Basic Usage
The 9 positions of the number pad are shown with 9 Chinese characters and 9 stroke shapes; the first 5 of these stroke shapes are the same as in the Wubihua method, and the others are more elaborate shapes generated according to context (see below). At any time you may choose either a character or a stroke shape from any one of the 9 squares (with mobile phones press 0 to switch between character and stroke shape; with pointing devices you can point to either one or the other). If the character you want is not available, choose a stroke shape that closest to the character's first stroke (i.e. at the character's top left); the stroke shape in position 5 is a general concept of "other strokes". If the character is still not available, choose either the character's second stroke shape, or elaborate on the first stroke shape (some stroke shapes cause additional elaborations of themselves to appear in positions 6 to 9). If the character is still not available after this second shape has been entered, the third stroke shape to enter is that corresponding to the character's last stroke (usually at bottom right). Finally if the character is not listed then you can press 0 to see another page of similar characters (or you may have entered the wrong stroke shapes). Usually, only full-form (Traditional) Chinese characters are available on the Q9 method, although some versions allow Simplified characters to be found as well. Additional controls are usually available to reset the input method's state, and to switch to English letters, digits or punctuation.
Read more about this topic: Q9 Input Method
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