ABC Custom Keyboard

ABC Custom is a macOS keyboard layout based on the standard US ABC layout. It keeps everyday English typing unchanged, then adds mnemonic Option layers for European Latin characters, Greek, Maltese-friendly Latin extensions, pinyin tone marks, mathematical symbols, numbered markers, and technical symbols.

中文说明

Why This Exists

Typing European language characters on a default US keyboard is slow. Switching to each language-specific keyboard often solves one problem by creating another: the physical keys no longer match what a US keyboard user expects, such as Y moving on a German keyboard. The built-in special-character shortcuts are also hard to remember consistently.

ABC Custom is designed for people who want to keep using a US keyboard device while typing major Latin-script languages such as German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, plus Greek, Maltese, Chinese pinyin, and common academic symbols. The goal is one US keyboard for multilingual writing and research: fast, predictable, and mnemonic.

Is This Your Keyboard?

ABC Custom assumes the standard US ABC physical layout. Each key below shows the unshifted output first, then the Shift output.

Highlights

• Standard US ABC typing on the base layer.
• Symbol-rich Option and Shift + Option layers.
• Dead-key composition for accented letters, pinyin tone marks, Greek letters, Maltese-friendly dotted letters, ligatures, subscripts, superscripts, circled characters, and technical symbols.
• Option + Space inserts a non-breaking space.
• Designed to avoid changing common Command and Control shortcut behavior.

Installation

Install from the DMG

1. Download ABC-Custom-Keyboard.dmg from the latest GitHub Release.
2. Open the DMG and drag ABC Custom.bundle to the Keyboard Layouts folder shown in the DMG window.
3. Log out and log back in, or restart macOS.
4. Open System Settings, then add ABC Custom from Keyboard Input Sources.

The destination folder is your user keyboard layout folder:

~/Library/Keyboard Layouts/

Manual Install

Copy bundle/ABC Custom.bundle to ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts/, then log out and log back in, or restart macOS.

The plain editable layout file is also available at layouts/ABC Custom.keylayout.

Direct Option Layers

Hold Option and press a key to type the output shown on that key. Blue keys are dead-key prefixes: press the blue key first, release it, then press another key.

Hold Shift + Option and press a key to type the output shown on that key. The blue keys start the superscript and circled-character dead-key layers.

The direct layers cover common symbols such as:

ℕ ℤ ℚ ℝ  π ∑ √ ∂  ≠ ≤ ≥ × ÷
← ↑ → ⇐ ⇒ ↓  – — … · ′ ″
✓ ✗ ☑  € ¥ £ ¢ ® © ™  ☐ ★ ☆

Dead Key Layers

Press a dead-key prefix first, release it, then press the target key. For example, Option + G, then p, outputs π; Option + 1, then a, outputs ā.

In the diagrams below, dark keycaps show the prefix keys pressed first. Grey keys have no defined output in that dead-key layer.

Tilde

Option + ` follows the ~ printed on the same physical key. It produces tilde vowels and ñ.

Pinyin Tones 1-4

Option + 1 to 4 follows pinyin tone numbering: tone 1 ˉ, tone 2 ´, tone 3 ˇ, tone 4 `. The v key is used for pinyin ü.

Diaeresis

Option + 5 uses the % key as a memory hook: the two circles suggest two dots, so it enters the diaeresis/umlaut layer.

Circumflex

Option + 6 follows the ^ printed on the same physical key.

Ligatures

Option + 7 follows the & on the same key. The ampersand suggests joining, so this layer contains ligatures and related joined forms.

Dot Above

Option + 8 follows the * on the same key. The star/dot shape suggests dot-above characters, including letters useful for Maltese and scholarly transliteration.

Subscript and Superscript

Option + 9 and Shift + Option + 9 are paired subscript and superscript layers. Digits, common variables, parentheses, equals, and minus are placed where a US keyboard user expects them.

Degree, Technical, and Circled Symbols

Option + 0 uses the round 0 shape for degree, empty-set, diameter, copyright, registered, and trademark-style symbols. Shift + Option + 0 extends the round idea to circled letters, circled numbers, and round operators.

Greek

Option + G means Greek. Most Greek outputs are placed on Latin mnemonic keys, such as p -> π, m -> μ, l -> λ, w -> ω, and d -> δ.

Press Space after most dead-key prefixes to insert the standalone mark for that layer.

Files

• layouts/ABC Custom.keylayout is the editable keyboard layout XML.
• bundle/ABC Custom.bundle is the packaged macOS keyboard layout bundle used for release builds.
• assets/*.svg contains the generated keyboard maps used in this README.
• tools/generate_keymap_svg.py regenerates the SVG keymaps.