3 Using the US-International Keyboard Configuration

Figure 1 gives a visual summary of the US-international keyboard layout. Most US keyboards have these keys in their layout, although the key in the far upper left (tilde and grave accent) and the key in far upper right (backslash and bar) may be located in other positions on some keyboard. This is of no consequence, it is the label and not the physical location which is of importance.

Note also that many keys are shown with additional characters with a blue background. The marking to the left on each key is that of the standard US layout, while that to the right, in the blue background, shows the special characters which are realizable by using the the right Alt key as a shift.

In a nutshell, the rules of operation are as follows:

1. Pressing the two lavender keys together toggles operation between the standard layout and the international layout.
2. If any white key is pressed, or if either of the two lavender keys are pressed individually, the action is exactly as with the standard US keyboard.
3. The right Alt key, color coded in blue, acts as a special shift key. If it is pressed, then the characters shown in blue on the keycap of Figure 1 is realized. For example, if the n key is pressed, the usual letter n is produced; however, if n is pressed while the right Alt key is held down, then the Spanish letter ñ is produced. Similarly, just as Shift+n produces N, if n is pressed while both a shift key plus the right Alt key is held down, Ñ is produced.

   Note that not all keys have bindings for this special shift. For example, the F key has no such bindings, while the M key has a binding only for lower case.

   Note also that it is only the right Alt key, and not the left, which has this special property.

4. The three tan keys act as prefix keys. (Actually, only the shifted (caret) part of the 6 key acts as such, so only its top half is shaded tan.) The idea is that the accent mark associated with the key is placed over the next letter which is typed. Thus, if the key containing the single and double quote marks is pressed, nothing happens immediately. However, an acute accent will be placed over the next character typed, so that if an e is struck next, é will appear. Similarly, if that key is pressed with a shift key also pressed, the next character will have a dieresis (umlaut) over it; e.g., ë.

   Prefix placement works only for situations in which the underlying character set admits the desired letter. For example, typing single quote and then a t will result in ’t, since a t with an acute accent is not part of the underlying character set.

   To get something such as ’e, type a single quote, followed by a space, followed by e.

   Note that many (although not all) of the characters which may be produced using the prefix keys may also be produced using the right Alt key. For example, ä may be produced both ways, while ë can only be produced using a prefix key.

For reference, a larger picture of the keyboard layout is provided on the next page.