Polytonic Greek Unicode Keyboards

Posted: 4/3/11

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May 27, 2011

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Unicode Polytonic GreekKeyboard Map

Here are instructions for typing in UnicodePolytonic Greek. This will enable you tocreate Greek documents, web sites, andemails which most current browsers willdisplay properly. It also will allow you to change Unicode fonts withoutany confusion of characters.

1. Installation of Greek language and keyboard

2. Typing in Unicode Greek

3. Other (lesser) Options

1. Installation of mutlilanguage support and keyboard layoutfor Greek

All operating systems are not created equal. Currently Appel's Mac hasa notable edge for typing polytonic Greek in Unicode when comparingtheir normal accenting systems. Mac operating systems allow formultiple dead key combinations (select breathing, select accent,select subscript and then finally select a letter) and Windows systemsonly allow for a single dead key. The result is that windows has a keyfor each possible accent, breather and subscript combination.However, I have created a remedy keyboard for Windows systemscalled EZAccent and have it freely available for you below (as long asthis site remains the only place to download it - I may find some slightimprovement tweaks in the future and down want multiple versionscompleting with each other.) I have not yet figured out how to do thesame thing for Mac's but its native system seems sufficient. Thefollowing is how to step up a Greek polytonic keyboard on each ofthese systems.

Windows 7, Vista, and XP -

Download John Schwandt's EZAccent Keyboard EZAccent.zip

Double click EZAccent.zip and then save the zip file to your localmachine.

1.

Once you have the file on your machine (probably in your downloads2.

Polytonic Greek Unicode Keyboards http://www.biblicalgreek.org/links/fonts/keyboard.php

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folder), double click it to browse the files inside it.Double click on the setup file to install the keyboard.3.You will see a confirmation window once the keyboard is installed.4.You now can type in Greek. Simply press Alt+Shift to switch betweenEnglish and Greek keyboards and make sure that you are using aunicode font like Palatino Linotype, Minion Pro, Gentium etc. SeeGreek Font Links and Downloads for a list of free Unicode fonts andwhere to get more.

5.

Please read my instruction document(Greek_Polytonic_Easy_Accent_Instructions.pdf) explaining how thekeyboard works. There is a quick summary below in the Typing inUnicode Greek section.

6.

MAC Snow Leopard-

Click on the apple symbol in the the upper left of tool bar.1.On the drop-down menu select System Preferences.2.In the "system preferences" window that will open, click on theLanguage & Text icon.

3.

In the "Language & Text" window that will open, click on the InputSources button/tab.

4.

Select the Greek Polytonic checkbox.Make sure the "keyboard & character viewer" box is checked aswell.

1.

Make sure the "Show input menu in menu bar" box (in the lowerright of the window) is checked.

2.

5.

Close the windows and now you should see a US flag in your menu bar(upper right).

6.

Click on the flag to see a drop down menu with a Greek flag.Select the Greek flag to switch your keyboard to a GreekUnicode keyboard.

1.

Click on the keyboard viewer to see which keys produce whichletters and accents (Pressing shift changes the contents of theviewer). Further down on this web page are tips for typing inGreek.

2.

7.

MAC (older operating system) OS X Tiger

Click on the apple symbol in the the upper left of tool bar.1.On the drop-down menu select System Preferences.2.In the "system preferences" window that will open, click on theInternational icon.

3.

In the "Language & Text" window that will open, click on the InputMenu button/tab.

4.

Select the Greek Polytonic checkbox.Make sure the "Show input menu in menu bar" box (in the lowerleft of the window) is checked.

1.5.

Close the windows and now you should see a US flag in your menu bar(upper right).

6.

Click on the flag to see a drop down menu with a Greek flag.Select the Greek flag to switch your keyboard to a GreekUnicode keyboard.

1.

Click on the keyboard viewer to see which keys produce whichletters and accents (Pressing shift changes the contents of theviewer). Further down on this web page are tips for typing inGreek.

2.

7.


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2. Typing in Unicode Greek

After adding Greek to your operating system and installing thekeyboard you are ready to start typing in Greek Polytonic Unicode.Note: Always make sure that your font is a font that supports polytonicGreek Unicode characters. If you are sending an email or publishing onthe web, the most widely available polytonic Greek Unicode font isPalatino Linotype. Remember if you send an email or write a web pagewith a font that their viewer doesn't have, it won't display properly.Hear a couple ways of typing in Greek polytonic Unicode.

Windows EZAccent Polytonic Greek Keyboard -

If you have any Windows operating system I hope you have chosen touse my (John Schwandt's) EZAccent Windows keyboard. I have foundthat is the easiest system for typing all of the diacritical marks whiletyping Greek. It runs within your operating system so you can use inanywhere in your system (in any program). If you want a letter to havea breathing mark simply type 'q' first for your smooth breather and 'Q'for your rough breather. If you want to accent a letter (evening afterselecting a breathing mark) simply remember that shift + your vowel isthe acute, alt+ctrl (or right alt) + your vowel is the grave, and allthree shift+alt+ctrl (or shift+right alt) + your vowel makes thecircumflex. I explain the iota subscript combinations in the instructiondocument. I also have pictures of the keyboard layout there.

