Step by step
How to use the kannada keyboard
- 1The keyboard above is already set to Kannada; you can switch language from the list if you need another.
- 2Click the keys on screen, or just type — your own keyboard is remapped to the layout shown.
- 3Use Shift for the second layer, which carries the rest of the characters.
- 4Copy the text when you are done, or download it as a .txt file.
Why type Kannada in a browser
Adding Kannada to an operating system is a settings-menu expedition that ends in a keyboard you cannot see: the letters are not printed on your keys, so you are typing blind in a script you may have no muscle memory for, and you have changed a system-wide setting to write one line.
The usual workaround is worse — hunting characters in a character-map utility and pasting them one at a time, or copying words out of search results and hoping the spelling survived the trip.
A visible keyboard solves the specific problem of writing Kannada occasionally: typing a name or an address as Karnataka records spell it, writing Kannada into a message, a notice or a school exercise, or completing a Karnataka government form that expects the script. Every key is on screen, the arrangement is the standard one, and when you are finished there is nothing to undo.
A script Telugu readers can almost read
Kannada and Telugu split from a common ancestor recently enough that their letters still rhyme: ಕ and క, ಗ and గ. The inventories match, the order matches, and a reader of one can often decipher the other. For typing it means the standard layout transfers between them position for position.
Kannada's own signature is the arkaavattu — the small ರ್ that rides above a following consonant, as in ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ. It is the r of a cluster written as a superscript rather than in line, and it is built the normal way: ರ, halant, then the consonant it attaches to.
The vowels ಎ/ಏ and ಒ/ಓ are separate letters here, short against long, and Kannada spelling distinguishes them. Their matras sit at the left of the home row, short unshifted and long on the layer above.
Short and long vowels are different words
Kannada, like Telugu and Tamil, has a real length distinction in its vowels, and it changes meaning rather than accent. ಎ against ಏ, ಒ against ಓ, ಅ against ಆ: these are not the same letter typed carelessly.
On this board the short vowel is unshifted and the long one is directly above it on Shift, which is the arrangement that makes the pair learnable. The sequence to type a long vowel is the same as a short one with Shift held.
It is worth being deliberate about this when transcribing a name. A vowel length is easy to hear wrong and easy to get right by copying what is printed, and an official record will not match a near miss.
Nudi, Baraha and two very different tools
Kannada typing in Karnataka runs mostly on two names, and they solve different problems. Nudi is the state government's standard software and the one official work is expected to use. Baraha is a phonetic input method — you type "kannada" and get ಕನ್ನಡ — and is what a great many people use day to day because it needs no layout knowledge.
Older versions of both produced non-Unicode text tied to their own fonts, with the usual consequence: documents that read as Kannada on the machine they were made on and as Latin characters everywhere else. Current versions produce Unicode.
This board is InScript and produces Unicode. It is not phonetic, so it will feel different from Baraha; the on-screen keys are the way around that, because you can find a letter by reading the board rather than by guessing at a spelling.
Type it, click it, or both
There are two ways to use the board and they work together. Click the keys on screen when you are hunting for a letter, and type on your own keyboard when you know where it is — your keys are remapped to the Kannada layout either way, so switching between the two mid-word changes nothing.
The remapping is matched by physical key position, which is what makes it survive a non-QWERTY system underneath. A checkbox turns it off if you would rather type Latin into the same box.
None of it leaves your browser. The layouts are a small amount of data in the page and every keystroke is handled locally, so there is nothing to upload and nothing to trust with a name you are trying to spell correctly.
Answers
Frequently asked questions
How do I type the arkaavattu, as in ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ?
Type ರ, then the halant on the D position, then the consonant it rides above. The renderer lifts it into place.
Can I type phonetically like Baraha?
Not here — this is the InScript positional layout. Every key is visible and labelled, so you can find letters by sight rather than by memorising positions.
Where are the long vowels?
On the Shift layer, directly above their short partners. The distinction changes the word, so it is worth getting right.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. The on-screen layout is the one you tap, and the device's own keyboard is kept from opening on top of it so it does not cover the keys.
Can I use my own keyboard instead?
Yes, and it is on by default. Keys are remapped by physical position, so it lands correctly even if you already run AZERTY or Dvorak.