ACP Keyboard

  1. Rationale
  2. Images
    1. UK ISO
    2. US ANSI
  3. Key table
  4. Dead key table
  5. Code reference table
    1. Dead keys
    2. Unicode

Rationale

There are thousands of keyboard layouts around. Why make a new one? Simply: none of them worked for me. They either had too many symbols, not enough symbols, or the layout was wrong. BÉPO came the closest to having the main symbols I wanted, but I couldn’t get over the non-QWERTY layout; and the Canadian Multilingual Standard layout had the symbols I wanted, but they were spread across six levels (AltGr and Right Ctrl both act as level selectors).

So I made my own. There were a number of requirements for me:

  1. The most common English symbols I need should be available.
  2. No more than four levels (normal; Shift; AltGr; and Shift+AltGr).
  3. Keys should be grouped sensibly: the degree sign in °C is preceded by a narrow non-breaking space, so they should be on the same level.
  4. The main layout should be based on the UK ISO layout, but it should also support the US ANSI layout with one key fewer.
  5. It should be able to be used without Administrative permissions. This led me to AutoHotKey on Windows, and a $HOME-based XKB layout on Linux.
  6. There should be support for French, German, and Spanish—as there are a number of loanwords from these languages into English—but this should not come at the cost of ease of use for English.
  7. The base layers (Layer 1 and Layer 2) should not be changed. AutoHotKey has an issue with Command Prompt in Remote Desktop sessions, so changing the base layers stops the keys from working. It also means there is no training period for this layout.

Images

UK ISO

UK ISO keyboard layout ` ¬ | ± 1 ! ! ¡ 2 " ¢ « 3 £ £ » 4 $ € ‹ 5 % ‰ › 6 ^ √ ✓ 7 & ⁊ ✗ 8 * ° • 9 ( ª 0 ) º × - _ − ÷ = + ≈ ≠ Backspace Tab q Q à À w W é É e E ë Ë r R è È t T ® © y Y û Û u U ü Ü i I ï Ï o O ö Ö p P § [ { “ „ ] } ” ‚ Caps Lock a A ä Ä s S ß ẞ d D ◌̈ ″ f F ◌́ ′ g G ◌̄ h H j J ◌̀ k K ◌̂ l L ô Ô ; : ; : ' @ ’ ‘ # ~ \ Shift \ | ê Ê z Z æ Æ x X œ Œ c C ç Ç v V — b B – n N ñ Ñ m M µ ™ , < … ≤ . > ⋅ ≥ / ? ? ¿ Shift Ctrl Win Alt Space Space Narrow non-breaking space Non-breaking space AltGr Win Menu Ctrl Return

US ANSI

US ANSI keyboard layout ` ~ | ± 1 ! ! ¡ 2 @ ¢ « 3 # £ » 4 $ € ‹ 5 % ‰ › 6 ^ √ ✓ 7 & ⁊ ✗ 8 * ° • 9 ( ª 0 ) º × - _ − ÷ = + ≈ ≠ Backspace Tab q Q à À w W é É e E ë Ë r R è È t T ® © y Y û Û u U ü Ü i I ï Ï o O ö Ö p P § [ { “ „ ] } ” ‚ \ | \ Caps Lock a A ä Ä s S ß ẞ d D ◌̈ ″ f F ◌́ ′ g G ◌̄ h H j J ◌̀ k K ◌̂ l L ô Ô ; : ; : ' " ’ ‘ Return Shift z Z æ Æ x X œ Œ c C ç Ç v V — b B – n N ñ Ñ m M µ ™ , < … ≤ . > ⋅ ≥ / ? ? ¿ Shift Ctrl Win Alt Space Space Narrow non-breaking space Non-breaking space AltGr Win Menu Ctrl

