EurKEY - The European Keyboard Layout

Overview

EurKEY is based on the american keyboard layout. That's because the american layout is much more convenient to type specific characters. These include :// in http://, [] and {} in source code, or slashes (/) and backslashes (\) in a Unix shell.

Programmers will be particulary aware of previous country-specific redesigns of the keyboard layout, which made typing curly brackets quiet hard. The american layout is a lot more practical for coding.

Almost all language specific letters can be generated with Alt Gr. Additional characters can be generated with the composition keys (so called dead keys), highlighted in blue and purple in the picture. In addition, the entire greek alphabet is accessible via the composition key Ω.

Composition keys with **Alt Gr**
Key	Possible characters
`	à, è, ì, ò, ù, À, È, Ì, Ò, Ù, `
^	â, ê, î, ô, û, ŷ, ŵ, Â, Ê, Î, Ô, Û, Ŷ, Ŵ, ^
°	å, ċ, ġ, ż, Å, Ċ, Ġ, Ż, °
¨	ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ, Ä, Ë, Ï, Ö, Ü, Ÿ, ¨
´	á, é, í, ó, ú, ý, ł, ń, ŕ, ć, ɓ, ś, Á, É, Í, Ó, Ú, Ý, Ł, Ń, Ŕ, Ć, Ɓ, Ś, ´
©	©, ℗, ®, ™, ℠, ↓, ↑, →, ←, ↘, ↙, ↖, ↗, ⇐, ⇓, ⇑, ⇒, ⇘, ⇙, ⇖, ⇗ (Windows only)
Ω	The greek alphabet (Windows only)

The shifted Alt Gr layout generates the capital counterparts of european characters. The composition key ± provides access to common math symbols. E. g. the infinite sign (∞) can be generated by pressing Shift+Alt Gr+m and i.

Composition keys with **Shift**+**Alt Gr**
Key	Possible characters
~	ã, õ, ñ, Ã, Õ, Ñ, ~
ˇ	ă, č, ǧ, ǐ, ǰ, š, ž, ľ, Ă, Č, Ǧ, Ǐ, Š, Ž, Ľ, ˇ
¯	ā, ē, ī, ō, ħ, ḻ, đ, ŧ, ū, ƀ, Ā, Ē, Ī, Ō, Ħ, Ḻ, Đ, Ŧ, Ū, ¯, hyphen (1), en dash (2), em dash(3) (Some are windows only)
±	∞, √, ∑, ∏, ∟, ⁿ, ∂, −, ≠, ≈, ≤, ≥, ∫, ∩, ∕, ¼, ½ ,¾ ,°, ± and many more. Have a look here. (Windows only)

The Caps Lock generates capital letters – but only in case there is a lowercase counterpart. This allows one to type uppercase sentences intuitively. It's possible to write the following sentence without making use of Shift: "I'LL RECHECK THE FIRST 2 MOTÖRHEAD RELEASES." Now try that on your keyboard ;-)

Layout files

You can also download the layout as a PDF file and print it.

EurKEY The European Keyboard Layout

Overview

Layout files