ISO/IEC 9995-10:2025

Overview

ISO/IEC 9995-10:2025 specifies conventional graphical symbols and methods to distinguish graphic characters that are not uniquely recognizable by their glyph on keyboards (including virtual keyboards) and in documentation. Within the general framework of ISO/IEC 9995-1, this second edition defines a set of universal, language‑neutral symbols that act as equivalents of character names to avoid ambiguity when glyphs look identical or similar (for example on keytops or in UI labels). The standard replaces ISO/IEC 9995-10:2013 and adds clarifications (notably a broadened application for symbol 44).

Key topics and requirements

• Definition and presentation of 50 standard symbols (Table 1) that combine character glyphs with additional marks (dots, short lines, overlays, framed markers) to uniquely identify characters.
• Coverage of common ambiguity groups: hyphen/dash variants, tildes, asterisk variants, full stop/middle dot/bullet, comma/apostrophe/quotes, angle brackets, primes, slashes, diacritical and combining overlays (e.g. U+0334–U+0338).
• Symbols 41–45: base marks and cap‑height markers to indicate diacritical marks and modifier letters; symbols 46–50 for special overlay combining marks.
• Reproduction rules: symbols must be shown in the orientation given in the table; exact proportions and line‑thickness may vary provided symbols remain clearly identifiable. Colour or shading may be used per the general remarks.
• Conformance notation: references to individual symbols shall use the form ISO/IEC 9995-10-xxx.
• Interoperability: the characters represented are those of the universal character set defined in ISO/IEC 10646 (Unicode).

Applications and users

ISO/IEC 9995-10:2025 is intended for:

• Keyboard designers and manufacturers (physical and virtual keytops) who need unambiguous labels.
• Operating system and input‑method developers implementing dead keys, combining marks and layout documentation.
• Localization and documentation teams preparing user guides, layout maps and key references.
• Accessibility and UX designers who must present clear, language‑neutral symbolization of ambiguous glyphs. Practical uses include keytop legends, virtual keyboard labels, specification of dead‑key behaviour (in concert with ISO/IEC 9995-11), and unambiguous documentation of character allocation.

Related standards

• ISO/IEC 9995-1 - General principles governing keyboard layouts
• ISO/IEC 9995-11 - Labelling of diacritical marks and dead key methods (see references to dead‑key handling and “peculiar character” mechanisms)
• ISO/IEC 10646 - Universal character set (Unicode)

Keywords: ISO/IEC 9995-10:2025, keyboard layouts, graphical symbols, diacritical marks, dead key, keytop labelling, virtual keyboard, Unicode, ISO keyboard standard.