Special Character question

On 2006-11-14, at 17:01, bignoseduglyguy wrote:

> Is there a way to enter special characters and symbols (like °, ½,
> ¼) with just a keystroke combo (for example, as one would with Alt
> +123 [unicode number?] in Windows) rather than the Special
> Character or Keyboard Viewer menu options?

Turn on the Unicode Hex Input menu (System Prefs -> International ->
Input Menu).

If you also turn on Character Palette it comes with a handy Unicode
reference chart.

When you need to enter a special character, switch to the Unicode Hex
Input method (by default command-option-space), hold down option, and
type the 4 hex digits for that Unicode character: e.g. 00bd for half.

You'll probably want to swap back to the normal input method after
entering the character(s). Normal text is fine, but anything
requiring option (acute e, etc.), is of course unavailable.

On or about 11/13/06 8:01 PM, thus spake "bignoseduglyguy"
<bignoseduglyguygmail.com>:

> Is there a way to enter special characters and symbols (like °, ½, ¼) with
> just a keystroke combo (for example, as one would with Alt+123 [unicode
> number?] in Windows) rather than the Special Character or Keyboard Viewer menu
> options?

The analogy to Alt-123 would be to switch to the Unicode Hex Input keyboard
layout.

But many characters are available with simple option-key combinations. Pi,
for example, is option-p.

m.

--
matt neuburg, phd = matttidbits.com, http://www.tidbits.com/matt/
pantes anthropoi tou eidenai oregontai phusei
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On 13 Nov 2006, at 21:01 , bignoseduglyguy wrote:
> Is there a way to enter special characters and symbols (like °,
> ½, ¼) with just a keystroke combo (for example, as one would with
> Alt+123 [unicode number?] in Windows) rather than the Special
> Character or Keyboard Viewer menu options?

° is Shift-option-8 even without changing the layout. I though the
US Extended allowed access to many of the more common ones (like the
fractions), but looking at it it seems to be mostly access to the
Vietnamese 'marks' (ṅ å ǫ ả, etc).<1>

I don't remember how to get the fractions; you might have to go the
Unicode Hex Input route.

1/2 is "00BD", so you would hold down option and hit "00BD" to get ½,
00BC for ¼, etc. If you open the character palette and hover the
mouse over the character you want, it will tell you the Unicode
number for that character. Personally, I use the favorites, although
I did memorize F8FF ().

Perhaps start with this TidBITS article from Matt:

<http://db.tidbits.com/article/06780>

<1> for all I know these are used in all sorts of languages, I see ả
and I think Vietnamese.

At 8:01 PM -0800 11/13/06, bignoseduglyguy wrote:
>As always with these things, I'm sure there's a
>simple answer that is eluding me but...
>
>Is there a way to enter special characters and
>symbols (like °, ½, ¼) with just a keystroke
>combo (for example, as one would with Alt+123
>[unicode number?] in Windows) rather than the
>Special Character or Keyboard Viewer menu
>options?
>
>I have checked the support articles at Apple's site but to no avail.



Yes, and a program like PopChar X will show you how.

<http://www.macility.com/products/popcharx/>


From their Web Page...


>Tired of searching and remembering keyboard
>combinations for umlauts and other special
>characters? Want to get the most out of your
>fonts? Then PopChar is the right tool for you.
>
>PopChar makes "typing" of unusual characters
>easy without having to remember keyboard
>combinations.
>
>Whenever you need a special character, PopChar
>is there to help. Click the "P" in the menu bar
>to display a table of characters. Select the
>desired character and it instantly appears in
>your document.
>
>PopChar X supports Unicode fonts with thousands
>of characters available. Just switch from ASCII
>to Unicode to see all of them, neatly arranged
>in the standard Unicode categories.


HTH,

Ken P.
(Disclaimer: not affiliated, just a satisfied customer.)

On Nov 13, 2006, at 9:01 PM, bignoseduglyguy wrote:

> Is there a way to enter special characters and symbols (like °, ½, ¼)
> with just a keystroke combo (for example, as one would with Alt+123
> [unicode number?] in Windows) rather than the Special Character or
> Keyboard Viewer menu options?
>

Not really. To do this on a Mac, you need to switch your keyboard to
the one called Unicode Hex Input, and then use Alt/Option + 007B
[unicode number in hex notation].

If you would like a graphic of Keyboard Viewer for Option and Option +
Shift, there is one here:

http://homepage.mac.com/thgewecke/kblayout.jpg

bignoseduglyguy wrote on 11/13/06 8:01 PM

> Is there a way to enter special characters and symbols (like °, ½, ¼) with
> just a keystroke combo (for example, as one would with Alt+123 [unicode
> number?] in Windows) rather than the Special Character or Keyboard Viewer menu
> options?

