Hebrew keyboard about to change
In an effort to reduce the number of common mistakes and keep punctuation key functionality consistent both in English and Hebrew, Hebrew letters are about to be reshuffled; 'The aim is to make things easier.’
As part of the change, four letters will be reshuffled, along with a small number of punctuation marks.
The new minor changes on the Hebrew-Latin keyboard layout is intended, as the institution has said, to create “improved usability” and to prevent common mistakes caused by the changing function of keys depending on whether users type in English of Hebrew.
According to the institution, the main difficulty in the use of the Hebrew keyboard in its current format stems from the fact that some of the punctuation keys such as the period key (.), comma (,), and the apostrophe (‘), and the slash key (/) change according to which language is being used which prevents many users from developing typing skills.
The new improved keyboard layout will be devoid of the double use of these punctuation key, meaning that regardless of the language input, the function will remain the same.
In order to facilitate the change however, a small number of Hebrew letters will have to be relocated across the board.
Moreover, other letters will be moved to decrease the number of mistakes which emanate from their use. For example, those typing in hebrew often mistake the ‘ו’ for the ‘ן’ which are situated next to each other, look similar, but are very different letters.
According to Pinchas Shahar, the general director of the SII, “The aim is to simplify the use of the Hebrew-Latin keyboard according to intuitiveness and easier access.”