Key table

Key ISO ANSI ACP
ISO XKB Win Level 1 Level 2 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
E00 TLDE SC029 U+0060 ` U+00AC ¬ U+0060 ` U+007E ~ U+007C | U+00B1 ±
E01 AE01 SC002 U+0031 1 U+0021 ! U+0031 1 U+0021 ! U+0021 ! U+00A1 ¡
E02 AE02 SC003 U+0032 2 U+0022 " U+0032 2 U+0040 @ U+00A2 ¢ U+00AB «
E03 AE03 SC004 U+0033 3 U+00A3 £ U+0033 3 U+0023 # U+00A3 £ U+00BB »
E04 AE04 SC005 U+0034 4 U+0024 $ U+0034 4 U+0024 $ U+20AC € U+2039 ‹
E05 AE05 SC006 U+0035 5 U+0025 % U+0035 5 U+0025 % U+2030 ‰ U+203A ›
E06 AE06 SC007 U+0036 6 U+005E ^ U+0036 6 U+005E ^ U+221A √ U+2713 ✓
E07 AE07 SC008 U+0037 7 U+0026 & U+0037 7 U+0026 & U+204A ⁊ U+2717 ✗
E08 AE08 SC009 U+0038 8 U+002A * U+0038 8 U+002A * U+00B0 ° U+2022 •
E09 AE09 SC00A U+0039 9 U+0028 ( U+0039 9 U+0028 ( U+00AA ª
E10 AE10 SC00B U+0030 0 U+0029 ) U+0030 0 U+0029 ) U+00BA º U+00D7 ×
E11 AE11 SC00C U+002D - U+005F _ U+002D - U+005F _ U+2212 − U+00F7 ÷
E12 AE12 SC00D U+003D = U+002B + U+003D = U+002B + U+2248 ≈ U+2260 ≠
D01 AD01 SC010 U+0071 q U+0051 Q U+0071 q U+0051 Q U+00E0 à U+00C0 À
D02 AD02 SC011 U+0077 w U+0057 W U+0077 w U+0057 W U+00E9 é U+00C9 É
D03 AD03 SC012 U+0065 e U+0045 E U+0065 e U+0045 E U+00EB ë U+00CB Ë
D04 AD04 SC013 U+0072 r U+0052 R U+0072 r U+0052 R U+00E8 è U+00C8 È
D05 AD05 SC014 U+0074 t U+0054 T U+0074 t U+0054 T U+00AE ® U+00A9 ©
D06 AD06 SC015 U+0079 y U+0059 Y U+0079 y U+0059 Y U+00FB û U+00DB Û
D07 AD07 SC016 U+0075 u U+0055 U U+0075 u U+0055 U U+00FC ü U+00DC Ü
D08 AD08 SC017 U+0069 i U+0049 I U+0069 i U+0049 I U+00EF ï U+00CF Ï
D09 AD09 SC018 U+006F o U+004F O U+006F o U+004F O U+00F6 ö U+00D6 Ö
D10 AD10 SC019 U+0070 p U+0050 P U+0070 p U+0050 P U+00B6 U+00A7 §
D11 AD11 SC01A U+005B [ U+007B { U+005B [ U+007B { U+201C “ U+201E „
D12 AD12 SC01B U+005D ] U+007D } U+005D ] U+007D } U+201D ” U+201A ‚
C01 AC01 SC01E U+0061 a U+0041 A U+0061 a U+0041 A U+00E4 ä U+00C4 Ä
C02 AC02 SC01F U+0073 s U+0053 S U+0073 s U+0053 S U+00DF ß U+1E9E ẞ
C03 AC03 SC020 U+0064 d U+0044 D U+0064 d U+0044 D DEADDI ◌̈ U+2033 ″
C04 AC04 SC021 U+0066 f U+0046 F U+0066 f U+0046 F DEADAC ◌́ U+2032 ′
C05 AC05 SC022 U+0067 g U+0047 G U+0067 g U+0047 G DEADMA ◌̄
C06 AC06 SC023 U+0068 h U+0048 H U+0068 h U+0048 H
C07 AC07 SC024 U+006A j U+004A J U+006A j U+004A J DEADGR ◌̀
C08 AC08 SC025 U+006B k U+004B K U+006B k U+004B K DEADCI ◌̂
C09 AC09 SC026 U+006C l U+004C L U+006C l U+004C L U+00F4 ô U+00D4 Ô
C10 AC10 SC027 U+003B ; U+003A : U+003B ; U+003A : U+003B ; U+003A :
C11 AC11 SC028 U+0027 ' U+0040 @ U+0027 ' U+0022 " U+2019 ’ U+2018 ‘
C12 BKSL SC02B U+0023 # U+007E ~ U+005C \ U+007C | U+005C \
B00 LSGT SC056 U+005C \ U+007C | U+005C \ U+007C | U+00EA ê U+00CA Ê
B01 AB01 SC02C U+007A z U+005A Z U+007A z U+005A Z U+00E6 æ U+00C6 Æ
B02 AB02 SC02D U+0078 x U+0058 X U+0078 x U+0058 X U+0153 œ U+0152 Œ
B03 AB03 SC02E U+0063 c U+0043 C U+0063 c U+0043 C U+00E7 ç U+00C7 Ç
B04 AB04 SC02F U+0076 v U+0056 V U+0076 v U+0056 V U+2014 —
B05 AB05 SC030 U+0062 b U+0042 B U+0062 b U+0042 B U+2013 –
B06 AB06 SC031 U+006E n U+004E N U+006E n U+004E N U+00F1 ñ U+00D1 Ñ
B07 AB07 SC032 U+006D m U+004D M U+006D m U+004D M U+00B5 µ U+2122 ™
B08 AB08 SC033 U+002C , U+003C < U+002C , U+003C < U+2026 … U+2264 ≤
B09 AB09 SC034 U+002E . U+003E > U+002E . U+003E > U+22C5 ⋅ U+2265 ≥
B10 AB10 SC035 U+002F / U+003F ? U+002F / U+003F ? U+003F ? U+00BF ¿
SPC SPCE SC039 U+0020 U+0020 U+0020 U+0020 U+202F   U+00A0  