Yes, There certainly is and IF Apple still did keyboard viewer correctly
you'd see that.

All of those characters are formed with the option/alt key.
This is on an *American* keyboard (other keyboards are different)
    ° is option shift 8
    ½ is option shift p
    ¼ is option p
    and so forth.

Even on the new Keyboard Viewer you can see what characters you can get with
the option and the option shift key but you no longer (boo hiss) see what
keys are affected by the 'dead' keys like option e which when combined with
aeiou give you áéíóú

The easiest, in my opinion, way to learn all that's available is to work
your way (in a word processing program) from ` to / with option and shift
option. If nothing happens with a key until after you get to the next one
then you have one of the dead key accents which apply to more than one key.

rich

Rich, Tom, Kenneth, Matt and Google Kreme

On 2006-11-18, at 03:42, bignoseduglyguy wrote:

> Many thanks for the tag team answers, guys! As a Limey/Pom living
> in New Zealand, I'm on British/Roman with NZ localisation

You can get close to our flag in the Input Menu by using Australian.
Another layout you might find useful is Maori, as it allows you to
enter macrons by using option-a, option-e, etc., to put them directly
above the vowels.

Cheers

Another Kiwi.

I use typeit4me. I've set it to replace (c) with the copyright symbol, which is much easier than trying to remember codes and key combinations, or taking up screen space with even more palettes.

On or about 11/14/06 12:46 PM, thus spake "Rich Hansen" <saoisonic.net>:

> Even on the new Keyboard Viewer you can see what characters you can get with
> the option and the option shift key but you no longer (boo hiss) see what
> keys are affected by the 'dead' keys like option e which when combined with
> aeiou give you áéíóú


Instead of booing and hissing, you should be cheering. The "new Keyboard
Viewer" is way better about this than the old one.

Open the Keyboard Viewer (I'm presuming the US keyboard layout here) and
hold the Option key. It shows you the "dead" keys - for example, in the
place where "e" was, you see the acute accent. So click it (or type
Option-e).

Now let go of the Option key, and look at the Keyboard Viewer again. Some of
the key markings have changed! For example, in place of "a", you now see "á"
(a with an acute accent). In place of "e", you now see "é" (e with an acute
accent). And so on.

But wait, there's more! Now hold the Shift key. In place of "A", you now see
"Á" (capital A with an acute accent). And so on.

So after you press a dead key, you are shown what ALL the keys would do if
you were then to press one of them. The ENTIRE keyboard layout changes to
reflect the new "state" that keyboard is in as a result of pressing the
"dead" key.

This in fact is all that a "dead" key is - it's an entrance to a state
machine. And you can study that state machine and learn how it works, and
create your own, by using Ukelele:

<http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=ukelele>

This is all far better than the behavior of the old (Classic) keyboard
layout display. The improvement is especially noticeable as your keyboard
layout becomes more complex. (The mere use a single dead key like option-e
is puny compared to the full powers of the keyboard layout state machine in
Mac OS X.)

m.

--
matt neuburg, phd = matttidbits.com, http://www.tidbits.com/matt/
pantes anthropoi tou eidenai oregontai phusei
AppleScript: the Definitive Guide - Second Edition!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596102119
Take Control of Word 2004, Tiger, and more -
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/tiger-customizing.html
Subscribe to TidBITS! It's free and smart. http://www.tidbits.com/

On 23-Nov-2006, at 14:28, Matt Neuburg wrote:
> Open the Keyboard Viewer (I'm presuming the US keyboard layout
> here) and
> hold the Option key. It shows you the "dead" keys - for example, in
> the
> place where "e" was, you see the acute accent. So click it (or type
> Option-e).

I thought you were nuts for a moment when I tried this, but then I
tried it again with a cursor active in a text editing area, and
waddayaknow, it works.

That is freaking COOL!

Now, how do I make the Keyboard Viewer larger? I don't see anywhere
to set its font size.

--
"But you read a lot of books, I'm thinking. Hard to have faith, ain't
it, when you've read too many books?"

You could also take a look at the French-Canadian set-up (CSA). It is in conformity with the ISO Standards, and the accents (diacritical marks) are engraved on the keys. Hence, it functions naturally both in French and in English. Even my very old Extended and super keyboard is entirely workable!

BAM

On Nov 26, 2006, at 11:18 AM, Google Kreme wrote:

> On 23-Nov-2006, at 14:28, Matt Neuburg wrote:
>> Open the Keyboard Viewer (I'm presuming the US keyboard layout
>> here) and
>> hold the Option key. It shows you the "dead" keys - for example, in
>> the
>> place where "e" was, you see the acute accent. So click it (or type
>> Option-e).
>
> I thought you were nuts for a moment when I tried this, but then I
> tried it again with a cursor active in a text editing area, and
> waddayaknow, it works.
>
> That is freaking COOL!
>
> Now, how do I make the Keyboard Viewer larger? I don't see anywhere
> to set its font size.

