izKeys “4 scripts + Math + Etc” layouts

Keyboard layouts with mad professor repertoirs designed with scatterbrains in mind

The [ee-zee-keys] layouts allow access to many thousands of Unicode characters. Among the goals are:

no GOTCHAs for users of US layouts;
unified access to Latin/Greek/Cyrillic/Hebrew scripts (including all paleo-flavors!);
simple access to symbols of math/technical/linguistic prose (including currency symbols);
extensive othogonalization of access: with few heuristics, one should be able to guess quickly how to enter a letter (or symbol);

(Not all the goals are FULLY achieved, but we are very close).

Installation

Personality:	Latin	Greek (Polytonic)	Cyrillic	Hebrew
Install (Windows):	iz-la-4s.zip T H S P	iz-gr-p4.zip T H S P	iz-ru-4s.zip T H S P	iz-hb-4s.zip T H P
Install (Apple OSX):	iz-Latin.zip	iz-GreekPoly.zip (Broken???)	iz-CyrillicPhonetic.zip	iz-Hebrew.zip

(De)Install instructions (Windows); T = Table of layout; H = Heuristics for the base script; S = Heuristics for script’s satellite layouts; P = Peek the main layout.
(Preliminary) install instructions (Apple OSX) Compose is on ISO, Option-F12, Option-F13, F20. HEX is on Shift-SPACE² u, Shift-SPACE² U, F19.

Four “personalities” differ only in which script is available on alphabet keys. Using keys-modifiers and/or prefix keys, all personalities allow access to the same repertoir of characters. So: Install only personalities in which you need to type largish fragments; for shorter fragments, one can either switch to a different personality, or use (clumsier) approach with modifier/prefix keys.

Access the script’s satellite layouts using the “specific” prefix keys of the base layout. (The “shared” prefix keys are for cross-personality access, and math/technical/business/linguistic symbols.)

Resources:

How to show Unicode characters (on Windows, one may show them all)
Visual maps for the layouts, the heuristics, etc
Main tools: AltGr modifier, and [repeatable!] Prefixes: “mock AltGr” (Shift-AltGr-SPACE), “Green” and “Ripe” (Shift-SPACE and AltGr-SPACE), Compose.
“Mogrifier” prefixes (enhanced by “Blue” keys); extra modifiers.
The goals and the current progress
Changelog (with sketchy descriptions of features)
See the T links above for comprehensive tables of the layouts (only for alphanum-island of keyboard)
One design rationale (“Currently achieved” goals are for an older version) and another one
GOTCHAs for keyboard input on Windows: for users, for developers (with solutions)
Cross-personality access, and layouts for-technical-writing. (On “shared” prefix keys, and on special modifier keys.)
Shortcut access to satellite layouts of other personalities.
Directory with miscellaneous resources (keyboard icons, sources, older versions), misc. links to the Unicode mailing list

Base layouts of Latin/Greek/Cyrillic/Hebrew personalities

T = Table of layout; H = Heuristics for the base script; S = Heuristics for script’s satellite layouts. Personality-specific colors are explained in H links; see also the general explanation of colors.

In front — results with AltGr modifier. T H S (On the bottom [ISO] \|-key, the base layer has Compose prefix key, and “mock AltGr” prefix.)

`~ˋ˜1!¬¡2@ºª3#·№4$¢£5%€¥6^ˇˆ7&√§8*„‚9(“‘0)”’-_¯—=+≈±Backspace
TabQÄWÁEÊRÅTÞYŸUÜIĲOŒPØ[{«‹]}»›\|¦†
CapsLockAÆSßẞDÐFÈGÝHÚJÍKÓLÖ;:¨÷'"´˵Enter
ShiftZÀXÉCÇVÌBÙNÑMÒ,<¸≤.>°≥/?◌̸¿Shift
CtrlAlt\|¶❧AltGrMenuCtrl

