France Is Getting a New, Algorithmically Designed Keyboard Layout

French and English share the same 26 - grapheme ABC , but additional accent , symbolization , and punctuation make it challenging for Francophones to use keyboard layouts designed for English speaker . The solution so far has just been to teach to adjust , but researchers head byAalto University in Helsinki , Finland , develop an algorithm that helped make the first French - optimized keyboard layout .

English keyboard typically feature the QWERTY layout , named for how the first six letters are format . In France and a smattering of other French - speaking European nations , the AZERTY layout is preferred . But even with a missive arrangement that better suits the French vocabulary , commonly used characters , include stress , were still hard to quickly access . In 2015 , the Gallic politics officially raise these concerns and put a call out for a resolution .

But re - positioning even a few characters on a keyboard can be challenging . change necessitate to be elusive but well retrieve out , as moving symbol or key too far will interfere with muscularity retention that AZERTY users have build up for age . If the new layout is too different , people wo n’t bother choke to the hassle of re - take how to type . To streamline the process of contrive an optimized layout , the researchers at Aalto University , working with collaborators at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics , Inria Lille , and ETH Zurich , developed an algorithm that was power by statistical models of the modern Gallic spoken language . Everything from social medium , to newspaper articles , to email , to even programming computer code was analyzed to serve make the modelling . But the researchers went one tone further by studying how over 900 masses , of dissimilar speech communication and nationality , actually typed to determine what keys were most often , and most easily , pressed .

Photo: Mikko Raskinen (Aalto University)

The algorithm was n’t solely creditworthy for the design of the Modern AZERTY keyboard layout , which now includes the most normally used French character and accent mark , and 60 novel characters , re - arrange in grouping that are more easy approachable . ( you’re able to see an interactive comparability of the new and old layoutshere . ) A committee of experts had the ultimate say on the final design , but the algorithm allow them to quickly assess the impacts of any change they advise , and whether it would dish up to speed up typing , or just frustrate users already conversant with AZERTY and limit its adoption .

The inquiry is another way for Francophones to help oneself preserve and enrich their language , and more significantly , it liberate them from have to make do with unoptimized adjustment of English - base ironware . However , it ’s not limited to only helping the French . The QWERTY keyboard layout was originally designed for the English speech communication , but it ’s widely used by many non - English speak groups around the public who need to jump through hoops to access unique characters , punctuation , and emphasis . With a different statistical framework , the algorithm could be used to generate optimal key layout for many dissimilar languages , and maybe even meliorate QWERTY itself given all the new fictitious character the internet has help popularize .

Correction , 1:21 p.m. EST / EDT : This clause previously tell that the 900 + persons whose type style were examine to help develop the algorithm were Francophone , when in fact they do from many different backcloth and nationality .

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