Urdu keyboard

Modern improvements in Urdu keyboard were pioneered by the National Language Authority (Muqtadra-e-Qaumi Zaban) in Pakistan, which standardized the linguistic aspects such as orthography and lexicography.

These developments helped the keyboard layout to evolve from the typewriters to be compatible with computers, to increase the productivity and textual efficiency of the language, especially through modern electronic media.

When Urdu was declared as the national language of the independent Pakistan in 1947, a variety of keyboard designs were quickly brought into the market by various individuals and organizations.

[1] In 1980, the National Language Authority of Pakistan developed a new keyboard layout for typewriters based on Naskh script.

[5] In 1998 National Language Authority, under Dr. Attash Durrani's supervision started working on a research and development project to standardize the Urdu encoding.