On the right — results with AltGr modifier. T H S

`~`~Ϣ1!¬¡1!2@ºª2@3#·№3#4$¢£4$5%€¥5%6^͵ʹ6^7&√§7&8*„‚8*9(“‘9(0)”’0)-_¯—-_=+≈±=+Backspace
TabQϑϴΘWΏΩEΈΕRϱ∐ΡTϚΤYϜΨUΎΥIΊΙOΌΟPϖ∏Π[{[{◌̔]}]}◌̓\|\|◌͂
CapsLockAΆΑSς∑ΣDẟ∆ΔFϕ∅ΦGƔΓHΉΗJΐÍΪKϰϗΚL∧⋀Λ;:·÷;:'"´˵'"Enter
ShiftZϞΖXϠΧCϘΞVΰϔΫBϐꞴΒN∨⋁ΝMµÒΜ,<«≤,<.>»≥.>/?Ɂ/?Shift
CtrlAlt\|¶❧۰ AltGrMenuCtrl

On the right — results with AltGr modifier. T H S

`~`~Ю1!₽◌҄1!2@◌҆◌҇2@3##№3ё4$$£4Ё5%%€5ъ6^^◌҃6Ъ7&√§7&8*„‚8*9(“‘9(0)”’0)-_¯—-_=+=+ЧBackspace
TabQѢЯWѴВEЁЕRԖРTЋТYІЫUЎУIѶИOѠОPѰП[{[{Ш]}]}Щ\|\|Э
CapsLockAӘАSЅСDЂДFѲФGҐГHҺХJЇЙKҚКLЉЛ;:¨÷;:'"◌́´'"Enter
ShiftZЄЗXЪЬCЏЦVӁЖBЃБNЊНMӍМ,<«≤,<.>»≥.>/?Ј/?Shift
CtrlAlt\|ӀЪAltGrMenuCtrl

Hover mouse over left/right Shift to switch to “Un-shifted”/“Shifted” view; press mouse to flip.

On the right — results with AltGr modifier. T H

`~`~◌֙◌֘1!1!◌ִ◌֮2@2@◌ֵ◌ְ3#3#◌ֶ–4$4$◌ָ£5%5%◌ֱ€6^6^◌ֳ‌7&7&◌ׇ‍8*8*◌ַ◌͏9(9(◌ֻ‎0)0)◌ֲ‏-_-_־—=+=+◌ְ﬩Backspace
TabQק◌ֲ◌֨◌֬Wששׁ◌ׁ◌֓Eע◌ֵ◌ֶ◌ֱRר◌ֱ◌ֿ◌֗Tתט◌֩◌֠Yי◌ּײַײUטוּ◌ֻױIי◌ִיִ◌֬Oווֹ◌ֹ◌ָPפף◌֡◌֟[{[{׆◌֩]}]}◌֘◌֠\|\|◌֖׀
CapsLockAא◌ָ◌ַ◌ֲSסשׂ◌ׂ◌֒Dד◌ֶ◌ְ◌֧FפףפּףּGג״׳◌֞Hהח◌֢◌֜Jח◌ֻ◌ﬞ◌֝Kכך◌֦◌֫Lל◌ֹ◌ׇ◌ֳ;:;:◌֛◌֔'"'"׳״Enter
ShiftZז◌ַ◌֮◌֕XכךכּךּCצץ◌֯◌ׄVו◌ְ◌ֺװBב₪בּ◌֪Nנן׆◌֦Mמם◌ֽ◌֣,<,<◌֑◌֤.>.>׃◌֚/?/?◌֥◌ׅShift
CtrlAlt\|◌ֿ◌ׇ۰ AltGrMenuCtrl

Hover mouse here to see how characters look in RTL context. Trivia: note mirroring of <{[()]}>.

Heuristics in the descriptions of layouts

Windows and OSX allow a layout to have a (on Windows — short!) description string attached. As the first line of defence against forgetting how to use the layout, the descriptions pack a lot of reminders about how the layouts work; for 4 personalities, the descriptions are:

   US·Int Grk=Ⓖ➡⇧␣=^ˡⒶˡ- Rus·ЯВЕ=Ⓡ➡Ⓐʳ␣=Ⓜ Hbr➡Ⓡ²=Ⓜ^ʳ- • k.ilyaz.org
   RUS·ЯВЕРТЫ Lat=Ⓖ➡⇧␣=^ˡⒶˡ- Grk=Ⓡ➡Ⓐʳ␣=Ⓜ Hbr➡Ⓡ²=Ⓜ^ʳ- • k.ilyaz.org
   Gr·ΘΩΕΡΤΨ↻[]\ Lat=Ⓖ➡⇧␣=^ˡⒶˡ Rus=Ⓡ➡Ⓐʳ␣=Ⓜ Hbr➡Ⓡ²=Ⓜ^ʳ •k.ilyaz.org
   Hebr·QWERTY Lat=Ⓖ➡⇧␣=^ˡⒶˡ- Grk=Ⓡ➡Ⓐʳ␣=Ⓜ Rus➡Ⓡ²=Ⓜ^ʳ- •k.ilyaz.org

