Design Your Own
Custom Yiddish Keyboard
with KLM

Following are instructions for creating Yiddish keyboard layouts which are intended to be installed by using a commercial program called Keyboard Layout Manager (KLM). Instructions for usage of these files with KLM, and how to get the program are on the previous page, which you should go through before getting started here. The following steps assume that you have already gone as far as you can on that previous page.

• Open KLM.

• Highlight Hebrew, and hit Edit.

• You'll notice that you've got 2 separate KLM windows. They might be cascaded when you first open the program. So, move them around on your screen until you've got the Character Map window above, and the Keyboard Layout window below.

• You can start from scratch with the Windows defaults, or you can edit an existing layout that someone else created. If you want to start from scratch, skip the next 2 sub-steps. If you want to start with an existing layout, download the file for that layout.

  • Click here for example layouts that you can use which various UYIP members created.

  • In KLM, click the Import button, near the bottom of the lower window. Browse to find the file that you want and hit OK.

• First, let's set the positions of the letters for "Normal;" i.e., the Yiddish letters that you want to get when you're not holding Shift or Alt, etc. (We'll do the Shift and Alt positions later.) Look toward the right of the lower window. Notice the column of 5 large rectangular buttons:

  1. Normal

  2. Shift [***Careful - MS Hebrew does not work properly with some Yiddish characters in the Shift position in Win 2000. See below for a work-around solution.]

  3. Ctrl (Control)

  4. AltGr (which means the right-hand Alt key)

  5. Shift+AltGr

• Be sure that the Normal button is depressed in order to set the normal position usage of the keys.

• In the lower window, press the Fonts button. Then, click the Script drop-down menu, and select Hebrew. OK.

• Now, still in the lower window, depress (by clicking on the picture) the first key that you want to change.

• (Note: All refernces here to subsets apply only to when KLM is installed on Win2000. When KLM is installed on Win 95/98/ME, all of the codes that you need will be in the one subset available.) Look at the top of the upper (character map) window and be sure that the Subset is set to 5. If it isn't, just change it. IMPORTANT: You need to use subset 5 for the Yiddish Unicode character set. KLM has an anomaly which causes it to change default subsets even while you're working. Nisht geferlekh. Don't worry. It's no big deal as long as you double check it for each letter. Just type a 5 in the subset field for every key, if needed. (Sometimes it remembers to stay there from one key modification to the next; sometimes you have to change it each time.)

• Now that you've got subset 5, look at the character map to find the Yiddish letter that you want to attach to the key that you currently have depressed in the lower window. Click the character in the character map and it will land on the key in the lower window.

• Some Yiddish letters require the combination of more than one character into one; e.g., pasekh alef. Combinations of characters into one keystroke are called Ligatures. Here's how to do it:

  • As before, click the key in the lower window that you want to change.

  • Now, in order to create a ligature, put a check mark in the column directly above the "L" button in the lower right; i.e., the 2nd box to the right of the Normal (or Alt-Gr, depending on which position you're working on) to enable ligature for that key for that position.

  • Be sure that Caps Alternate is unchecked for each ligature.

  • (For Win 2000 only) Look at the number directly to the right of the Position Button (e.g., Normal, or AltGr, etc.) The number should be 61442. If it isn't, go to the upper window and select Subset 240. In the character map for subset 240, look at the top row and click on the 3rd character from the left. That should put the 61442 where it belongs.

  • Click the Ligature Editor button. It's the button in the lower right area of the lower window, with a fancy script "L" on it. If the button doesn't open another window, that means you need to put a check mark in the column directly above the "L" button. If you're working in Normal mode, the check mark goes to the right of the Normal button, in the column above the fancy "L."

  • In the Ligature Editor window, you'll see that the default is to combine (1 or) 2 characters, probably all you'll need for Yiddish (because tsvey yudn are already set up as a single character in Unicode subset 5).  (In Win 95/98/ME, the default is 1. Just change it to 2.)

  • Click on one of the two boxes in the Ligature Editor window.

  • Go to the upper window, and reset (if necessary) to subset 5. Click on the character that you want to add; e.g. alef.

  • Back in the Ligature Editor window, click on the 2nd box.

  • Go to the upper window, and reset (if necessary) to subset 5. Click on the next character that you want to add; e.g. pasekh.

  • In the Ligature Window, click OK.

  • Note that on your lower KLM window, with the keyboard layout, you'll see an "L" instead of the actual Ligature. If you want to check it, just click on the fancy "L" Ligature Editor button after depressing the "L" on the key in the keyboard layout window.

• After setting all of your Normal keys, repeat the above procedures to set the Shift, AltGr, etc settings as you choose.

• As stated above, there is a conflict within Microsoft preventing some Yiddish characters (i.e., those from Unicode subset 5) from operating correctly when placed in the Shift position. This problem is, for practical purposes, only applicable to Win 2000 & perhaps NT, because it manifests itself only in Word. Since Word in Win 95/98/ME doesn't support Right-to-Left, you can probably ignore this for Win 95/98/ME. Here is a work-around solution for Win 2000. In KLM, place all the characters that you wish to reside in the Shift position, on the AltGr position instead. Then, right-click on the left shift key in KLM. A pop-up menu will appear. Choose the Shifts submenu and the Right Alt option. Repeat the steps 1 and 2 for the right shift key. 4. Save layout. If you need shift key, you can map it to the Right Alt.

• Note that hitting the Reset Key and/or Reset All buttons in the lower window restores the Windows defaults; these buttons do not function as an "Undo" to return to what you had previously. The Clear Key button makes the key empty for the current mode (e.g., Normal or Shift, etc.)

• None of these changes are affected on your computer at this point.

• To save the file (for installing later and/or for sharing with others and/or as back-up), hit the Export button, in the lower area of the lower window. Give it a file name of your choosing in any of the allowable format extensions (e.g., *.dll). Save the file where you want, but make a note of it so that you can find it again later. NOTE: If you wish to share the file with others who do not own a copy of KLM, you need to save it in the applicable format:

  • Windows 95/98/ME - *.KBD (File name for installation without KLM must be KBDHE.KBD)

  • Windows 2000 or NT 4.0 - *.DLL (File name for installation without KLM must be KBDHE.DLL)

  You'll notice that you can only create a *.KBD file when KLM is installed on Win 95/98/ME. Likewise, you can only create a *.DLL file suitable for installation on Win 2000/NT when KLM is installed on Win 2000/NT.

  KLM will not convert a KBD file to a DLL file (or vice versa) to use on another platform.                      

• Now, if you want to exit KLM without installing the new keyboard yet, you can hit Cancel. If you wish to install your new keyboard now, hit OK, but first click here for notes on what you'll see and what to do.

For instructions on how to import the above keyboards into your system   for use after downloading,

• with KLM, click here

• without KLM, click here

• Back to A Users' Guide to Yiddish on the Internet for an overview.