Type Ńdẹ́bẹ́ ↗

04 / FROM KEY TO CHARACTER

Make yourself understood.

Use the Type Ńdẹ́bẹ́ keyboard online, or install the Keyman package for desktop input.

Everyday input

Space
Ordinary space
Shift + Space
Interpunct / word separator
` Backtick
Nzobe: type after the stem and radical, before the surviving vowel. The surviving vowel takes the elision form to show that it hides an earlier vowel.
' / Shift + '
Alternating single / double outward-prong quotations
0–9
Ńdẹ́bẹ́ digits 0–9
Option / Alt + 0–9
Ńdẹ́bẹ́ digits 10–19. Shift+number keeps its usual symbol.

Markers & palettes

. after a numeral
Vigesimal marker: two low stacked dots
. elsewhere
Full stop
Option / Alt + .
Decimal marker: one low dot
Option / Alt + Shift + .
Explicit full stop after a number

On the website, hold a numeral for 10–19 or hold Period for marker choices. With a key focused, ArrowDown opens its choices.

Math, Currency, Teaching, and Symbols and spacing have separate labelled buttons. Hardware users can reach them with Tab, then Enter or Space.

Quotation direction and saved text

The website infers quotation direction from the text before the caret. Keyman checks up to 64 preceding characters; Option/Alt+apostrophe inserts a closing single quote or flips an adjacent one. Add Shift for double quotes.

The website’s Save text button exports UTF-8 TXT, not RTF. RTF saved by a receiving application can retain font formatting but does not guarantee that the font is embedded. TXT retains only characters: choose a Ńdẹ́bẹ́ font again if reopened plain text shows missing-character boxes. Private-use assignments are local conventions, not Unicode allocations.

Support characters and missing text

The rectangular Nsibidi design is the missing-glyph indicator. The circular design represents the replacement character U+FFFD. The dotted rectangle U+25CC provides a teaching stem placeholder. Nonbreaking space and narrow nonbreaking space keep adjacent text together without a visible mark.