This may look as a gibberish, but there are several elements each reminding a heuristic; for Greek, they are:

Gr·ΘΩΕΡΤΨ↻[]\: Language/script, a few letters on top-left (ΘΩΕΡΤΨ), and the principal no-AltGr prefixes ([]\).
↻ before prefix keys: reminds that these keys change what the next key does.
Lat=Ⓖ➡⇧␣=^ˡⒶˡ: access Lat-script on “Green” (Ⓖ), which is Shift-Space prefix (⇧␣), or leftControl+leftAlt modifier (^ˡⒶˡ-).
Rus=Ⓡ➡Ⓐʳ␣=Ⓜ: access Cyrillic(RUS)-script on “Ripe” (Ⓡ), which is AltGr-Space prefix (Ⓐʳ␣ since rightAlt is AltGr), or ApplicationMenu modifier (Ⓜ-).
Hbr➡Ⓡ²=Ⓜ^ʳ: access Hebrew-script on double-“Ripe” (Ⓡ², which is double AltGr-Space prefix), or ApplicationMenu-rightCtrl modifier (Ⓜ^ʳ-).
k.ilyaz.org: this website.

(Sometimes, due to the limit on length, there is no space for trailing -.)

On Windows, there are 2 ways to see the descriptions:

as a popup of the toolbar’s Language indicator (only when the “keyboard” icon is visible). The icon is on the right of the the language ID (EN or some such); hover a mouse over the icon. (The icon is visible only if you have more than one layout enabled for the language.)
in Settings (on Win7: right click on Language (EN or some such), choose Settings).

Advanced modifiers

NOTE: most entries in the table below are there for debugging purposes only. It is not clear whether these entries (with white background) may be widely useful in practice.

		∅	Mnu	rCtrl	Mnu+rCtrl
		“Right”-Modifiers
“Left”-Modifiers	↓ Heuristics →	∅	“Cursive-like”	“Bold”	“Cursive-like” + “Bold”
∅	Base		Cyrillic (“Ripe”, `AltGr-SPACE`)	—	Hebrew (“Ripe²”, `AltGr-SPACE²`)
AltGr			Main Math Variants:
AltGr			Script	Double-Struck	Fractur
lCtrl+lAlt	Greek (“Green”, `Shift-SPACE`)		±Italic	±Bold	±Bold-Italic
lAlt+AltGr	“Text Math”	Monospace
lAlt	“Sans Serif Math” (+B/+I)	—
lCtrl	“Boldified Math”	—	BoldScript	Bold-Italic-Sans (“Tensor”)	Bold-Fractur

NOTES: 1. Green parts of the table are accessors to the companion layouts (duplicating the functionality of the indicated prefixes). They do not follow any heuristic (except for being accessible in the easiest way possible); AltGr-bindings of companion faces are not accessible (exception: see 3).
2. The other entries combine the row-heuristic with the column-heuristic (in pink). So if one finds these modifiers useful, to know all of them one needs to memorize only 6 entries — the pink part of the table.
3. When accessing companion layouts via modifier keys, if the base key in the companion gives the same character, the AltGr-binding of the companion face may be used instead. For example, " produces the same character in all layouts, so Mnu-rCtrl-" accesses AltGr-"=״ of the Hebrew layout.
3a. If AltGr-binding is also the same, an “extra” binding (comparing to accessing via “Green” and “Ripe” prefixes) may appear. For example, it may simplify access to satellite layouts of the companion personalities. Examples: Mnu-; (and lCtrl-lAlt-: and rCtrl-AltGr-: and lCtrl-Mnu-/) for “third tier” of Cyrillic and fractions (as AltGr-' of the Cyrillic layout); pressing these keys twice, or using the Shifted version (as in Mnu-:) is a “Bizzare Cyrillic” prefix.
4. Another example of extra bindings: multi-character strings may be inserted this way.