Items, and a few commands are working great. Is it possible to find speakable items for all/most applications, or do you have to make something speakable, app by app, command by command9 desired apps and commands only of course).
Thx,

Hi Brian,
Thank you for contributing to the Apple Support Communities.
It sounds like you're having a frustrating experience with Spaces in Yosemite. There are a few options that may help with this behavior.
First, make sure your displays are set up as separate Spaces in the Mission Control pane of System Preferences:
Displays have separate Spaces
If you use the Spaces feature and have multiple displays, you can set up separate spaces for each display.
From:
OS X Yosemite: Mission Control preferences
Then, if you want to move an application window from one space to another, try one of these options:
Assign apps to spaces
If you assign an app to a particular space, it opens in that space by default.
Press and hold an app’s icon in the Dock. You may have to first open the app from Launchpad to see its icon in the Dock.
From the shortcut menu that appears, do one of the following:
Have the app open in the current space: Choose Options > This Desktop.
The app appears only in that space. However, if you open the app in full screen, it appears in its own space.
Have the app open in the current space on a specific display: Choose Options > Desktop on Display [number].
Have the app open in every space: Choose Options > All Desktops.
The app appears in every space.
Have the app open in whichever space you’re using at the time: Choose Options > None.
In Mission Control preferences, you can also specify that, when you switch to an app, your desktop should switch to a space with open windows for that app. To open Mission Control preferences, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Mission Control.
From:
OS X Yosemite: Work in multiple spaces
Best Regards,
Jeremy

How to Make a Keyboard Layout for X11/OpenOffice

While OpenOffice has a setting to use standard OS X keyboard layouts, you may find that some of these do not work correctly, especially if deadkeys are involved. In that case you will need to create a new layout in the form of a keymap file, which you place in your home folder and invoke when needed via the command "xmodmap mykeymap" in an xterm (or by putting the same line in some config file).
You keymap file should just contain the minimum necessary modifications of the default X11 map, which you can see by doing the command "xmodmap -pke | less" in an xterm (after making sure the preference item for using OS X layouts is turned off).
Some fiddling with the entries of your file may be necessary, as both X11 and apps that use it have quirks and bugs of various sorts. Below is the file I made to do Vietnamese in OpenOffice as an example:
keycode 26 = abreve
keycode 27 = 0x00E2
keycode 28 = 0x00EA
keycode 29 = 0x00F4
keycode 30 = dead_hook
keycode 31 = dead_grave
keycode 33 = dead_belowdot
keycode 34 = dead_tilde
keycode 36 = dead_acute
keycode 37 = U0111
keycode 38 = U01A1
keycode 41 = U01B0

This is a feature Apple should definitely add customization to on OS X.
You can make custom keyboard layouts that include any characters you want using Ukelele.
http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?siteid=nrsi&itemid=ukelele
I doubt Apple is going to incorporate this into OS X, but you can suggest it here:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Japanese input - keyboard layout

i am fairly new mac user. i bought this imac in May and set it up, so that i can type in japanese.
it was working fine until last weekend. usually, i just use english keyboard layout to type in japanse (type "sushi" to get sushi in japanese), but now keyboard layout is off. when i type "sushi" in japanese mode it shows typed as "ogodc" when it should be "sushi". i am not sure what happened. the conversion itself works. when i type S on the keyboard, it acts as if i typed O (which is wrong), and it shows as O in japanese (which is correct).
when i go to international language setting, i can see the input type as "keyboard" for US, but "input method" for japanese.
i could not find anything in documents provided by apple.

Go to Kotoeri Preferences (toward bottom of the "flag" menu when you have Hiragana or whatever selected), first tab, third item down, and make sure it says US. If not, click on it to select US.

Multiple Libraries / Keyboard Layout folders?

