InScript vs Remington Hindi Keyboard

Two layouts, two histories

InScript is the standard Devanagari keyboard layout standardised by the Government of India. It ships with Windows as the Hindi Traditional keyboard and produces Unicode text, the format used by modern documents, websites and phones.

Remington comes from the mechanical Hindi typewriter. Many experienced typists learned on it, and it is usually paired with the Kruti Dev 010 font, which stores Hindi in a legacy encoding rather than Unicode.

How InScript is arranged

InScript follows the structure of the Devanagari alphabet. Vowels and vowel signs (matras) sit on the left half of the keyboard and consonants on the right. Related consonants share a key: K gives क and Shift+K gives ख.

You always type in the order you speak. For कि you press क and then the ि matra on the F key, even though ि appears before the consonant on screen. Half letters are made with the halant ् on the D key, so क + ् + ष becomes क्ष.

How Remington is arranged

Remington follows the typewriter's arrangement, which was designed around the shapes that had to be struck rather than the order of the alphabet. Common letters are spread across both hands and many half-letter shapes have keys of their own.

Because it mirrors the typewriter, the ि matra is typed before the consonant. With Kruti Dev 010, F gives ि, so कि is typed as F and then the consonant key.

Which one should you learn?

If an exam or employer names a layout, learn that one. Recruitment notices usually state the accepted layout and font, so check the current notice before you begin.

With no requirement, InScript is the better start. It is built into Windows, needs no extra font, its output works everywhere as Unicode, and its logical arrangement is quicker to memorise. Learn Remington when you need to work with existing Kruti Dev documents or a typing test requires it.

Switching between the two

Keep to one layout until you can type without looking at the keys. Switching early slows both down. If you later need Kruti Dev output from InScript work, type in Unicode and convert the finished text with the Unicode to Kruti Dev converter.

Try it on HindiType

Explore both layouts on the Hindi keyboard Start guided InScript or Remington lessons

InScript vs Remington: which Hindi keyboard should you learn?