AZERTY ( ) is a specific layout for all the characters of the Latin alphabet on typewriter keys and computer keyboards. The layout takes its name from the first six letters to appear on the first row of its alphabetical keys; that is, ( ). Like other European keyboard layouts, it is modelled on the English-language QWERTY layout. It is used in France and Belgium, though both countries have their own national variation on the layout.
The competing layouts devised for French (e.g. the 1907 ZHJAY layout, Arav Dixit's 1976 layout, the 2002 Dvorak-fr, and the 2005 BÉPO layout) have obtained only limited recognition, although the latter has been included in the 2019 French keyboard layout standard.
History
The AZERTY layout appeared in France in the last decade of the 19th century as a variation on AWERTY layout derived from American QWERTY typewriters. Its exact origin is unknown. It was more successful than its contemporaries (e.g. the French ZHJAYS layout created by Albert Navarre in the early 20th century) because of its similarity to the QWERTY layout and its initial popularity.
In France, the AZERTY layout is the de facto norm for keyboards. In 1976, a QWERTY layout adapted to the French language was put forward, as an experimental standard (NF XP E55-060) by AFNOR. This standard made provision for a temporary adaptation period during which the letters A, Q, Z and W could be positioned as in the traditional AZERTY layout.
In January 2016, the French Culture Ministry looked to replace the industrial AZERTY layout with one more suited to French. A standard was published by the French national organization for standardization in 2019.
Description
The AZERTY layout is used in France, Belgium and some African countries. It differs from the QWERTY layout thus: and are swapped, and are swapped, is moved to the right of (where colon/semicolon is on a US keyboard), The digits 0 to 9 are on the same keys, but to be typed the shift key must be pressed. The unshifted positions are used for accented characters, Caps lock is replaced by Shift lock, thus affecting non-letter keys as well. However, there is an ongoing evolution towards a Caps lock key instead of a Shift lock.
The French and Belgian AZERTY keyboards also have special characters used in the French and Dutch language, such as and other characters such as , some located under the numbers and some with combinations of keys.
There are two key details: the Alt Gr key allows the user to type the character shown at the bottom right of any key with three characters. the Alt key is used as a shortcut to commands affecting windows, and is also used in conjunction with alt codes for typing special characters.
Accented letters Certain letters are accented frequently enough that they are given their own keys rather than being used in combination with a dead key. These are .
Dead keys A dead key serves to modify the appearance of the next character to be typed on the keyboard. Dead keys are mainly used to generate accents (or diacritics) on vowel letters.
Circumflex A circumflex can be generated by first striking the key (located to the right of in most AZERTY layouts), then the vowel requiring the accent (with the exception of y). For example, pressing then produces .
Diaeresis A diaresis can be generated by striking the key (in most AZERTY layouts, it is generated by combining the keys), then the vowel requiring the accent. For example, pressing then produces .
Grave accent The grave accent can be generated by striking the key (in the French AZERTY layout it is located to the right of the key) on Macintosh keyboards, while on PC-type keyboards it can be generated by using the combination .
In the Belgian AZERTY layout, the grave accent is generated by the combination (the key is located to the right of the key on Belgian AZERTY keyboards), and then the key for the vowel requiring the accent.
Its main use is in typing letters used in other languages (e.g. Italian ) and accented capital letters.
Acute accent The acute accent is available under Windows by the use of , then the vowel requiring the accent. The combination can be generated using its own key. For Linux users, it can be generated using then the vowel. On a Macintosh AZERTY keyboard, the acute accent is generated by a combination of , followed by the vowel.
In the Belgian AZERTY layout, a vowel with an acute accent can be generated by a combination of , then the vowel.
The acute accent is not available in the French layout on Windows.
Its main use is in typing letters used in other languages (e.g. Spanish ) and accented capital letters.
Tilde The tilde is available under Windows by using a combination of the keys, followed by the letter requiring the tilde.
On Macs, the can be obtained by the combination of keys, followed by the key.
In the Belgian AZERTY layout, can be generated by a combination of .
Its main use is in typing letters used in other languages (e.g. Spanish , Portuguese ) and accented capital letters.
Alt key
With some operating systems, the Alt key generates characters by means of their individual codes. In order to obtain characters, the Alt key must be pressed and held down while typing the relevant code into the numeric keypad.
On Linux, the Alt key gives direct access to French-language special characters. The ligatures and can be keyed in by using and respectively, in the fr-oss keyboard layout; their uppercase equivalents can be generated using the same key combinations plus the Shift key. Other useful punctuation symbols, such as , can be more easily accessed in the same way.
In France AZERTY under Linux In X11, the window system common to many flavors of UNIX, the keyboard interface is completely configurable, allowing each user to assign different functions to each key in line with their personal preferences. For example, specific combinations of key could be assigned to many other characters.
