Māori Dvorak Keyboard Layout

A few years ago I spent 6 weeks learning to touch-type with the Dvorak keyboard layout, in which I am now fluent. To turn your standard QWERTY keyboard into a Dvorak keyboard, you just need to tell what ever operating system you wish to do so. It’s quite simple really.

Then Microsoft made a Māori Keyboard Definition, which lets you type macronised vowels. It is a QWERTY layout, but you can type a ` (backtick) key (the one above Tab) and then type a vowel and it would type the macron.

So I soon learnt that Microsoft have a tool to create your own Keyboard Definitions, called the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (MSKLC). Examining the QWERTY Māori layout I had installed previously, I duplicated the Dvorak layout and added the backtick macron instructions, and created this: The Māori Dvorak Keyboard Layout.

Requirements:

  • Windows 2000 Professional or Server with a Pentium 133 MHz or higher processor and 128 MB of RAM
  • Windows XP Home Edition or Professional with a Pentium 233 MHz or higher processor and 128MB of RAM
  • 35 MB of available hard-disk space

Download:
The files below are distributed “as is”, with no obligations or technical support from anyone.

  • Māori Dvorak Keyboard (Two Handed) Layout Installer (.ZIP, 16kb)
  • .klc MSKLC Source File — used to create the above installer

If anyone would like the one-handed Left- or Right-handed Māori keyboard layouts made, Contact Me and I’ll happily create them for you.

Installation:

  1. Download the ZIP file and extract the files to your desktop.
  2. Double-click MaoriDv2.msi and follow the instructions.
  3. Follow the instructions for installing the standard Māori keyboard, but instead of choosing Māori, choose Māori-Dvorak (Two-Handed) from the available keyboard layouts.
  4. Any problems? Contact your nearest computer guru for assistance, not me.

Usage:
` then a = ā
` then e = ē
` then i = ī
` then o = ō
` then u = ū
` then shift + a = Ā
` then shift + e = Ē
` then shift + i = Ī
` then shift + o = Ō
` then shift + u = Ū
` then ` = `
shift + ` = ~

2 thoughts on “Māori Dvorak Keyboard Layout”

  1. mars

    Thanks for your work. I am a french developer and I built a special Dvorak european (including direct typing of Western or Eastern European characters and also those for Saami norwegians or for french polynesian people (macrons too)). But my work was made on Unix only (so for Mac, Linux, BSD…). I didn’t know how to do this under Windows. Now with the help of your website I know. The tool is MSKLC.

    July 21, 2006
  2. Ilya

    Hello Brett

    Thank you for this layout.

    I’m author of the Javascript VirtualKeyboard, which is able to utilize .klc layouts and allow peoples to use them, even if they could not install them on local PC.

    I’ve included your layout to the bundle, and be glad, if you could create more layouts for it.

    Thank you again.

    PS: You can get more info at CodeProject: Javascript VirtualKeyboard article, or at the Official page
    PPS: VK in action you can see at the demo page

    Best regards,
    Ilya.

    March 16, 2007

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