Howdy All -
Because Mac doesn't ship w/ a proper Arabic keyboard, I made one using ukelele. I added this to my old MacBook. So far so good. I bought an Air in the spring, transferred my account from the MacBook - no problems (ahem, related to the keyboard layouts).
However, I wanted to share this keyboard layout with friends and colleages (the world!), but when I navigate to my user's "Keyboard Layout" folder in Library, there is only a layout I recently designed. Is there another place I might find the other layouts I made previously (& that are still listed in Language preferences)?
I seem to recall both a "local" and "global" Keyboard Layouts folder in 10.6: if I added a keyboard layout to the global folder, then all users had access to it. But if I added it to the local folder, only that particular user could access it. But I can't find any such alternative layout folder.
Thanks in advance for your help!
All the best,
Rax

Your problem is that Home/Library is not visible in Lion without some special effort. See
http://tidbits.com/article/12306
I would be interested in having a copy of your layout, I have made a couple myself to fix various issues, e.g.
http://m10lmac.blogspot.com/2009/11/os-x-106-switching-arabic-pc-keyboard.html

Can't turn off speakable items

My son -- 4 -- was playing with my keyboard and now speakable items will not turn off. The application fails to launch and offers an error code. I cannot open (or find) the app in the HD either. Please help. thanks!

Glad that helped. Most of the "My Mac is weird after my kid used it" posts here come down to an odd keystroke combo that turned on some component of Universal Access. The most common one is that Zoom gets invoked (command + option + 8) and the image no longer fits the screen. The other on the "Top Ten" list of kid-generated wonkiness is black/white or inverse video mode, command +option + shift +8
In anticipation of (or defense from) future pediatric incursions, you may want to look at the Universal Access Preference pane because most of the actions there can be activated by keystroke combos. The combos are listed there
Have a blessing-filled Christmas season!
AJ

Firefox keyboard layout changes to something I don't recognize, the traditional [ QWERTY ] reads as [ ',.pyf ] any idea why this would happen or how to change it back short of killing firefox and restarting.

This happens randomly and infrequently. At first I thought it was my cats fault but it has recently happened while I was sitting at the computer with no feline interference. If someone could let me know how, if it's possible, to change the keyboard layout to QWERTY I will try this next time it happens to see if it can be corrected without restarting firefox. For a larger sample I will include the lines below:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
yd. 'gcjt xpr,b urq hgmlo rk.p yd. na;f eri
This is only effecting firefox, no other programs are changed and it does effect all running and new instances of firefox.

See:
* http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/The-Language-bar-overview - The Language bar (overview)
It is possible that you have switched the keyboard layout by accident.
* Make sure that you have the Language bar visible on the Windows Taskbar.
* You can do that via the right-click context menu of the Taskbar: Toolbars > Language Bar.
* Check the keyboard language (keyboard layout) setting for the application that has focus via the icon on the Language bar.
* You need to do that while Firefox has focus because Windows remembers the keyboard layout setting per application.
* The default keys to rotate the layout is a combination (Ctrl+Shift or Alt+Shift) that can easily be used in Firefox to activate a menu item.
* To avoid an unintentional switch assign a specific key sequence (Alt/Ctrl+Shift+number) to select keyboard layouts and remove the key combination to rotate layouts (Alt+Shift or Ctr+Shift)
* Vista: Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > Keyboards and Languages > Change keyboards > Advanced key settings > Change key sequence

TS1702 The keyboard layout is critically wrong, that does not allow quick writing. Users reach the numbers with two step keyboard hits (forward and back). It is really vital to have number 0-9 keys in the default keyboard window. Develop these changes ple

I want to open a discussion about keyboard layout on iPAD´s, including the best one iPAD4. How one can design such sofisticated technical item for diverse work/activity, includes mainly for note writings and meetings, but the writing procedure is so slow becuase of the keyboard layout. It is really crucial to solve this problem in order to avoid developing additional keyboard from third-party developers. This function has to be integrated, namely: TO HAVE A COMPLETE SEETING OF LETTERS AND NUMBERS IN THE DEFAULT KEYBOARD LAYOUT, FOR EFFICIENT WRITINGS.
WHAT YOU THINK ???

This is an iPad user to user forum. Apple doesn't read or respond. You can make a suggestion.
Send feedback to Apple.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html
I bought a case with a bluetooth connected keyboard. Much easier to use than the on-screen keyboard if you do a lot of typing. You can use many/most computer wireless keyboards with the iPad.
 Cheers, Tom

Alternative keyboard layouts + Speakable Items

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