Most of the consonants are arranged so that they can be typed with a single key. The visible keyboard layout consists of the ten vowels அ ஆ இ ஈ உ ஊ எ ஏ ஒ ஓ (the vowels ஐ ஔ are typed with two keystrokes), the eighteen consonants க ங ச ஞ ட ண த ந ப ம ய ர ல வ ழ ள ற ன, the Grantha consonants ஸ ஜ ஹ க்ஷ ( ஷ is typed with two keystrokes, and ஸ்ரீ with three) and the Aytham ஃ mark. However, pressing the Delete key with the cursor in front of a combinant character removes the whole character with one keystroke. This means it is necessary to press Backspace twice to delete a combinant character. While only the combinant characters are displayed on screen, the consonant and vowel are both stored, so that pressing Backspace once after a combinant deletes only the vowel component. As syllables are typed, the characters entered are automatically converted to the appropriate consonant-vowel combinant. This keyboard uses a consonant-vowel order for text input, so the consonant character is always typed before the vowel, regardless of where (relative to the consonant) the vowel marker symbol appears. Pressing Backspace once will delete only the vowel component, so the character displayed on the screen will change back to ச், and change again if a different vowel is typed. Type s then A, and the combinant character will automatically be displayed. To enter சா, which is a combination of ச் and ஆ, Combined consonant-vowel characters are entered by typing the consonant, then the vowel. Most of the characters used in Tamil are combinations of consonants and vowels, and these do not appear on the keyboard. For example, the vowel இ is typed by pressing i, while pressing ii or I produces the long vowel ஈ. Grantha consonants are also on the keyboard, and long vowels are typed by pressing the vowel key twice, or by pressing and the vowel key. Some characters, however, representing sounds which do not exist in the English alphabet, are located on unused keys.
Consonants and vowels are arranged on the keyboard so that pressing an English letter displays the Tamil character which sounds closest to that letter.
This keyboard makes typing in Tamil straightforward for anyone familiar with a normal English keyboard.
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