The vast majority of Pakistanis using the web are familiar only with English keyboards. Creating content in Urdu script is a slow and frustrating experience, as it requires either learning the Urdu keyboard layout, which is forced onto a keyboard designed for writing English, or using on-screen keyboards, which are useful but limited by the speed at which one can click the mouse. As a result, producing online content in Urdu script has mostly been limited to a small number of bloggers and commercial websites. For most users, writing Urdu using Roman script (transliteration) has become the main way of writing Urdu on computers. Transliteration is a technique that is used to do phonetic mapping of words written in one script (e.g. Arabic) to another script (e.g. Roman). For example, شکریہ transliterates into shukriya. While using Roman transliteration may be adequate for a lot of purposes (chatting), it leaves a lot to be desired from the perspective of people who prefer to read and write the language in its original script.
