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We define the term “keyboard layout” as “any specific physical, visual, or functional arrangement of the keys, legends, or key meaning associations of a computer, mobile phone, or other computer-controlled typographic keyboard.” While most Americans are familiar with the US QWERTY visual layout, there are hundreds of keyboard layouts for different languages and regions. There are even a handful of layouts specifically for typing in English. Where you buy your keyboard determines what the layout of the keys, legends, and key meaning associations are. So, what are all the options for English-typing typists? Let’s look at the different keyboard layouts associated with the English language.

Most Common Physical Layouts

Firstly, there are different physical layouts for keyboards. The physical layout determines what the keys are shaped like and how many keys are in a row. British keyboards typically use a different physical layout from US keyboards. Let’s look at the different physical layouts for keyboards.

101 ANSI

The 104 ANSI layout is most common in North America, Oceania, and Asia. This layout has all the standard keys plus one additional key on the far right side of the second row.

101 Alternate

The 104 Alternate layout is most common in Asia and Russia. It has all the standard keys of a keyboard, an extra large return key, a small backspace key, and an extra key to the left of the smaller backspace key.

102 ISO

102 ISO keyboards are most common in Europe and Latin America. The layout features all the standard keys, a tall and narrow return key, one extra key to the left of the return key in the third row, and one extra key second from the left in the fourth row.

103 KS

The 103 KS keyboard layout is most common in South Korea. It features all the standard keys and, a tall and wide return key, a small backspace key, and three additional keys, one to the right of the backspace key, and two on either side of the space bar.

104 ABNT

You can find 104 ABNT keyboards in Brazil, primarily. They feature all the standard keys, plus three additional keys, one to the left of the return key in the third row, and two on the inside of each modifier key in the fourth row.

106 JIS

The 106 JIS layout is the Japanese keyboard standard. The layout has all the standard keys plus six additional keys: one to the left of the smaller backspace in the first row, one to the right of the tall and narrow return in key in the third row, one to the right of the right-side Shift key in the fourth row, and three additional modifier keys in the fifth row, two to the right of the space bar and one to the left of it.