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### 1. Introduction

KDE International Keyboard (`kikbd`) is designed to help type national symbols different from the default Latin symbols under X11.

`kikbd` implements keyboard layout support for national character-sets other than the default Latin-1. Instead of relying on the classic method which uses X keyboard maps and modifier keys or, since X11R6.1 came out, XKB map files and rules, `kikbd` can remember more than one keyboard map, and can switch to any desired one in a dynamic fashion.

`kikbd` uses the `xmodmap` method to set up national keyboard maps for X11 applications, but can handle dynamic switching between keyboard maps selected from the list. This means it can support more than one language at a time.

In addition to this, `kikbd` can also maintain different keyboard maps for different windows or applications (using Window or Class input styles respectively).

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