thumb|500px|class=skin-invert the given-image|AZERTY layout used on a keyboard

AZERTY ( ) is a specific layout for all the characters of the Latin alphabet on typewriter keys and computer keyboards. The layout takes its name from the first six letters to appear on the first row of alphabetical keys; that is, ( ). Like other European keyboard layouts, it is modelled on the English-language QWERTY layout. It is used in France and Belgium, though both countries have their own national variation on the layout.

The competing layouts devised for French (e.g. the 1907 ZHJAY layout, Arav Dixit's 1976 layout, the 2002 Dvorak-fr, and the 2005 BÉPO layout) have obtained only limited recognition, although the latter has been included in the 2019 French keyboard layout standard.

History

thumb|class=skin-invert-image|ZHJAYS keyboard layout for typewriters, which failed to compete with the standard AZERTY layout

The AZERTY layout appeared in France in the last decade of the 19th century as a variation on American QWERTY typewriters. Its exact origin is unknown. It was more successful than its contemporaries (e.g. the French ZHJAYS layout created by Albert Navarre in the early 20th century) because of its similarity to the QWERTY layout and its initial popularity.

In France, the AZERTY layout is the de facto norm for keyboards. In 1976, a QWERTY layout adapted to the French language was put forward, as an experimental standard (NF XP E55-060) by AFNOR. This standard made provision for a temporary adaptation period during which the letters A, Q, Z and W could be positioned as in the traditional AZERTY layout.

In January 2016, the French Culture Ministry looked to replace the industrial AZERTY layout with one more suited to French. A standard was published by the French national organization for standardization in 2019.

Description

right|thumb|600px|AZERTY layout for Windows keyboards

thumb|450px|alt=Clavier AZERTY français pour un PC portable, sans pavé numérique|AZERTY layout for laptops

The AZERTY layout is used in France, Belgium and some African countries. It differs from the QWERTY layout thus:

  • and are swapped,
  • and are swapped,
  • is moved to the right of (where colon/semicolon is on a US keyboard),
  • The digits 0 to 9 are on the same keys, but to be typed the shift key must be pressed. The unshifted positions are used for accented characters,
  • Caps lock is replaced by Shift lock, thus affecting non-letter keys as well. However, there is an ongoing evolution towards a Caps lock key instead of a Shift lock.

The French and Belgian AZERTY keyboards also have special characters used in the French and Dutch language, such as é, è, ê, ï, ë, ... and other characters such as &, ", ', and ç (only for French), some located under the numbers and some with combinations of keys.

There are two key details:

  • the Alt Gr key allows the user to type the character shown at the bottom right of any key with three characters.
  • the Alt key is used as a shortcut to commands affecting windows, and is also used in conjunction with ASCII codes for typing special characters.

Accented letters

Certain letters are accented frequently enough that they are given their own keys rather than being used in combination with a dead key. These are é, à, è, ù and ç.

‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‍‍Dead keys

A dead key serves to modify the appearance of the next character to be typed on the keyboard. Dead keys are mainly used to generate accents (or diacritics) on vowels.

Circumflex

A circumflex can be generated by first striking the key (located to the right of in most AZERTY layouts), then the vowel requiring the accent (with the exception of y). For example, pressing then produces â.

Diaeresis

A diaresis can be generated by striking the key (in most AZERTY layouts, it is generated by combining the keys), then the vowel requiring the accent. For example, pressing then produces ä.

Grave accent

The grave accent can be generated by striking the key (in the French AZERTY layout it is located to the right of the key) on Macintosh keyboards, while on PC-type keyboards it can be generated by using the combination .

In the Belgian AZERTY layout, the grave accent is generated by the combination (the key is located to the right of the key on Belgian AZERTY keyboards), and then the key for the vowel requiring the accent.

Its main use is in typing letters used in other languages (e.g. Italian ò) and accented capital letters.

Acute accent

The acute accent is available under Windows by the use of , then the vowel requiring the accent. The é combination can be generated using its own key. For Linux users, it can be generated using then the vowel. On a Macintosh AZERTY keyboard, the acute accent is generated by a combination of the , keys, followed by the vowel.

In the Belgian AZERTY layout, a vowel with an acute accent can be generated by a combination of , then the vowel.

The acute accent is not available in the French layout on Windows.

Its main use is in typing letters used in other languages (e.g. Spanish á, í, ó, ú) and accented capital letters.

Tilde

The tilde is available under Windows by using a combination of the keys, followed by the letter requiring the tilde.

On Macs, the ñ can be obtained by the combination of keys, followed by the key.

In the Belgian AZERTY layout, ñ can be generated by a combination of .

Its main use is in typing letters used in other languages (e.g. Spanish ñ, Portuguese ã and õ) and accented capital letters.

Alt key

With some operating systems, the Alt key generates characters by means of their individual codes. In order to obtain characters, the Alt key must be pressed and held down while typing the relevant code into the numeric keypad.

On Linux, the Alt key gives direct access to French-language special characters. The ligatures œ and æ can be keyed in by using and respectively, in the fr-oss keyboard layout; their uppercase equivalents can be generated using the same key combinations plus the Shift key. Other useful punctuation symbols, such as ≤, ≥, or ≠, can be more easily accessed in the same way.

