Re: gtk2 + japanese; gnome2 and keyboard layouts

[Tomohiro KUBOTA <debian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

From: srintuar26 <srintuar26@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: gtk2 + japanese; gnome2 and keyboard layouts
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 01:44:15 -0500

> Well I for one have been placated for now by im-ja. Its precisely
> what ive been looking for, and extensive googling didnt root it out.

I also tested im-ja Debian package with gnome-terminal.
I felt it surely will be a convenient tool after more development.

There are some points.

- Japanese input methods need user preference configuration.
  For example, some (not small part of) Japanese people want
  Ctrl+U to be Hiragana conversion, Ctrl+I to be Katakana
  conversion, Ctrl+O to be Hankaku conversion, Ctrl+P to be
  Alphabet conversion (reverse romaji/kana conversion), without
  Kakutei (determination).  These key bindings are from popular
  commercial input engine "ATOK".  (It is my first input engine
  in 15 years ago for about 8 years.  After that, I configured
  all input methods (other than SKK) to ATOK-like key binding.)

- Japanese input methods have a key sequence to switch
  no-conversion <-> kanji conversion.  In im-ja, Shift+Space or
  Henkan (available in Japanese keyboard) key switch no-conversion
  -> Hiragana -> Katakana -> Canna -> Kanjipad -> no-conversion.
  It is not suitable for Japanese people who want to input large
  amount of Japanese text as a mother tongue (or first language).
  Usually, such omnibus switching (Hiragana -> Katakana -> Kanji
  -> Kanjipad -> JIS table -> ...) is bind to F10 key.  I think it
  should be configuratable, too.
  (I don't know why (from what analogy) Henkan key was originally
  used for this purpose.)

- Canna mode seems not to show some important informations such
  as conversion border (Bunsetsu border) and current converting
  Bunsetsu.

- Canna mode seems not to supply various conversion keys.
  (For example, conversion border larger/smaller, Hiragana
  conversion, Katakana conversion, and so on).  I may be wrong
  because I have not tested very well.  (How about dictionary
  handling, JIS character table, and so on?)

Does GTK+2 Input Method Framework supply ways for input methods
to supply confurators?

Are there any Japanese member in Im-ja developers?  Japanese
people know many tiny but important points for to achieve
convenient input method and user interface.

Anyway, I imagine most of Japanese people will continue to XIM
for a while because (1) changing input method is like changing 
keyboard from QWERTY to DVORAK, (2) GTK+2 input method is not
supported by popular softwares (you can imagine it is confusing
to using multiple input methods with different user interfaces,
it is like using QWERTY for one software and DVORAK for another),
and (3) conversion dictionary which a user tought many words and
conversion order of homonyms is a valuable thing and changing
input method may mean losing the data.

---
Tomohiro KUBOTA <kubota@xxxxxxxxxx>
http://www.debian.or.jp/~kubota/


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