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I'm Windows-based and wanted a keyboard layout that will allow me typing easily Polish and French at the same time, without switching keyboard layouts (PL == US

I'm Windows-based and wanted a keyboard layout that will allow me typing easily Polish and French at the same time, without switching keyboard layouts (PL == US+AltGr for accents; while FR layout is insane, because apart from being AZERTY, all special chars are in different places, and you need a Shift to type numbers; and the way to type accents is also special). I found "Polish international" [1] layout which honestly can be perfect for many people. It's optimized to be compatible with regular Polish keyboard (hence with US keyboard too), and maybe not the fastest if you type a lot special chars, but it's extremely intuitive: ï = AltGr+:, i ü = AltGr+:, u é = AltGr+/, e è = AltGr+\, e (since it's extremely common, also aliased as AltGr+w) If you're Windows based and want US-compatible keyboard layout that allows easily typing any special chars, I highly recommend it. [1] https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=pl&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Frobinski.org%2Fpolski-miedzynarodowy%2Fjak-korzystac%2F https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=pl&tl=en&u=https%3...

205guy 6y ago
I type English and French in Windows on the same QWERTY keyboard. I once learned to type on Azerty, but I mainly type English now on a standard US keyboard layout. For the French, I find the windows alt-numbers works the easiest for accented characters. Alt-130=é, Alt-133=à, Alt-135=ç, Alt-137=ê, Alt-138=è which covers 95% of the accented character usage. I have a little chart next to my desk with all the others (ï,ô,ù) they’re nearly all Alt-14x and Alt-15x. And then I’ll put é in the paste buffer because it is the most used and a bit quicker that way (for words like “préféré”). The Alt-13x codes are not as quick as the Azerty keys, but good enough and once memorized are fairly easy with a keyboard that has a keypad (most PCs do, even my laptop). This is especially true because they are done with both hands simultaneously, as opposed to something like Cmd-e+e on a Mac. Actually, they are faster than finding the accented characters on my QWERTY virtual keyboard as I type this comment on iOS. Those AltGr- combos seem complicated to me, I would much prefer a system such as AltGr-e =é, then AltGr-ee=è, AltGr-eee=ê, etc. To me that would be more intuitive than remembering the composing character (slash for aigüe, etc).
- jakub_g 6y ago
  Reminds me of when the 'D' key broke in my physical keyboard long time ago. I liked that keyboard a lot and couldn't find a good replacement so I learnt to type Alt-100 do get 'd'.
- cassepipe 6y ago
  You seem to be quite used to your Alt combination but as you said they really are not straightforward. I found another very simple solution, on Linux you can set a compose key (typically Alt gr or the contextual menu key). You type one after another, the compose key and then any two keys that make sense like ' followed by e (et vice versa), it will give you a é. It is both fast and easy to work with.

205guy 6y ago

I type English and French in Windows on the same QWERTY keyboard. I once learned to type on Azerty, but I mainly type English now on a standard US keyboard layout. For the French, I find the windows alt-numbers works the easiest for accented characters. Alt-130=é, Alt-133=à, Alt-135=ç, Alt-137=ê, Alt-138=è which covers 95% of the accented character usage. I have a little chart next to my desk with all the others (ï,ô,ù) they’re nearly all Alt-14x and Alt-15x. And then I’ll put é in the paste buffer because it is the most used and a bit quicker that way (for words like “préféré”). The Alt-13x codes are not as quick as the Azerty keys, but good enough and once memorized are fairly easy with a keyboard that has a keypad (most PCs do, even my laptop). This is especially true because they are done with both hands simultaneously, as opposed to something like Cmd-e+e on a Mac. Actually, they are faster than finding the accented characters on my QWERTY virtual keyboard as I type this comment on iOS. Those AltGr- combos seem complicated to me, I would much prefer a system such as AltGr-e =é, then AltGr-ee=è, AltGr-eee=ê, etc. To me that would be more intuitive than remembering the composing character (slash for aigüe, etc).

jakub_g 6y ago
Reminds me of when the 'D' key broke in my physical keyboard long time ago. I liked that keyboard a lot and couldn't find a good replacement so I learnt to type Alt-100 do get 'd'.
cassepipe 6y ago
You seem to be quite used to your Alt combination but as you said they really are not straightforward. I found another very simple solution, on Linux you can set a compose key (typically Alt gr or the contextual menu key). You type one after another, the compose key and then any two keys that make sense like ' followed by e (et vice versa), it will give you a é. It is both fast and easy to work with.