General information Computer keyboard with German keyboard layout T2 according to DIN 2137-1:2012-06 German keyboard layout 'T1' according to DIN 2137-1:2012-06 German keyboard layout 'T2' according to DIN 2137-1:2012-06.Ĭlickable image: Click on any symbol to open the Wikipedia article on that symbol. This is necessary because the umlauts and some other special characters leave no room to have all the special symbols of ASCII, needed by programmers among others, available on the first or second (shifted) levels without unduly increasing the size of the keyboard.

Like many other non-American keyboards, German keyboards change the right Alt key into an Alt Gr key to access a third level of key assignments.

'Ctrl' is translated to its German equivalent 'Strg', for Steuerung).

Most of the other abbreviations are replaced by German abbreviations (thus e.g. ⇪ Caps Lock is an upward arrow, ← Backspace a leftward arrow). Some of special key inscriptions are changed to a graphical symbol (e.g.(Some newer types of German keyboards offer the fixed assignment Alt+ ++ H → ẞ for its capitalized version.) Part of the keyboard is adapted to include umlauted vowels ( ä, ö, ü) and the sharp s ( ß).The German layout places 'z' in a position where it can be struck by the index finger, rather than by the weaker little finger. In English, the letter 'y' is very common and the letter 'z' is relatively rare, whereas in German the letter 'z' is very common and the letter 'y' is very uncommon.

The positions of the 'Z' and 'Y' keys are switched.The German layout differs from the English (US and UK) layouts in four major ways: The current edition DIN 2137-1:2012-06 standardizes it as the first (basic) one of three layouts, calling it 'T1' ( Tastaturbelegung 1, 'keyboard layout 1').

It is based on one defined in a former edition (October 1988) of the German standard DIN 2137–2. The German keyboard layout is a QWERTZ keyboard layout commonly used in Austria and Germany. JSTOR ( September 2017) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: 'German keyboard layout' – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.

German keyboard layout windows