Ukrainian Typographic Keyboard Layout for MacOS

It’s time for a major update of the Ukrainian typographic keyboard layout for MacOS. First, let me tell you about the layout, and then about the changes that have occurred.

Firstly, what is a typographic layout, where did it come from, and how do you use it?

The first typographic layout I encountered was Ilya Birman’s, which was originally designed for Russian and English only. However, I needed a layout for the Ukrainian language, so among the possible options, I chose to create my own based on Ilya’s layout.

— Why do we need all these “typographic” layouts?
— Precisely to write this dialogue using nothing but the Ukrainian layout…

Typographic layouts are designed specifically to quickly type elements such as quotation marks „, “, and the long dash — rather than hyphens. And that’s not all; let me give you more examples of usage:

• Special symbols: ©, ®, and ™
• Degree symbol: °, see how nice +24°C looks
• Mathematical symbols: 1¹+2²+3³≠30, ¹⁄₂+¹⁄₃+¹⁄₄≈1, and2×2=4, with a real multiplication sign, not the letter x
• Currency symbols: press ⌥ + р to get ₴ (for hryvnia), £, ¥, €, $, and ¢
• Arrows: ←, →, ↑, and ↓
• Checkmarks: ✓ or ×

In fact, there’s a lot more to explore in terms of symbol variety, and many of these I actually use frequently:

— And what’s with that weird Ы in the layout, why is it needed?
— It’s there to eliminate the need for the Russian layout altogether. So, even if you need to type those Ы and Э, you won’t need to switch to another layout or search for these symbols online anymore.

Overall, I aimed to enable typing any Cyrillic letters seamlessly:

А   Б   В   Г   Ґ   Д   Ѓ
Ђ   Е   Ѐ   Є   Ё   Ж   З
З́   Ѕ   И   Ѝ   І   Ї   Й
Ј   К   Л   Љ   М   Н   Њ
О   П   Р   С   С́   Т   Ћ
Ќ   У   Ў   Ф   Х   Ц   Ч
Џ   Ш   Щ   Ъ   Ы   Ь   Э
Ю   Я

But it’s not all that simple because for most characters with modifiers like accents (ў), stresses (а́), and umlauts (ä), you should use the so-called “dead keys”. You can see all of them with the Keyboard Viewer, open it and then simultaneously press ⌥ option+ ⇧ shift:

Here are a few examples of usage:

— simultaneously press ⌥ option+ ⇧ shift+ ˘, and then у to get ў;
— simultaneously press ⌥ option+ ⇧ shift+ ¨, and then ж to get ӝ.

Even some letters are implemented only with the help of the “dead key” ⌥ option + ⇧ shift + к:

 
# the list of cyrillic letters 
# hidden by "dead key" ⌥ + ⇧ + к
Ђ   Ѕ   Ј   Љ   Њ   Ћ   Џ

But let’s go back to the beginning, here’s our layout:

Here everything is quite familiar to us; for those who have used Windows, the layout is as familiar as possible. As for the specifics, I’ll note:

— To input the letter ґ, use the combination ⌥ + г.
— To input the symbol ₴, use the combination ⌥ + р.

In the latest update, however, I’ve changed the concept regarding the characters hidden behind ⇧ shift:

This change is related to the fact that I’ve been using a MacBook exclusively with an English keyboard layout for many years, so I don’t have other symbols readily available on my keyboard ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Yes, I type in Ukrainian “blindly,” and based on this, I tried to build a layout that would use a maximally compatible appearance with the native English layout:

— The top row of symbols above the numbers is fully compatible with the English version: ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ +
— Symbols hidden behind option ⌥ option: < > ? : [ ] /
— Symbols hidden behind the combination of keys option ⌥ option+ ⇧ shift: «» … ; { } ÷

How to install?

Go to the project’s page on GitHub and download the ukrainian-typography.dmg file from the latest release. Then double-click the file:

Now, launch the Keyboard Installer (MacOS will warn you that this file was downloaded from the internet), and then drag the ukrainian-typography.bundle file into the installer window:

Next, choose to install for the current user. That’s it! Now you just need to go to the keyboard settings:

System Settings > Keyboard > Text Input: Input Sources > Edit, and select 🇺🇦 Ukrainian - Typography

Enjoy :)

Options?

Currently, you have the option to choose from several other layouts:

• My previous version 1.5.0, more familiar to users
• Ukrainian Typographic Keyboard by Denys Dovhan
• Ukrainian-Russian Typographic Layout by Oleksandr Kolodko
• Compatible Ukrainian Typographic Layouts for Windows/Mac/Ubuntu by Oleksandr Shvets
• Version by GaGadget

Or even choose your own path and create your own layout using the Ukelele utility.

Originally published at https://anton.shevchuk.name on June 11, 2024.