Arabic keyboard

The Arabic keyboard (Arabic: لوحة المفاتيح العربية, lawḥat al-mafātīḥ al-`Arabīyyah) is the Arabic keyboard layout used for the Arabic alphabet. All computer Arabic keyboards contain both Arabic letters and Latin letters, the latter being necessary for URLs and e-mail addresses. Since Arabic is written from right to left, when one types with an Arabic keyboard, the letters will start appearing from the right side of the screen.

Layouts[edit]

An Olivetti Lettera 32 typewriter with Arabic keyboard
An Apple computer Arabic keyboard

Arabic typewriter[edit]

The Arabic layout typewriter was first patented by Selim Shibli Haddad, a Syrian artist and inventor.^[1] A British patent was filed three months later, on 1 December 1899, by Philippe Waked, the first person to type a document in Arabic.^[2] Both patents expired in 1919, prompting mass production in both Egypt and abroad.^[3]