The German E1 keyboard layout is an extension to the German basic layout containing a complete set of letters for all European languages. It comes with a set of dead keys giving access to all imaginable accents. My verdict after having tested the layout for some months now: this is the keyboard for Latin based languages! Beyond the specific case-related benefits arising out of its universal design, I don't expect to it proliferate widely, because it privileges the characters “äöüß” that are mostly used in German. Also the disposition of the letter “z” in the upper QWERTZ row, will discourage many people used to the QWERTY design. Computer programmers also, usually prefer the US keyboard because many common keyboard shortcuts are tailored for this design.

A part from that, a national keyboard layout is also expression of the writing culture of a country. In this regard it is particularly disappointing that this honorable new norm ships gender ideology.

Did you know, that the official German E1 keyboard layout allows you to access directly symbols like ♡ ⚥ ♀ ♂ ?

Lets have a loser look what the German norm DIN 2137-01:2018-12 says:

gender signs (D01/D02 placed at the equivalent ordinal indicators, D08 placed at »I« wie “inter sexual”); (p. 43)

the heart (B08) for use as a memorable example for the not labelled extra characters in teaching; (p. 44)

In 2020, Unicode defines 143.859 symbols of all kind. Why, according to the new German norm, symbols like ♡ ⚥ ♀ ♂ have been selected to be directly accessible? However, we are not talking about graphemes used in European languages. The choice of symbols are also carries a political message by itself. Also the fact, that they are officially integrated an industry norm. Do Europeans really need ⚥ ♀ ♂ to communicate? Or, did the gender ideology already find its way into German norms?

In my opinion and wherever you stand politically: a keyboard layout should be designed to ease the written communication among people. Political symbols and ideologies should have no place in official keyboards layouts!