Difference between Input Method and Layout?

Question

What is the difference between input method and keyboard layout in elementaryOS 7?

I noticed that when I change the input method, the language indicator doesn't update, but the language that I type in does change (similar to when I switch the keyboard layout). What is this for?

The reason I'm asking is that there appears to be a bug: when I switch between layout and input method and back, sometime the language indicator gets messed up and begins displaying the wrong language and I'm unable to use some global keyboard shortcuts, despite using English layout (e.g. Ctrl+` to open up my Guake terminal). And another bug is that sometimes when I switch from English to some non-English layout, the input language doesn't change...

Answer 1

The keyboard layout governs which character is generated by pressing a key on the keyboard. You would normally install the one that corresponds to the characters actually printed on your keyboard keys. Input methods are extra pieces of software that are typically used to enter languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean using a Western keyboard. For example in Japanese you might enter two characters "ko" and get a menu of 200 possible Hiragana or Kanji corresponding to that syllable (こ　腰　etc) If you can generate all the characters you need directly with the keyboard then you do not need to install an input method at all. As an input method may use some shortcuts to control them these may clash with existing system or app shortcuts you should not use one unless really needed. The input method may include a tool to configure which shortcuts are used, though, and you can change the "Switch Engines" shortcut in System Settings/Keyboard.