ISO · AZERTY
MacBook Laptop (ISO French) keyboard layout
MacBook Laptop (ISO French) is a Mac laptop keyboard built to the ISO physical standard with a AZERTY letter arrangement. It has 79 keys in 6 rows. AZERTY layout for France.
Modelled on the Apple MacBook Air / MacBook Pro.
At a glance
- Platform
- Mac
- Standard
- ISO
- Form factor
- laptop
- Keys
- 79
- Letters
- AZERTY
- Language
- French
- Numeric keypad
- No
- Enter key
- Tall, L-shaped (ISO)
- Left Shift
- 1.25u, with an extra key beside it
Key map
What MacBook Laptop (ISO French) is
As a laptop keyboard it has no separate numeric keypad and no navigation cluster: the arrow keys sit in the bottom row, and Home, End, Page Up and Page Down are reached through the Fn key. The function row is shared with brightness and media controls.
ISO or ANSI?
MacBook Laptop (ISO French) is an ISO keyboard. The three things a typist notices: the Enter key is tall and L-shaped (it spans two rows), the left Shift is only 1.25u wide, and the key between left Shift and the bottom letter row prints > <. Because the left Shift is narrower, the left little finger travels a shorter distance to reach it; because Enter is vertical, the right little finger reaches it from the home row rather than from the row above.
Where the symbols sit
These are the keycap legends on MacBook Laptop (ISO French) for the characters typists reach for most, taken from the layout file. A symbol printed on a keycap with another legend is reached with Shift or the third-level modifier (AltGr on Windows, Option on Mac), depending on the operating system's layout.
Compared with a US keyboard, where @ is Shift+2 and # is Shift+3, these positions are what trip up people switching layouts: the finger goes to the US position and produces a different character.
- @ shares its keycap with #
- " shares its keycap with 3
- # shares its keycap with @
- £ shares its keycap with `
- § shares its keycap with 6
- / shares its keycap with :
Accents and extra letters
MacBook Laptop (ISO French) adds É, È, Ç, À and Ù as dedicated keys (Ù on the home row). On a US layout these letters need a compose sequence or an option-key shortcut; here they are one keystroke and the lessons treat them like any other letter.
The accent legends ¨ ^ ` are dead keys: press the accent first, then the vowel, and the combined character appears. Press the accent followed by Space to get the bare accent.
Home row and finger placement
The home row on MacBook Laptop (ISO French) is Q S D F G H J K L M Ù. Touch typing starts here: the left hand rests on Q S D F, the right hand on J K L M, and every other key is reached by a short move and a return to this row. CosmicKeys' finger guide animates that reach for each key of this exact layout.
On AZERTY the A and Q, and Z and W, swap places compared with QWERTY, and M moves to the home row beside L. Digits on the number row need Shift; the unshifted keys produce accented letters and punctuation.
Practice on MacBook Laptop (ISO French) in CosmicKeys
CosmicKeys does not assume a US keyboard. Choose MacBook Laptop (ISO French) from the keyboard picker and the on-screen keyboard, the finger animations and the per-key narration all use this layout's positions.
The core curriculum runs on every layout: home row, top row, bottom row, the number row, finger drills, mastery and speed lessons, plus custom lessons you write yourself.
There is also a French-specific lesson pack for the keys this layout has and a US board does not.
The typing test at /typing-test works on any layout and reports words per minute and accuracy; the lessons, finger-level analytics and hand-position guides are the part that depends on the layout you pick.
FAQ
Is MacBook Laptop (ISO French) ANSI or ISO?
ISO. It has the tall L-shaped Enter key, a 1.25u left Shift and an extra key (> <) between Shift and the bottom letter row.
Where is the @ key on MacBook Laptop (ISO French)?
@ shares its keycap with #. Whether you press it with Shift or with the third-level modifier depends on the operating system's layout for this keyboard.
Does MacBook Laptop (ISO French) have a numeric keypad?
No. Numbers are typed on the number row; if you enter a lot of figures you can pair it with a standalone keypad and CosmicKeys' numpad lessons.
Can I learn to type on MacBook Laptop (ISO French) with CosmicKeys?
Yes. Pick MacBook Laptop (ISO French) in the keyboard picker; the lessons, finger animations and narration then use this layout's key positions. The typing test needs no account.