2 Installing the US-International Keyboard Configuration

Fortunately, there is a special keyboard layout which allows one to type virtually all of the characters used in Western-European languages. It is called the US-international layout, The steps for installing it are somewhat different for Windows XP than for Windows 98, ME, and NT, two separate lists are given. (The author does not have access to a system running Windows 2000, but surely the steps are similar to one of the cases given below.)

To install and enable it, proceed as follows for Windows 98, ME, and NT:

1. In the Control Panel, double-click on Keyboard and then select the Language tab. (In Windows NT, this tab is labelled Input Locales.)
2. Click on the Add tab,
3. Select any unused language, say Afrikaans, and click the OK tab. This new language will now appear in the Language list.
4. Highlight this new language, and then click on Properties.
5. For the Keyboard layout, select United States International or US-international. (The exact name may depend upon the version of the operating system.)
6. Click on OK.
7. At the bottom of the languages tab, check Enable indicator on taskbar, and select Left Alt+Shift under Switch languages or Switch locales.
8. Click on Apply and note that a small blue rectangle with En has appeared in icon tray at the far right of the task bar at the bottom of the screen.
9. Press the left Alt key and the left Shift key together, and note that the text in the blue rectangle changes to Af. Press these keys again and note that the En reappears.
10. If this works, click on OK to close the Keyboard Properties window. Otherwise, check the steps again.

For Windows XP, proceed as follows:

1. In the Control Panel, double-click on Regional and Language Options, select the Languages tab, and then click on the Details tab,
2. Click on the Add tab, select any unused language, say Afrikaans, and select United States - International for Keyboard Layout/IME.
3. Click on OK.
4. At the bottom of the languages tab, check Language Bar, and check Show the Language bar on desktop, and click on OK.
5. Click on Key Settings, check Select input languages, check Left ALT + SHIFT, and click on OK.
6. Click on Apply and note that a small blue rectangle with En has appeared in icon tray at the far right of the task bar at the bottom of the screen. (If the small rectangle with En does not appear, look for the language bar on the desktop. To place it on the taskbar, right click on it and select Minimize.
7. Press the left Alt key and the left Shift key together, and note that the text in the blue rectangle changes to Af. Press these keys again and note that the En reappears.
8. If this works, click on OK to close the Keyboard Properties window. Otherwise, check the steps again.