ISO · QWERTZ
Windows Laptop (ISO Swiss) keyboard layout
Windows Laptop (ISO Swiss) is a Windows laptop keyboard built to the ISO physical standard with a QWERTZ letter arrangement. It has 80 keys in 6 rows. QWERTZ layout for Switzerland (German, French, Italian).
Modelled on the Generic Standard Windows Laptop ISO Swiss.
At a glance
- Platform
- Windows
- Standard
- ISO
- Form factor
- laptop
- Keys
- 80
- Letters
- QWERTZ
- Language
- Swiss (German, French and Italian)
- Numeric keypad
- No
- Enter key
- Tall, L-shaped (ISO)
- Left Shift
- 1.25u, with an extra key beside it
Key map
What Windows Laptop (ISO Swiss) 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?
Windows Laptop (ISO Swiss) 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 Windows Laptop (ISO Swiss) 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 2
- £ shares its keycap with $
- § shares its keycap with °
- / shares its keycap with 7
Accents and extra letters
Windows Laptop (ISO Swiss) adds Ç, È, Ü, É, Ö, À and Ä as dedicated keys (Ö and Ä 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 Windows Laptop (ISO Swiss) is A S D F G H J K L Ö Ä. Touch typing starts here: the left hand rests on A S D F, the right hand on J K L Ö, 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 QWERTZ the Z sits where QWERTY has Y, because Z is far more common than Y in German. The umlaut keys on the right end of the home row are typed by the right little finger.
Practice on Windows Laptop (ISO Swiss) in CosmicKeys
CosmicKeys does not assume a US keyboard. Choose Windows Laptop (ISO Swiss) 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 Swiss-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 Windows Laptop (ISO Swiss) 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.
Does Windows Laptop (ISO Swiss) 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 Windows Laptop (ISO Swiss) with CosmicKeys?
Yes. Pick Windows Laptop (ISO Swiss) in the keyboard picker; the lessons, finger animations and narration then use this layout's key positions. The typing test needs no account.