I might try to make a test layout and ask SP for a quote, but I'm afraid there won't be enough interest for a group buy.
I haven't looked at Elvish writing since modern keyboards (heck, modern computers) came out. And most of the available fonts and keyboard layouts were made before 2005, and seem to be designed to fit comfortably with the way one would compose by hand. In particular, the modifiers used for vowels (and decimal numbers) are treated as ASCII symbols placed over or under other symbols. And the keyboard mappings reflect that approach.
I first learned to write in the Sindarin mode reflected in the thread title. However, after doing some research, I think that a better mode for a modern writer using a modern computer would be the
English "Mode of Beleriand" as used by Tom Bombadil. (Ref
TengwarHelp.pdf page 30). Further, contrary to the conventions established by Dan Smith (in whose shadow the modern Elvish writer should always tremble) I think the keyboard mapping would be easier to use if it followed the conventions of (e.g.) an ANSI International keyboard using the AltGr as a composition key to place the modifiers.
So this doesn't seem like heresy, think of such an approach as
Dvorak for Tengwar.
Such a modification of convention would mean the Tengwar characters for the "S" sound (Silme) would be placed on the S key ("s" and "S") instead of on the 8 and i keys. Also, the decimals 0-9 could be placed on the 0-9 keys.
Admittedly, this approach is more useful to phonetic transliteration than precise rendering of correct Sindarin for text already translated into Elvish. But truthfully, most people who bother with Elvish at all translate their own name, perhaps a saying or two, and the inscription on the Ring. Few people write e-mails in proper Elvish.
Anyhow, I might play with the above and use a Tengwar font to mock up a keyboard that I could have made by WASD.
IMHO, such a keyboard would be useful -- well, "interesting -- to more people than an "academically-correct" version.
Sorry for the pedantry, but what do other Tengwar users think about this?
- Ron (Gúrgon) | samwisekoi
