The keyboards can be classified into the following four types: phonetic, ka-kha-ga-nga, frequency and random. Since the early 1980s multiple types of Tibetan keyboards have emerged on the basis of these variables, and various communities of users have developed who are devoted to these keyboards and learned to use them for rapid input of Tibetan. The first is the basis on which one correlates Tibetan letters to keys on the keyboard, and the second is how vertical stacks are formed. There are two basic issues that account for the variability in Tibetan keyboards. There are thus many different systems with dedicated communities of users who have learned to touch type rapidly with them, and who are completely at a loss if forced to use a different keyboard. Unfortunately, Tibetan keyboards, or input systems, have never undergone such a standardization.
The great thing about the QWERTY keyboard is that it is widely used, so that people can buy a computer with the expectation that its keyboards will have this keyboard preprinted on the keys, and that it will be supported by all operating systems and keyboards. The standard English keyboard is called a QWERTY keyboard since the keys on the top row of letters read, from left to right, Q, W, E, R, T, and Y. For example, the key "q" on a standard English keyboard could just as easily product "a", "b", "c" or any other letter if such a keyboard was being used. Thus support for Tibetan script doesn't necessarily mean support for the keyboard input method one prefers.Īny font could theoretically work with any keyboard. In addition, just having a font does not entail you have a keyboard or viable input method – if the operating system doesn't provide one, then one must fashion one separately. There is no intrinsic connection between the input method and the glyphs or encoding, and thus a single font can be invoked through multiple types of input methods and keyboards.
It is the way a user strikes keys to produce these glyphs on the screen. The input method is wholly separate from both the glyphs and encoding. For the details on the latter, see Tibetan Input Tools for Linux, Tibetan Input Tools for Macintosh, Tibetan Input Tools for Windows, and Tibetan Input Tools for Browsers or Cross-Platform. and offers nothing about their specific implementations in various operating system contexts. The current page presents the different types of keyboards or input systems in terms of their principles - such as Wylie, Sambhota, etc. Usually keyboards are also platform-specific, so that they only work for Windows, Mac, or Macintosh. One of the problems concerning the use of Tibetan fonts in digital contexts has been the limited and non-standard nature of Tibetan script input tools and software.
You also need a keyboard or input mechanism to efficiently type in Tibetan, and you also need that input mechanism to work with the various types of software you typically use. Simply having a Tibetan font does not mean that you can now use Tibetan in a computer. THL Toolbox > Fonts & Related Issues > Tibetan Scripts, Fonts & Related Issues > Tibetan Input System PrinciplesĬontributor(s): THL Staff, Steven Weinberger, Chris Fynn.