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Welsh Language Support and Extending the United Kingdom Keyboard Layout
The information in this article relates to:
| • | Windows XP Service Pack 2 |
Support for the Welsh language in Windows is introduced with Windows XP Service Pack 2. This support covers both locale data (date formats etc.) and a keyboard layout that enables easy mnemonic typing for all letters that are need for the Welsh language.
All core fonts have been supporting Welsh characters for quite some time, and proofing tools for Welsh are available in Office XP and Office 2003. So this concludes the so-called enabling of the Welsh language in Microsoft Windows and Office. Enabling means that you input, process and display/print text in the Welsh language, but not that the user interface (commands and menus) or help and support texts have been translated.
The need to type Welsh can be seen from two different user perspectives. The first group users are the Welsh-speaking people (primarily in Wales). The second group of users can be found in government offices, companies and schools throughout the United Kingdom. They need to process names of persons and places using specific Welsh letters (e.g. Llanllŷr) - even if English is the main language for writing.
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On This Page
 | Keyboard layout |
| Keyboard usage |
| Summary |
Keyboard layout
To get the keyboard widely adopted it should be as general as possible. Therefore it should both be backwards compatible with the existing keyboards layouts used in the British Isles, and support widely recognised needs in the region.
This new layout attempts to enable typing of letters for the recognised official, regional or minority languages in the British Isles (including all Celtic languages), and some major international languages (with the exception of some digraphs/ligatures). Only modern orthography is supported.
Keyboard usage
The keyboard layout has been designed as an extension to all the keyboard layouts that presently are available for the languages in the British Isles, with minimal or no changes to existing key combinations. The engraving of the keyboard is still valid and requires neither relearning nor production of new hardware keyboards. The extensions are made is such a way that they can easily memorised for the users that need them.
Letters with acute accent can be typed with a combination of the AltGr key and the base letter - as on the present United Kingdom layout. This method has been extended to the Welsh letters ẃ and ý.
All letters with diacritical marks are composed using a so-called dead key technique. First type the diacritical mark, and then the base letter. Grave accent is available directly on the keyboard (to the left of key with digit one / exclamation mark). The other dead keys are accessed a combination of AltGr and the key where related spacing characters are located (use only AltGr, not the Shift key).
| Character | Character name | Related character | AltGr-combination |
| ´ | acute accent | ' | AltGr+' |
| ` | grave accent | ` | ` |
| ˆ | circumflex accent | ^ | AltGr+6 |
| ¨ | diaeresis (umlaut) | " | AltGr+2 |
| ˜ | tilde | ~ | AltGr+# |
Please note that not all combinations of base letters and diacritical marks are available (since many of them are not used in any language) and no character codes are assigned to such precomposed combinations.
| • | acute (acen ddyrchafedig) [´] can be combined with small or capital letters A, E, I, O, U, Y, W |
| • | circumflex (acen grom) [ˆ] can be combined with small or capital letters A, E, I, O, U, Y, W |
| • | diaeresis (didolnod) [¨] can be combined with small or capital letters A, E, I, O, U, Y, W |
| • | grave (acen ddisgynedig) [`] can be combined with small or capital letters A, E, I, O, U, Y, W |
| • | tilde [˜] can be combined with small or capital letters A, N, O |
Tilde isn't used for Welsh language, but was introduced on the keyboard in order to support Breton language. Tilde is additionally used in Estonian, Portuguese and Spanish.
Summary
Here are all the combinations of AltGr and dead keys to create the extensions to the United Kingdom layout. Letter A is here used as an example, and can be replaced with the other base letters that create available combinations. The last column lists some alternative combination.
| Character | Character name | AltGr-combination | alternative |
| á | small letter a with acute | AltGr+' , A | AltGr+A |
ã | small letter a with grave | ` , A | n/a |
â | small letter a with circumflex | AltGr+6 , A | n/a |
ä | small letter a with diaeresis | AltGr+2 , A | n/a |
ã | small letter a with tilde | AltGr+# , A | n/a |
ç | small letter c with cedilla | AltGr+c | n/a |
Á | capital letter a with acute | AltGr+' , Shift+A | AltGr+Shift+A |
à | capital letter a with grave | ` , Shift+A | n/a |
Ä | capital letter a with diaeresis | AltGr+2 , A | n/a |
 | capital letter a with circumflex | AltGr+6 , Shift+A | n/a |
à | capital letter a with tilde | AltGr+# , Shift+A | n/a |
Ç | capital letter c with cedilla | AltGr+C | n/a |
` | grave accent | ` , Space | AltGr+Shift+' |
| • | plus sign [+] denotes that the shift key(s) are to be kept down while pressing the last key |
| • | comma [,] denotes that the first key(s) should be released before the next key(s) are pressed |