Google Input Tools for the Chrome web browser offer an alternative for users of the Internet browser. The extension provides access to more than 90 different onscreen keyboards right in the browser.

Chrome users who have installed the extension need to first add languages that they want access to in the extension options. This is done with a right-click on the extension icon in the Chrome address bar, and the selection of the options entry in the context menu.

Just select a language first and then one of the available keyboard layouts for that language. A double-click adds the selected keyboard layout to the available keyboard schemes.

Once done, you can display onscreen keyboard with a left-click on the extension icon and the selection of one of the languages that you have added in the configuration phase.

The onscreen keyboard behaves exactly like it would on the normal computer. You can tap or click on a key to input it into a form on the website, or use the hardware keyboard to type normally. The keyboard layout is automatically switched to the selected onscreen keyboard.

You can switch instantly between keyboard layouts. Just click on the extension icon again and select a different layout to have it displayed directly in the lower right corner of the screen.

Keys that you type in on the connected keyboard are visualized on the onscreen keyboard as well.

You can disable the keyboard on the page by selecting the turn off option in the extension’s context menu.

Chrome users who need to input keys from different keyboard layouts can benefit from the extension. Most users however may prefer to install a program instead that offers global access to multiple keyboard layouts so that the layouts are also available in other programs that they use.

The onscreen keyboard is not working on all sites right now. Google’s own Docs service for instance is not compatible with the extension. Users may also notice that some keys may not be interpreted correctly.

Google Chrome users can download and install Google Input Tools from the official Chrome web store.

We have reviewed software to modify the keyboard layout before here on Ghacks, for instance in our Ultimate Guide To Keyboard Remapping.

The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator is a first party tool by Microsoft to make modifications to the keyboard layout. It can be used to remap the majority of keys on the keyboard. Some keys are exempt from the modifications. This includes the Shift, Control and Alt keys as well as return, backspace, tab and caps lock.

Every other key, including shift state keys can be remapped with the help of the software. A blank keyboard layout is loaded on first start. You can populate the keyboard by loading one existing keyboard layout via the File > Load Existing Keyboard menu. Windows displays a list of known keyboard layouts of which you can select one. The blank keyboard is then replaced by the new keyboard’s layout.

You can activate the shift, AltGr and Ctrl Shift states with a click to change the shift state keys as well. Especially the AltGr keyboard layout is underrepresented, and could be used to add keys. This could include additional currency symbols, special characters of another language or other symbols and characters (like copyright or registered sign) that are part of the character map.

A click on a key opens a form where the new key binding needs to be entered either directly if represented on the current keyboard layout or as a special character code. You get the codes from the Character Map which you can open with Windows-r and typing in charmap (hit enter afterwards).

Each character is represented by a code that is displayed in the footer when the character is selected. The code begins with U+. To add a new character to the keyboard layout, click on the key that you want modified, and enter the U+ code of the character map in the form that opens up.

The new character is then displayed on the keyboard once you hit the enter button.

You can test the new keyboard layout at any time with a click on Project > Test Keyboard Layout. It basically opens a text editor so that you see your input on the screen.

Select Project > Properties once you are finished configuring and testing the new keyboard layout. Enter a name, description and other information

Once you have added the project properties, it is time to build the new keyboard layout. A click on Project > Build DLL and Setup package does that. The process creates an installer that you need to run afterwards to install the new keyboard layout.

The new layout becomes then available in the language section of the Windows taskbar.

Adding or modifying keys can improve the workflow significantly. While it is possible to use Alt-Codes to enter special characters, it is usually not the easiest way to do, considering that you need to remember the codes for the characters.

Windows users can download the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator from Microsoft Download.

An example would be an English user who needs to write a German ö. Sure, the user could press the combination Alt+0246 on the numpad to write that letter, but only if the code is known, and chance is it is not if it is not commonly used.

Virtual Keyboard is a Google Chrome extension that offers both benefits. It supports a wide variety of different keyboard layouts, including the default English keyboard, but also German, French, Spanish, Greek, Russian or Cyrillic keyboard layouts. More than 80 different layouts are supported by the extension.

virtual keyboard

The virtual keyboard is automatically displayed on every web page that displays at least one text form. Like the previously reviewed Virtual Keyboard userscript it fails to work on secure (https) sites which severely limits its protection against keyloggers. One would expect an add-on like this to work on secure sites as well, considering that those are often prime targets of attackers.

Only the English keyboard layout is available after installation. The Chrome user can use the options to add layouts to the program, to switch between them on the web pages it is displayed.

It is possible to switch between layouts in the header, or by pressing Ctrl-Q.

keyboard layouts

The lack of support for https sites makes it less usable from a security perspective. It is nevertheless helpful for users who have to type characters from different languages regularly in the web browser.

Google Chrome Virtual Keyboard is available at the Chrome extensions gallery.

What the developer of the software program Capswitch did not know is that the Windows operating system comes with options to switch keyboard locales with keyboard shortcuts. The Windows XP operating system for example provides this option in the Regional and Language options module of the Control Panel. A click on the Details button under the Languages tab will open all installed input languages.

A click on the Key Settings button will open another menu with the option to define keyboard shortcuts to switch instantly to the input language.

Only the keyboard shortcut to switch between all installed keyboard layouts is configured by default. It is however possible to define shortcuts for specific switches, e.g. From English to German and vice verse.

These keyboard shortcuts provide the easiest way to quickly switch between keyboard locales. The additional benefit is that no extra software needs to be running in the background for the functionality.

Keyboard Layouts differ depending on the country they are sold in. A basic example is the differences between a German and English computer keyboard. The German keyboard swapped the Y and Z key for instance which can be really annoying when playing web games that use the YXC keys in the game.

Tablang is an add-on for the Firefox web browser that allows the user to use different keyboard layouts in Firefox. Each tab can be launched with a different keyboard layout which is preserved from there meaning that links that are originating from that tab will also use the keyboard layout.

The user needs to have at least two different keyboard layouts installed on the computer system for the Firefox add-on to be of use. The add-on can be downloaded from the Mozilla homepage. It is available for the Microsoft Windows and Linux operating system.

Instead of deleting the written text, changing the keyboard language and writing the text anew users can make use of the software LangOver which is freely available. The software can convert text instantly between languages. The application will provide access to all installed keyboard layouts but only one can be defined in the program’s options.

A Japanese user who would write in English to correspond with English speaking people could set the options to convert the Japanese alphabet to English and vice verse. The user can perform the operation with the F10 key to convert language 1 to language 2, F6 to convert language 2 to language 1 and SHIFT F10 to convert lower to upper case.

The hotkeys can be changed in the program’s interface. Alternatively the mouse can be used to convert between alphabets instead. The conversion can also be done directly in the program’s interface and copied from there into another application.

There is currently no way to switch between more than two alphabets automatically but the software developer told me that this feature would be on his list for upcoming versions.

LangOver is an interesting application that can be quite a time saver for users who have to regularly switch between keyboard layouts.

Update: Langover 5.0 is now supporting the Linux operating system as well. A Mac OS X version has been announced but not released yet. The last version has been released in February 2010. It appears as if the program is no longer actively developed.