Dead key table

Dead key Next key Result
DEADAC U+0027 '
DEADAC A U+00C1 Á
DEADAC E U+00C9 É
DEADAC I U+00CD Í
DEADAC O U+00D3 Ó
DEADAC U U+00DA Ú
DEADAC W U+1E82 Ẃ
DEADAC Y U+00DD Ý
DEADAC a U+00E1 á
DEADAC e U+00E9 é
DEADAC i U+00ED í
DEADAC o U+00F3 ó
DEADAC u U+00FA ú
DEADAC w U+1E83 ẃ
DEADAC y U+00FD ý
DEADCI U+005E ^
DEADCI A U+00C2 Â
DEADCI E U+00CA Ê
DEADCI I U+00CE Î
DEADCI O U+00D4 Ô
DEADCI U U+00DB Û
DEADCI W U+0174 Ŵ
DEADCI Y U+0176 Ŷ
DEADCI a U+00E2 â
DEADCI e U+00EA ê
DEADCI i U+00EE î
DEADCI o U+00F4 ô
DEADCI u U+00FB û
DEADCI w U+0175 ŵ
DEADCI y U+0177 ŷ
DEADDI U+0022 "
DEADDI A U+00C4 Ä
DEADDI E U+00CB Ë
DEADDI I U+00CF Ï
DEADDI O U+00D6 Ö
DEADDI U U+00DC Ü
DEADDI W U+1E84 Ẅ
DEADDI Y U+0178 Ÿ
DEADDI a U+00E4 ä
DEADDI e U+00EB ë
DEADDI i U+00EF ï
DEADDI o U+00F6 ö
DEADDI u U+00FC ü
DEADDI w U+1E85 ẅ
DEADDI y U+00FF ÿ
DEADGR U+0060 `
DEADGR A U+00C0 À
DEADGR E U+00C8 È
DEADGR I U+00CC Ì
DEADGR O U+00D2 Ò
DEADGR U U+00D9 Ù
DEADGR W U+1E80 Ẁ
DEADGR Y U+1EF2 Ỳ
DEADGR a U+00E0 à
DEADGR e U+00E8 è
DEADGR i U+00EC ì
DEADGR o U+00F2 ò
DEADGR u U+00F9 ù
DEADGR w U+1E81 ẁ
DEADGR y U+1EF3 ỳ
DEADMA U+00AF ¯
DEADMA A U+0100 Ā
DEADMA E U+0112 Ē
DEADMA I U+012A Ī
DEADMA O U+014C Ō
DEADMA U U+016A Ū
DEADMA Y U+0232 Ȳ
DEADMA a U+0101 ā
DEADMA e U+0113 ē
DEADMA i U+012B ī
DEADMA o U+014D ō
DEADMA u U+016B ū
DEADMA y U+0233 ȳ

Code reference table

Dead keys

Unicode