How to type Lakota outside this forum
Posted: December 16th, 2008, 9:34 amIn order to type Lakota language using the Standard Lakota Orthography (SLO) you need to have two things:
1) a font or fonts that have all the characters
2) a keyboard layout that enables typing these characters.
You can get both of these thing by downloading the Lakota Keyboard and Fonts Bundle Installer from here:
http://lakotadictionary.org/phpBB3/down ... yboard.exe
This installs both the Lakota keyboard and the fonts. There is also a help file for it:
http://lakotadictionary.org/phpBB3/down ... tarted.pdf
It is a trial version fully functional for 30 days. To activate it after the trial version you can buy it for $14.95 here http://www.llcbookstore.com/servlet/the ... R+PRODUCTS (this includes the keyboard layout driver, fonts and stickers for your hardware keyboard). This keyboard enables you to type Lakota in any editor.
There are other solutions for creating a keyboard layout but this above keyboard is the most user-friendly and includes many convenient functionalities, such as spelling auto corrections. Moreover, this keyboard is now becoming the standard in Lakota schools and among native Lakota educators.
The installation of the keyboard bundle is simple and detailed instructions for using the keyboard are included.
Alternative ways to type Lakota:
1) Text editor hot-keys
If you don't want to purchase the keyboard or if you want to have a different keyboard layout you can use a text editor (such as MS Word) and set your own hot-keys for typing the special characters. Make sure, however, to first install the Lakota fonts (attached below) and to use the proper characters for the five letters with diacritics (on the image below). After typing a text in a text editor you can copy and paste it into the forum.
While this approach will enable you to type special Lakota characters, it is much less convenient than using a particular layout for the language, such as the one available in the Lakota Keyboard and Fonts Bundle.
Free Lakota fonts: http://lakotadictionary.org/phpBB3/down ... _FONTS.rar
2) Microsoft Keyboard Developer
Another free option is to develop a keyboard with the Microsoft Keyboard Developer. This requires some advanced skills but it can result in a very convenient and easy to use keyboard solution for typing Lakota. Several forum members use this type of keyboard and we are working on more of these based on other languages.
1) a font or fonts that have all the characters
2) a keyboard layout that enables typing these characters.
You can get both of these thing by downloading the Lakota Keyboard and Fonts Bundle Installer from here:
http://lakotadictionary.org/phpBB3/down ... yboard.exe
This installs both the Lakota keyboard and the fonts. There is also a help file for it:
http://lakotadictionary.org/phpBB3/down ... tarted.pdf
It is a trial version fully functional for 30 days. To activate it after the trial version you can buy it for $14.95 here http://www.llcbookstore.com/servlet/the ... R+PRODUCTS (this includes the keyboard layout driver, fonts and stickers for your hardware keyboard). This keyboard enables you to type Lakota in any editor.
There are other solutions for creating a keyboard layout but this above keyboard is the most user-friendly and includes many convenient functionalities, such as spelling auto corrections. Moreover, this keyboard is now becoming the standard in Lakota schools and among native Lakota educators.
The installation of the keyboard bundle is simple and detailed instructions for using the keyboard are included.
Alternative ways to type Lakota:
1) Text editor hot-keys
If you don't want to purchase the keyboard or if you want to have a different keyboard layout you can use a text editor (such as MS Word) and set your own hot-keys for typing the special characters. Make sure, however, to first install the Lakota fonts (attached below) and to use the proper characters for the five letters with diacritics (on the image below). After typing a text in a text editor you can copy and paste it into the forum.
While this approach will enable you to type special Lakota characters, it is much less convenient than using a particular layout for the language, such as the one available in the Lakota Keyboard and Fonts Bundle.
Free Lakota fonts: http://lakotadictionary.org/phpBB3/down ... _FONTS.rar
- characters.jpg (14.39 KiB) Viewed 64886 times
2) Microsoft Keyboard Developer
Another free option is to develop a keyboard with the Microsoft Keyboard Developer. This requires some advanced skills but it can result in a very convenient and easy to use keyboard solution for typing Lakota. Several forum members use this type of keyboard and we are working on more of these based on other languages.