Re: [A12n-Collab] Combining diacritics, type them as if they were dead keys? (GTK+, X.Org)

[Andrew Cunningham <andrewc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Simos,

Simos Xenitellis wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> At the moment, when one types combining diacritics in X.Org (as in 
> Linux), they type
> <letter> <combining diacritic 1> <combining diacritic 2> ...
which is direct logical input which normally produces the output: <base 
character> <combining diacritic one> <combining diacritic 2> ...
> This is different from the case when you have dead keys:
>
> <dead key 1> <dead key 2> ... <letter>
which on simple keyboard layouts (xkb, win32 keyboard model) produces 
the output <precomposed character>
> There has been interest by users to be able to type in the order:
>
> <combining diacritic> <letter>
>
> or, in the general case,
>
> <combining diacritic 1> <combining diacritic 2> ... <letter>
so you are suggesting that

<combining diacritic 1> <combining diacritic 2> ... <letter>  produces 
<precomposed character>
which is just a normal dead key system

or are you suggesting

<combining diacritic 1> <combining diacritic 2> ... <letter>  produces  
<base character> <combining diacritic one> <combining diacritic 2> ...
which would mean the input system would need to be able to handle 
sequence checking, normalisation, character reordering, so basically 
you're suggesting a smart input system rather than the xkb model, so 
something like SCIM+KMFL? or similar?
what other features would such a keyboard system have?
> Is there interest to go for this case where the letter is typed last?
> It would be good to get some input on this, because if we go for it, 
> it would affect all layouts.
yes and no

you'd have to have multiple layouts, assuming the project builds for xkb 
and win32 keyboard model (using MSKLC).
Andrew

--
Andrew Cunningham
Vicnet Research and Development Coordinator
State Library of Victoria
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