Layout of the French keyboard under Microsoft Windows Missing elements Ever since the AZERTY keyboard was devised, a single key has been dedicated to the letter ù, which occurs in only one word (où [where]); the œ is completely unrepresented, despite the fact that it is an integral part of the French spelling system and occurs in several common words like œil (eye) and œuvre (work). æ, as in Lætitia [girl's name] or ex æquo [dead-heat], is also not represented. The non-breaking space, which prevents having punctuation characters in isolation at the ends or beginnings of lines, has no keyboard equivalent. The capital letters, É, Ç, and Œ (as in the word Œdipe [Oedipus], for example, or in the words œuf[s] (egg[s]), œil (eye), etc. when at the start of a sentence), are available neither on the typewriter itself, nor using the operating system mentioned earlier.
It is possible to fill in these gaps by installing a keyboard driver that has been specially enriched for the French language.Denis Liégeois, pilote de clavier azerty enrichi pour Windows .
One can also use WinCompose in order to easily type all characters. The character Ç could be typed by pressing or the character « with , and there is also an option to allow typing accentuated capitals with such that Ç can be typed with .
Some word-processing software packages address some of these gaps. The non-breaking space can be obtained by pressing followed by a space, in a word-processing package such as OpenOffice.org Writer, or by using [Spacebar] in Microsoft Word.
Apart from these gaps, the French AZERTY layout has some strange features which are still present in the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system: The combination does not generate any character at all. The presence of two "^" keys, one of which is a dead key and is located at the right of the , while the otheron the keyis not. When a ¦ is required, a | is generated. (However, this is a common situation for many keyboards, not just AZERTY. The main issue for keyboard makers is that a solid vertical | keycap legend could be confused with a Capital letter I and so a broken vertical ¦ keycap helps clarify that it is not a letter but a symbol. In practice, most typists actually need the solid vertical rather than a broken vertical, so using a broken vertical keycap usually doesn't cause problems.) Typing a period or numerals requires pressing Shift, whereas some rarer characters (ù, the semicolon) do not. This has led to drives to reform the AZERTY keyboard (chiefly by doing away with the ù, which may be typed using AltGr+è and u anyway, and/or swapping the period and semicolon), although to date this has not been successful.
Industrial layouts and French standard
In January 2016, the French Ministry of Culture, which is in charge of language affairs, expressed a will to offer an alternative to the AZERTY layouts traditionally proposed by the industry. The new layout would have to provide full coverage of the symbols required by French spelling (including accented capitals such as É) as well as other languages of France and European languages written with the Latin alphabet. The project, led by the French national organization for standardization AFNOR, released both this improved AZERTY and a BÉPO layout. Initially due in January 2018, the standard was released in April 2019.
The layout keeps the same placement for the 26 Latin letters and 10 digits, but moves others (such as some accented letters and punctuation signs), while it adds a range of other symbols (accessible with Shift, AltGr). There is easy access to guillemets « » (French quotes), accented capital letters: À, É, Ç, as well as Œ/œ, Æ/æ, which was not possible before on basic AZERTY (Windows' AZERTY); previously alt codes were required.
It allows typing words in many languages using dead keys, which are in blue on the picture, to access a variety of diacritics. A few mathematics symbols have also been added.
A website for the new AZERTY layout has been created, offering information, visuals of the changes, links to drivers to install the layout and various other resources.
Differences between the Belgian and French layouts
The Belgian AZERTY keyboard allows for the placing of accents on vowels without recourse to encoding via the Alt key + code. This is made possible by the provision of dead keys for each type of accent: (the last two being generated by the combinations and respectively).
To recap the list of different keys from left to right and from top to bottom: First row (symbols and numbers): By combining the shift and keys, is obtained; The symbol is generated by a combination of same key as the 1; The symbol is generated by a combination of same key as the 2; Unlike the French layout, the key (or 4 key) does not contain a third symbol. On Linux it's (); Unlike the French layout, the key (or 5 key) does not contain a third symbol. On Linux it's (); The symbol is generated by a combination of same key as the 6; but, as opposed to the symbol found to the right of the key, it is not a dead key, and therefore does not generate the placing of a circumflex accent (it is the freestanding caret key used by programmers); Unlike the French layout, the (or 7) key does not contain a third symbol. On Linux it's ; Unlike the French layout, the (or 8) key does not contain a third symbol. On Linux it's ; The symbol is obtained by a combination of same key as the 9; The symbol is obtained by a combination of same key as the 0; Unlike the French layout, the (or ) key does not contain a third symbol. On Linux it's ; The key to the right of the key contains the following symbols: with shift and, unlike the French layout, does not contain a third symbol. On Linux it's the dead key . Second row (the letters AZERTYuiop): the alphabetical keys do not have AltGr codes apart from the , which generates the euro symbol, ;