Three things that people call a keyboard layout
The shape of the keyboard, the characters printed on its keys, and the language used when typing are related, but they are not the same thing. A keyboard can use familiar physical key positions while software turns those presses into characters from another language.
For a physical-key test, start with the shape and the position of the keys in front of you. Choose the most similar layout in the tester, then press the keys you want to check. A key marked as observed means its press reached the browser. It does not mean that every character or accent will be produced correctly.
QWERTY, AZERTY and QWERTZ: the letters on the keys
QWERTY gets its name from the first six letters across the usual top letter row. Variants of QWERTY are used in many countries, including English-speaking markets, Brazil, Indonesia and Vietnam. Those keyboards can still differ in punctuation, national letters, the Enter key and other details.
Traditional French AZERTY swaps several letter positions compared with English QWERTY, including A and Q and Z and W. Germany and several nearby markets use QWERTZ variants: the Y and Z positions are exchanged. Not every country using a similar name has identical printed symbols, and individual users can choose different operating-system layouts.
If the picture on this site does not exactly match every printed symbol on your keyboard, you can still check many of the physical key positions. What matters most for the test is matching the represented physical positions, not assuming that a particular character will appear.
ANSI, ISO, ABNT2 and JIS: different physical shapes
ANSI and ISO describe common families of physical key arrangement. A typical ANSI keyboard has a wide horizontal Enter key and a longer left Shift. A common ISO keyboard has a tall, shaped Enter key and an additional key near the shorter left Shift. Both exist in many sizes and regional variations.
Brazilian ABNT2 keyboards have their own national character markings and typically another physical key near the right Shift. Japanese JIS keyboards can have additional keys around the space bar and different punctuation positions. These are meaningful physical differences, not merely translations.
Compact, laptop and specialist keyboards vary further. A particular manufacturer may omit or relocate keys, so a national layout name alone cannot guarantee a perfect match for every device. The tester lists only the configurations it has modelled; other variations require separate review.
Brazil and Spanish-speaking Latin America
Brazil commonly uses Portuguese ABNT2, which includes a Ç key and extra physical positions compared with familiar US ANSI. ABNT2 is distinct from Brazilian ABNT and from Portuguese keyboards used in Portugal. Do not assume all Portuguese-language keyboards have the same hardware.
Many Spanish-speaking Latin American countries use a Latin American Spanish arrangement with Ñ and regional punctuation. It should not be confused with the Spanish layout commonly used in Spain. There may be different keyboard variants, even within one country.
The regional options in this tester are labelled as examples of particular physical layouts, not as a claim that everyone in those markets owns that keyboard.
Indonesia, Vietnam, India and other language settings
A country may use several writing systems and still have many familiar QWERTY physical keyboards. For example, standard Indonesian-language Windows input can use US key positions. The tester can show an Indonesian regional choice without claiming the physical key arrangement is unique.
Vietnamese speakers can use Telex or VNI input methods on a typical keyboard. The keys pressed are detected as physical positions, but checking those presses does not verify that a Vietnamese word, diacritic or an input-method composition was entered correctly.
India has numerous languages and input options. English QWERTY is not the same as InScript or other Hindi and regional-language input methods. A regional label should never be mistaken for a comprehensive language-input test.
Microsoft: Vietnamese input methods →Microsoft: default Windows input profiles →
Asia, Africa, Europe and English-speaking regions
Europe includes French AZERTY, German QWERTZ, British QWERTY and many other national keyboards. Japan has distinct JIS designs; South Korea has Korean-language key legends; Arabic and South Asian languages have several input methods. The world cannot be reduced to three Latin-letter arrangements.
In Africa, the physical keyboard and typing language can vary greatly by country and individual. There is no single African keyboard. Similarly, Australia and South Africa often use US-type physical key positions on Windows, while New Zealand and Canada include additional named options. Those examples do not describe every keyboard sold or used in each place.
The right choice depends on the actual keyboard in front of you. If none of the available options matches, you can still check keys that have equivalent physical positions while remembering the model limits.
Why a browser sees keys but not every typed character
This tester primarily uses the browser’s KeyboardEvent.code property. It identifies a physical position independently of the letter that your operating system produces. Pressing the physical key labelled Z on a German QWERTZ keyboard can therefore be detected at the same position that a US layout calls Y.
Software input methods may combine several key presses into one letter, symbol or word. A keyboard shortcut might also be intercepted by the operating system or the browser. That means the website can confirm only the input events that reach it; it cannot diagnose hardware conclusively or certify that all language input works.
For normal typing, check the expected characters in a trusted local text editor or an application that supports your input language. Avoid typing passwords or other private information into a keyboard-testing webpage.
Which layouts can I select in the tester?
Open Change keyboard and choose the closest supported regional profile, keyboard size and PC or Mac style. The list includes both distinct layouts and regional profiles that deliberately share tested US-style physical positions. Their names and notes explain what is being represented.
Some variants need extra physical keys that do not fit every compact keyboard model. Where a combination is not supported, the selector uses a compatible preset rather than displaying an inaccurate model. Selecting a different profile does not automatically reset the key presses that have already been observed.
The on-screen names are based on representative layouts, not a promise that every manufacturer, language setting or keyboard variation is covered. Additional verified configurations may be added in future without changing how your keys are observed.
References and how this guide is maintained
The examples in this guide are based on published keyboard-layout reference material from Microsoft and the browser keyboard-event definitions maintained by MDN. These sources describe recognised layout families and input methods; they do not provide a reliable world ranking of how many people use each layout.
When adding layouts, we distinguish a verified physical map from a regional label or an input method. This keeps the visual tester useful without inventing differences between countries or claiming that a browser can prove more than it actually observes.
Microsoft: Windows keyboard layout catalogue →Microsoft: Vietnamese IME →MDN: KeyboardEvent.code →