Chitrali keyboard

Evolution of the Chitrali keyboard

Chitrali is a versatile language with the potential to expand and grow to fulfil the needs of modern communications technologies.

First generation

In 1996, the newly established Chitrali language association namely Khowar Academy standardardised the typewriter keyboard. The new standard Chitrali keyboard also incorporated special characters of other regional languages, such as Kafiri and Dangerikwaar. Languages spoken in Chitral and Ghizer could be easily accommodated within the Chitrali characters.

Second generation

The Chitrali keyboard was again modified in 1999. This time the layout was based on the frequency tables and bifurcation (balancing load on typist's fingers) techniques, and the characters relating to other languages were replaced with the numerals.

Third generation

In 2000, the Khowar Academy developed a new keyboard layout for typewriters based on Naskh script. The keyboard had 46 keys to type 71 Khowar consonants, vowels, diacritics, and punctuation marks, and 21 key symbols for arithmetic calculations and digits. However, with the arrival of the digital age, the layout became inadequate for computerised processing that required software backup to select the shape of the character appropriate to the context, and the ability to store multiple language character sets. These issues were addressed through the standardisation of keyboard for a bilingual teleprinter to use both English and Urdu. The new layout was found appropriate for use in computer-based applications and was immediately adopted with modifications for word processors.

Fourth generation

In 2001 Khowar Academy, under Rehmat Aziz Chitrali's supervision started working on a research and development project to standardise the Chitrali encoding. This resulted in the formation of Chitrali Zabta Takhti (چترالی ضابطہ تختی) (CZT). In July 2001, CZT 1.01 was standardised for all kinds of electronic computing, communications, and storage.