EurKEY-macOS/README.md

EurKEY-macOS

The Keyboard Layout for Europeans, Coders and Translators. This repo is a fork and contains a modified verison of the EurKEY base layout.

I start versioning my customized edition from 2, since the layout is based on my modified EurKEY v1.4 that I have been using the last few years. The version with slight fixes is now available is called v1.5.

EurKEY-macOS is a rework targeted at MacBooks with the with pyhiscal English International keyboard (ISO). Since it is an ISO layout, it has one additional key (`) and the big Enter key.

The keyboard layout should be compatible with the other ISO layouts typically available in Europe (e.g. German ISO). I tested the layout on the current tenkeyless MacBook keyboard (MacBook Air 2024). Working numpad keys are therefore not guaranteed.

Installation

• Download the EurKEY.bundle file.
• Copy the EurKEY.bundle file to /Library/Keyboard Layouts/ (for global installation) or ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts/ (for user installation).
• Open System Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources
  
• Click the + button
  
• Add EurKEY from the list of available input sources
  
• Select EurKEY as the input method
  

Notes on Ukelele and template icons

I have tried to configure a template icon for the bundle and stumbled onto behaviour that I consider a bug in Ukelele. I tried simply setting a template icon from the GUI using the checkbox, but it never saved it correctly. I had to manually edit *.bundle/Info.plist file and set the flag.

The structure of the Info.plist file is as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
	<string>de.felixfoertsch.keyboardlayout.EurKEY-macOS</string>
	→ Bundle Identifier

	<key>CFBundleName</key>
	<string>EurKEY-macOS</string>
	→ Filename of the *.bundle file

	<key>CFBundleVersion</key>
	<string></string>
	<key>KLInfo_EurKEY v2.0</key>
	→ Name of the keyboard layout in the collection list

	<dict>
		<key>TICapsLockLanguageSwitchCapable</key>
		<false/>
		<key>TISIconIsTemplate</key>
		<true/>
		→ Set to true to use the icon as a template

		<key>TISInputSourceID</key>
		<string>de.felixfoertsch.keyboardlayout.EurKEY-macOS.eurkeyv2.0</string>
		→ Identifier for the layout within the bundle, spaces are simply removed from the name.
		→ The syntax is: reverse-prefix-notation.BundleIdentifier.LayoutName

		<key>TISIntendedLanguage</key>
		<string>en</string>
	</dict>
</dict>
</plist>

Changelog

v2.0 (WIP)

Key Combinations	Dead Key Symbol
⌥`	`
⌥⇧`	~
⌥'	´
⌥⇧'	¨
⌥6	^
⌥⇧6	ˇ
⌥7	˚
⌥⇧7	¯
⌥m	Ω
⌥⇧m	√
⌥\	¬

v1.5

• Configures every key exactly as it is printed on the keyboard (English - International).
• Fixes §-Key.
• Fixes German ẞ-Character ("Großes scharfes S"). Now correctly available via ⌥⇧s.
• Removes distiction between left/right modifier keys.
• Uses the *.bundle format to group the layout versions.
• Adds new nicer flag icon from upstream.

v1.4

• Switches behaviour of superscript and subscript numbers: The subscript numbers are the default; the superscript numbers are available via ⌥⇧<number>.

Attribution

You can find the original EurKEY layout on Steffen Brüntjens Website. My modified versions are originally based on the work of Leonardo Brondani Schenkel.

License

• The EurKEY Layout is licensed under GPLv3. See: https://eurkey.steffen.bruentjen.eu/license.html.
• The EU flag icon is taken from Iconspedia, created by Alpak and licensed under CC.