Is it possible to give harakat when we use an Arabic keyboard layout?

Question

How can I give harakat to my Arabic font writing when I use an Arabic keyboard layout?

I'm a Dvorak touch typist, but I can still type in QWERTY if I really need to do so. Sometimes I need to type Arabic whilst looking at its "Show Keyboard Viewer" because I don't remember the Arabic QWERTY layout yet. I'm not familiar with it, either.

I use Arabic QWERTY, Pages and Mac OS X v10.5.8 (Leopard). My MacBook Pro physical keyboard layout is QWERTY.

Solution

Option + a letter key should do the trick.

I'm more familiar with the standard Arabic input, but a quick test on my Macbook with the input set to Arabic-QWERTY shows option+w being a shadda, option-u being a Damma, and so on. On the keyboard viewer, clicking its option key will show a new keyset that includes the short vowels.

If your physical keyboard layout is in Dvorak I'm not sure the letters will be exactly the same, but this should give you a starting point.