What steno layout does this use?

It uses the left-hand initial-consonant bank of the standard Stenotype or Plover steno keyboard: S, T, K, P, W, H, R. Letters that have a dedicated key map to that key, and the remaining consonants are written as the briefing combination of keys that produce them, such as TK for D and PW for B.

Is this real court reporting theory?

It captures the standard left-bank chord briefs but is simplified for learning. Full machine shorthand also uses a vowel bank (A, O, E, U), a right-hand bank, and thousands of word and phrase briefs. This tool focuses on the letter-to-chord mapping of the initial consonants.

How are vowels handled?

Vowels A, O, E, and U map to their own keys on the vowel bank and are shown as single keys. The vowel I is briefed on the steno keyboard and is shown as its standard EU combination.

What does a plus sign or hyphen mean in the output?

Keys joined together with no separator are pressed in the same chord. A letter's chord is the set of keys struck simultaneously, so TK means the T and K keys are pressed together to brief the letter D.

What happens to digits and punctuation?

Letters are converted to chords and separated by spaces. Spaces in the input separate words, and digits or punctuation are passed through unchanged because they are entered differently on a steno machine.

What is the Chord Keyboard Encoder?

Converts text into simplified stenotype chord notation, showing which keys you would press together to type each letter on a steno keyboard's left-hand initial-consonant bank. Educational, not a court-grade theory. Runs in your browser. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Chord Keyboard Encoder

Name: Chord Keyboard Encoder
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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A chord keyboard, like a stenotype machine, types whole sounds by pressing several keys at once instead of one key per character. This encoder shows the steno-style chord for each letter using the standard left-hand initial-consonant bank, so you can see which keys combine to brief letters that have no dedicated key of their own.

How chorded entry works

A standard QWERTY keyboard is sequential — you press one key, release, press the next. A stenotype machine is chordal — you press a set of keys simultaneously and release them together. The machine registers the whole chord as a single stroke, which is interpreted against a theory dictionary to produce a word or phrase. This is why stenographers can keep pace with spoken speech: a single chord can output an entire word or even a phrase, rather than spelling it letter by letter.

The left-hand initial-consonant bank

This encoder focuses on the left bank of the steno keyboard, which handles the initial consonants of a syllable. The seven keys are S T K P W H R, and the mapping follows the standard Plover/stenotype layout:

direct keys:  S=S  T=T  K=K  P=P  W=W  H=H  R=R
letter briefs:
  B = PW     D = TK     F = TP     G = TKPW
  J = SKWR   L = HR     M = PH     N = TPH
  V = SR     X = KP     Y = KWR    Z = STKPWHR
vowel keys:   A=A  O=O  E=E  U=U  I=EU

Keys written together without a separator are pressed simultaneously in one chord. Letters in the output are separated by spaces.

Worked example

The word DOG encodes as TK O TKPW:

D → chord TK (T and K pressed together)
O → single vowel key O
G → chord TKPW (all four keys pressed together)

A longer word like BRIEF becomes PW R EU EU TP — notice that I is always the vowel combination EU, never a single key, because the vowel bank has only four keys (A O E U) and I is handled as a compound.

What this is and is not

This tool shows the letter-to-chord mapping of the left initial bank. Real machine shorthand theory is richer: the full steno layout includes the vowel bank (A O E U) and a mirrored right-hand final-consonant bank, and skilled stenographers use thousands of word-level and phrase-level briefs that further compress output. The chord encoder here is a teaching tool — it lets you explore how chorded entry packs multiple keystrokes into a single stroke without requiring any steno hardware or software.