I think this is the most effortless system for typing in Greek since youselect the accenting at the same time as the vowel rather than beforeit. It also uses the Greek national keyboard layout for the location forall of the letters. The only downside that in Microsoft Word there are afew shift states that Microsoft decided to use as hot-keys (whichshould have been reserved for foreign language keyboards). You candisable these in Word if the program attempts to do something otherthan type a character. (That is what I did and now can't rememberwhat they were.) If you find any of these to disable (you can accentcorrectly in other applications like Facebook but not Word), please letme know so I can add this list and instructions for Word to theinstruction document.

Remember take a look at the instruction document for all of thedetails and pictures of how the keyboard works.

Mac Polytonic Greek Keyboard -

There are a number of ways to type accents and breathers with theMac keyboard. Some involve memorizing a long list of keys with all ofthe various accenting combinations like Windows symbols. I prefersimply learning one key for each accent type and then typing anynumber of them before the letter that you wish to accent. Why not usethe advantages of your Mac?


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This is what I do.

Type the quote mark for a smooth breather and the shift plus this keywith yield a rough breather.

1.

Type the colon for an acute accent (FYI the shift plus this key willyield a dieresis but this isn't used frequently.)

2.

Type the right bracket ] for a grave (FYI the shift plus this key yieldsthe same thing.)

3.

Type the left bracket [ for a circumflex and the shift plus this key withyield a iota subscript .

4.

Those four keys can be used in any combination to produce anycombination of additional symbols on over your Greek characters.Remember to select your accents before your vowel.

3. Other (lesser) Keyboard Options

Native Microsoft Polytonic Greek Keyboard -

This is keyboard is awkward to use, but it works in most applications,especially Microsoft programs. To do this click on the "EN" in yourbottom tool bar and switch your keyboard to "EL" (Greek). Often timesALT-SHIFT is a default hot key combination to do this. Now you shouldbe typing in Greek according to this keyboard map.

The following is a list of key combinations to type in Unicode Greekusing an English keyboard. It might differ between different keyboards.

ά type ;a

ὰ type ]a

ᾶ type [a

ἀ type 'a

ἁ type "a

ἄ type /a


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ἅ type ?a

ἂ type \a

ἃ type |a

ἆ type =a

ἇ type +a

ᾳ type {a

ᾀ type {ctrl} {alt} ;a

ᾲ type {ctrl} {alt} ]a

ᾷ type {ctrl} {alt} [a

Setup instructions for Windows 7

Click Start, click Settings, and then click Control Panel.1.Click on Clock, Language and Region.2.Click on Change keyboards and other input methods.3.A window will appear. Click the Change Keyboards button.4.A window will appear with three tabs. The "general" tab is the that isopen by default. Click the Add button.

5.

You will see a list of keyboards based on languages. Scroll down andclick on Greek, and then select Greek Polytonic keyboard.

6.

Click OK. You can now switch between typing in Greek (with accents)and English (when you are using a Unicode font). (You can see graphicsof the Greek keyboard layouts below on this website.)

7.

Windows XP-

Go into the control panelIn the Windows XP standard Start menu, click Start, and thenclick Control Panel.

1.

In the Windows XP classic Start menu, click Start, click Settings,and then click Control Panel.

2.

1.

Double-click Regional and Language Options.2.Click the Languages tab, and then click Details under "Text Servicesand Input Languages".

3.

Click Add under "Installed Services", and then click Greek Polytonic toadd and the keyboard layout for the language.

4.

To configure the settings for the Language bar, click Language Barunder "Preferences".

5.

(Keyman Greek Keyboard):

There is a shell program that is easier to use than the native keyboard,but is a secondary program that runs in addition to Windows. Theaccenting is far more intuitive than the native Window polytonic Greeksymbols, but some of the characters are different than the ethnic


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Greek keyboard. You type the accent or breathing after a vowel andonly need to learn the location of five accent keys instead of fourteen(above). If you want a circumflex with a breather, click the circumflexkey then the breathing key. You can watch the accented letter changebefore your eyes. If you click the wrong accent, simply click the properone without having to delete. The accents change as you type them.This is very handy. In order to get a final sigma you have to downloadthe Classical Greek keyboard by Mauel Lopez. The only problems that Ihave experienced is using with some non Microsoft programs like WordPerfect. Click here to go to the keyman site to download the program.This is the keyboard layout map for Keyman.

Other Options (Unitype):

This is a program for typing Unicode in Microsoft XP/2000 Software.There is a free demo available. Here is the link:http://www.unitype.com/

There is also a web page that allows one to type in Greek Unicode. Youcan right click on the page and click "view source". Then copy all andsave it as an HTM page that you can run from your desktop rather thanusing it online. Here is the link: http://www.users.ox.ac.uk/~tay|0010/letters_caretpos2.htm

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Polytonic Greek Unicode Keyboards

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