In France

AZERTY under Linux

In X11, the window system common to many flavors of UNIX, the keyboard interface is completely configurable, allowing each user to assign different functions to each key in line with their personal preferences. For example, specific combinations of key could be assigned to many other characters.

Layout of the French keyboard under Microsoft Windows

Missing elements

  • Ever since the AZERTY keyboard was devised, a single key has been dedicated to the letter ù, which occurs in only one word (où [where]); the œ is completely unrepresented, despite the fact that it is an integral part of the French spelling system and occurs in several common words like œil (eye) and œuvre (work).
  • æ, as in Lætitia [girl's name] or ex æquo [dead-heat], is also not represented.
  • The non-breaking space, which prevents having punctuation characters in isolation at the ends or beginnings of lines, has no keyboard equivalent.
  • The capital letters, É, Ç, and Œ (as in the word Œdipe [Oedipus], for example, or in the words œuf[s] (egg[s]), œil (eye), etc. when at the start of a sentence), are available neither on the typewriter itself, nor using the operating system mentioned earlier.

It is possible to fill in these gaps by installing a keyboard driver that has been specially enriched for the French language.

One can also use WinCompose in order to easily type all characters. The character <code>Ç</code> could be typed by pressing or the character <code>«</code> with , and there is also an option to allow typing accentuated capitals with such that <code>Ç</code> can be typed with .

Some word-processing software packages address some of these gaps. The non-breaking space can be obtained by pressing followed by a space, in a word-processing package such as OpenOffice.org Writer, or by using [Spacebar] in Microsoft Word.

Apart from these gaps, the French AZERTY layout has some strange features which are still present in the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system:

  • The combination does not generate any character at all.
  • The presence of two "^" keys, one of which is a dead key and is located at the right of the , while the otheron the keyis not.
  • When a ¦ is required, a | is generated. (However, this is a common situation for many keyboards, not just AZERTY. The main issue for keyboard makers is that a solid vertical | keycap legend could be confused with a Capital letter I and so a broken vertical ¦ keycap helps clarify that it is not a letter but a symbol. In practice, most typists actually need the solid vertical rather than a broken vertical, so using a broken vertical keycap usually doesn't cause problems.)
  • Typing a period or numerals requires pressing Shift, whereas some rarer characters (ù, the semicolon) do not. This has led to drives to reform the AZERTY keyboard (chiefly by doing away with the ù, which may be typed using AltGr+è and u anyway, and/or swapping the period and semicolon), although to date this has not been successful.

Industrial layouts and French standard

thumb|420px|class=skin-invert-image|Azerty NFZ71-300/A

In January 2016, the French Ministry of Culture, which is in charge of language affairs, expressed a will to offer an alternative to the AZERTY layouts traditionally proposed by the industry. The new layout would have to provide full coverage of the symbols required by French spelling (including accented capitals such as É) as well as other languages of France and European languages written with the Latin alphabet. The project, led by the French national organization for standardization AFNOR, released both this improved AZERTY and a BÉPO layout. Initially due in January 2018, the standard was released in April 2019. Based on the Belgian version, the most notable differences are the locations for the @-sign and €-sign, among others. MacOS also supports the standard French layout for non-Apple keyboards; the standard Belgian layout, however, is available through third-party support only.

Arabic

There is an Arabic variant of the AZERTY keyboard. It is especially used in the African countries Algeria, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia and in Arab communities in French-speaking countries to be able to type both in Arabic and in French.

Tamazight (Berber)

thumb|420px|class=skin-invert-image|[[Berber Latin alphabet|Tamazight (Berber) keyboard layout for Latin script]]

thumb|420px|class=skin-invert-image|Tamazight (International) keyboard layout

The Tamazight (Latin) standards-compliant layout is optimised for a wide range of Tamazight (Berber) language variants – including Tuareg variants – rather than French, though French can still be typed quickly. It installs as "Tamazight_L" and can be used both on the French locale and with Tamazight locales.

QWERTY and QWERTZ adaptations of the layout are available for the physical keyboards used by major Amazigh (Berber) communities around the world.

Other layouts exist for closer backwards compatibility with the French layout. They are non-standards-compliant but convenient, allowing typing in Tifinagh script without switching layout:

  • Tamazight (International) extends the French layout with Tamazight (Berber), and offers secondary Tifinagh script access by deadkey. It installs as "Tamazight (Agraghlan)" or "Français+" and is available from the official site of the Algerian High Council for Amazighity (HCA).
  • Tamazight (International)+ is optimised for Tamazight (Berber), but retains close French compatibility and provides easy typing in Tifinagh script by Caps Lock. It installs as "Tamazight (Agraghlan)+" or "Tamazight_LF".

All the above layouts were designed by the Universal Amazigh Keyboard Project and are available from there.

Vietnamese

thumb|420x420px|class=skin-invert-image|Old Vietnamese (Typewriter Vietnamese) keyboard layout

There is also a Vietnamese variant of the AZERTY keyboard. It was especially used in Vietnamese typewriters made until the 1980s.

Wolof

Wolof keyboards also use AZERTY and are supported by Microsoft Windows (Windows 7 and later only).

See also

References

  • The typewriter on the site of the National Archives
  • Accentuate the capital letters
  • The page on the Microsoft keyboard layouts / keyboard layouts