4 ms·

It’s very easy on the US keyboard: the key for ticks is under the escape key, no shift needed, just hit this single key. I’m German myself, but I use the US ke

It’s very easy on the US keyboard: the key for ticks is under the escape key, no shift needed, just hit this single key. I’m German myself, but I use the US keyboard layout for more than 15 years now, because it is so much easier to type things like this... especially in tech. (And also keys for [, ], { and } are much better placed in the US layout)

loeg 7y ago
Do most Germans use QWERTZ?
- zeeZ 7y ago
  Considering it's the default, even standard (DIN 2137:2018-12), I'd say yes most do.
- chrizel 7y ago
  Yes, most people learn and use QWERTZ. In your typical electronics store, you will only find QWERTZ keyboards and notebooks. If you want QWERTY, you have only one option, you have to buy it on the internet. But even on the internet the typical Logitech keyboard for example is hard to find in US-QWERTY in Germany/Europe, because most merchants don‘t have them on stock. In the past, I‘ve even imported US keyboards from the US, because they were and are hard to find here. It gets even more difficult for notebooks: Any notebook you can buy here in Germany has QWERTZ. Want a notebook with US layout, because you are a developer? Your only options are BTO options from Apple or Lenovo. But even there, you have to be cautious: Dell for example will sell you „English“ keyboard layout notebooks as BTO option, but you won‘t get the real US layout (with a wide return and wide left shift key), but some kind of „International English“ ISO layout with a tall return key and a short left shift key... Lenovo has an „English“ option and thankfully you will get a keyboard layout that really resembles the US layout (but with an Euro key). Only Apple really gives you „US“ as BTO option, and you really get the real US layout. Funny story, I wrote an e-mail to Apple, over ten years ago, when they didn‘t have US layouts as BTO option in Germany... I think it changed something, because one or two years later, Apple changed it, and you will get real US layouts ever since on their online store.
  - brnt 7y ago
    No need to import from the US, in your friendly western neighbor (Netherlands) US qwerty keyboards are the default. Also, when I lived in France, it was a matter of a phonecall to Dell to get a US qwerty keyboard instead of azerty. No problem at all. I think a colleague asked for an 'English' keyboard and got a UK qwerty, that's the only thing to be wary of.
    - chrizel 7y ago
      Really? So it‘s real US and not some kind of ISO English? Yeah, I‘ve seen that Dell for example sells US BTO options in the Netherlands, but in the past (when I considered an XPS 13), dell.nl didn‘t ship to Germany. But obviously the times have changed, and it‘s much easier today to get US keyboards than 10 or 20 years ago.
      - Freak_NL 7y ago
        As far as I know Dutch keyboards have your basic US layout plus the € sign as a third glyph printed on the [% / 5] key. I've bought my US layout DasKeyboards from a German retailer online though. Real Dutch keyboard layouts never took off unlike what happened in France and Germany. We're not that dependant on our diacritic characters (although I am a stickler for correct usage). Personally, I prefer the standard US layout, because I use more than one language. For Dutch („éëè€”), English (“—”), and German („ßöüä”) the compose key does everything I need and more. For Japanese there is a dedicated IME (Anthy).
        frosted-flakes 7y ago
        I wish Windows and MacOS included a Compose key by default. It's so simple that everyone could easily learn it, and we wouldn't have to deal with arcane Numpad key combinations on Windows or MacOS's super unintuitive and inconsistent symbol shortcuts. On Windows, I use WinCompose[1], which works decently well. [1] https://github.com/samhocevar/wincompose https://github.com/samhocevar/wincompose (Trivia: WinCompose was originally written in AutoHotkey!)
- jamil7 7y ago
  From my experience working in Germany, yes but a lot of German programmers will use a US layout as it's very hard to reach the necessary brackets and symbols easily on a German keyboard.
encom 7y ago
Dane here. The danish keyboard is arguably retarded, but I've used it my entire life, and on purpose have not tried other layouts, because as soon as I use a computer that isn't my own, I'd revert back to hunt and peck mode. It's the same reason why I never bother changing software defaults, except in rare cases.

loeg 7y ago

Do most Germans use QWERTZ?

zeeZ 7y ago
Considering it's the default, even standard (DIN 2137:2018-12), I'd say yes most do.
chrizel 7y ago
Yes, most people learn and use QWERTZ. In your typical electronics store, you will only find QWERTZ keyboards and notebooks. If you want QWERTY, you have only one option, you have to buy it on the internet. But even on the internet the typical Logitech keyboard for example is hard to find in US-QWERTY in Germany/Europe, because most merchants don‘t have them on stock. In the past, I‘ve even imported US keyboards from the US, because they were and are hard to find here. It gets even more difficult for notebooks: Any notebook you can buy here in Germany has QWERTZ. Want a notebook with US layout, because you are a developer? Your only options are BTO options from Apple or Lenovo. But even there, you have to be cautious: Dell for example will sell you „English“ keyboard layout notebooks as BTO option, but you won‘t get the real US layout (with a wide return and wide left shift key), but some kind of „International English“ ISO layout with a tall return key and a short left shift key... Lenovo has an „English“ option and thankfully you will get a keyboard layout that really resembles the US layout (but with an Euro key). Only Apple really gives you „US“ as BTO option, and you really get the real US layout. Funny story, I wrote an e-mail to Apple, over ten years ago, when they didn‘t have US layouts as BTO option in Germany... I think it changed something, because one or two years later, Apple changed it, and you will get real US layouts ever since on their online store.
- brnt 7y ago
  No need to import from the US, in your friendly western neighbor (Netherlands) US qwerty keyboards are the default. Also, when I lived in France, it was a matter of a phonecall to Dell to get a US qwerty keyboard instead of azerty. No problem at all. I think a colleague asked for an 'English' keyboard and got a UK qwerty, that's the only thing to be wary of.
  - chrizel 7y ago
    Really? So it‘s real US and not some kind of ISO English? Yeah, I‘ve seen that Dell for example sells US BTO options in the Netherlands, but in the past (when I considered an XPS 13), dell.nl didn‘t ship to Germany. But obviously the times have changed, and it‘s much easier today to get US keyboards than 10 or 20 years ago.
    - Freak_NL 7y ago
      As far as I know Dutch keyboards have your basic US layout plus the € sign as a third glyph printed on the [% / 5] key. I've bought my US layout DasKeyboards from a German retailer online though. Real Dutch keyboard layouts never took off unlike what happened in France and Germany. We're not that dependant on our diacritic characters (although I am a stickler for correct usage). Personally, I prefer the standard US layout, because I use more than one language. For Dutch („éëè€”), English (“—”), and German („ßöüä”) the compose key does everything I need and more. For Japanese there is a dedicated IME (Anthy).
      - frosted-flakes 7y ago
        I wish Windows and MacOS included a Compose key by default. It's so simple that everyone could easily learn it, and we wouldn't have to deal with arcane Numpad key combinations on Windows or MacOS's super unintuitive and inconsistent symbol shortcuts. On Windows, I use WinCompose[1], which works decently well. [1] https://github.com/samhocevar/wincompose https://github.com/samhocevar/wincompose (Trivia: WinCompose was originally written in AutoHotkey!)
jamil7 7y ago
From my experience working in Germany, yes but a lot of German programmers will use a US layout as it's very hard to reach the necessary brackets and symbols easily on a German keyboard.

encom 7y ago

Dane here. The danish keyboard is arguably retarded, but I've used it my entire life, and on purpose have not tried other layouts, because as soon as I use a computer that isn't my own, I'd revert back to hunt and peck mode. It's the same reason why I never bother changing software defaults, except in rare cases.