Arabic keyboard
The Arabic keyboard (Arabic: لوحة المفاتيح العربية, romanized: lawḥat al-mafātīḥ al-ʕarabiyya) is the Arabic keyboard layout used for the Arabic alphabet. All computer Arabic keyboards contain both Arabic letters and Latin letters, the latter being necessary for URLs and e-mail addresses. Since Arabic is written from right to left, when one types with an Arabic keyboard, the letters will start appearing from the right side of the screen.
Layouts
[edit]- An Olivetti Lettera 32 typewriter with Arabic keyboard
- An Apple computer Arabic keyboard
Arabic typewriter
[edit]The Arabic layout typewriter was first patented by Selim Shibli Haddad, a Syrian artist and inventor.[1] A British patent was filed three months later, on 1 December 1899, by Philippe Waked, the first person to type a document in Arabic.[2] Both patents expired in 1919, prompting mass production in both Egypt and abroad.[3]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Arabic_typewriter_keyboard_layout.svg/800px-Arabic_typewriter_keyboard_layout.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/KB_Arabic_Sakhr.svg/800px-KB_Arabic_Sakhr.svg.png)
IBM PC Arabic Keyboard[citation needed]
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/KB_Arabic.svg/800px-KB_Arabic.svg.png)
Mac Arabic Keyboard[citation needed]
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/KB_Arabic_MAC.svg/800px-KB_Arabic_MAC.svg.png)
Ubuntu Arabic Keyboard[citation needed]
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Ubuntu-arabic-keyboard-layout.png/800px-Ubuntu-arabic-keyboard-layout.png)
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Messenger, Robert (17 October 2014). "The Arabic Typewriter Keyboard and the Syrian Artist". oz.Typewriter.
- ^ "A Tale of Two Inventors - KC Website". 6 October 2019.
- ^ Zeina Dowidar & Ahmed Ellaithy The Invention of the Arabic Typewriter, 31 October 2019, Kerning Cultures