The best I can come up with is:
Use the Zoom control in the window's title bar to make the window
larger.

In 10.4.8, the font is set in the Font: popup below the keyboard.

As an alternative to zooming: if your machine supports it, use
Control-scroll-wheel-"up" to enlarge the screen (control-two-finger-
drag-"up" on laptops which support that).

A trip into ~/Library/Preferences/
com.apple.KeyboardViewerServer.plist didn't reveal anything
promising, but did remind me of the zoom button (since its state is
one of the preference items--and indeed, it will open zoomed if it
was closed while zoomed [for the same user]). There could, of
course, be some of the annoying settings which are absent by default
but can still be set.

Thanks for asking--mine will now open zoomed (until I tire of that).

   --John

On or about 11/26/06 11:18 AM, thus spake "Google Kreme" <gkremegmail.com>:

> On 23-Nov-2006, at 14:28, Matt Neuburg wrote:
>> Open the Keyboard Viewer (I'm presuming the US keyboard layout
>> here) and
>> hold the Option key. It shows you the "dead" keys - for example, in
>> the
>> place where "e" was, you see the acute accent. So click it (or type
>> Option-e).
>
> I thought you were nuts for a moment when I tried this, but then I
> tried it again with a cursor active in a text editing area, and
> waddayaknow, it works.
>
> That is freaking COOL!
>
> Now, how do I make the Keyboard Viewer larger? I don't see anywhere
> to set its font size.

See the bar across the top of the Keyboard Viewer window? That is called the
title bar. There are three buttons at the left end of the title bar. The
third of those (counting from the left) is called the Zoom button. Click it.
This alternates between two sizes of Keyboard Viewer (small and big; I'm
afraid that's all you get).

I'm not saying that that solution is perfect. What I usually do, actually,
is use TextEdit as a backstop. If TextEdit is frontmost, clicks in the
Keyboard Viewer go into TextEdit. But TextEdit lets me set the font size, so
now I can experiment and get a good look at what I'm doing. m.

--
matt neuburg, phd = matttidbits.com, http://www.tidbits.com/matt/
pantes anthropoi tou eidenai oregontai phusei
AppleScript: the Definitive Guide - Second Edition!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596102119
Take Control of Word 2004, Tiger, and more -
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/tiger-customizing.html
Subscribe to TidBITS! It's free and smart. http://www.tidbits.com/

Where does one find the Keyboard Viewer? I have a new iMac and do not
see it. Is it a program you have to buy?


[Turn on the International menu (looks like a flag once on) in the International > Input Menu pane in System Preferences, then choose Show Keyboard Viewer from the flag menu. -Adam]


Kathie

On 27-Nov-2006, at 06:41, johnbaxterlistsmac.com wrote:
> Use the Zoom control in the window's title bar to make the window
> larger.

Right, that simply toggles the keyboard viewer between "too small"
and "too large."

Too bad, I'd like to be able to set the font size of the keyboard
viewer.

[Turn on the International menu (looks like a flag once on) in the International > Input Menu pane in System Preferences, then choose Show Keyboard Viewer from the flag menu. -Adam]

The options Show Character Palette and Show Keyboard Viewer did not show up in my International (flag) menu.

It took me a while to find them. I had to go into System Preferences > International > Input Menu. I then had to drag the scroll bar up to the top and add check marks in front of Character Palette and Keyboard Viewer. Only after I did that could I experiment with the other suggestions here.

They were there before, so something, perhaps a MacOS X update, must have deleted them.

I've found the answers to this issue helpful, but I could not solve my problem: how do I add the two accents ˇ(unicode ­02D8) and ¯(00AF) to my keyboard? It's seems that this is not possible. I'm using a Swiss French keyboard.

On May 27, 2008, at 7:04 AM, paldo wrote:

> I've found the answers to this issue helpful, but I could not solve
> my problem: how do I add the two accents &#711;(unicode 02D8) and ¯
> (00AF) to my keyboard? It's seems that this is not possible. I'm
> using a Swiss French keyboard.

If you want to add these to various vowels, you need to use 0306
combining breve and 0304 combining macron. They aren't on the Swiss
French keyboard. You can switch to the US Extended layout or make a
custom layout with Ukelele:

http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=ukelele

For what you can make with US Extended, see:

http://homepage.mac.com/thgewecke/diacritics.html

The Swiss French layout seems to have the independent (non-combining)
macron and breve at Option + Shift + k and Option + Shift + é.

On 27 mai 08, at 20:04, paldo wrote:

> I've found the answers to this issue helpful, but I could not solve
> my problem: how do I add the two accents &#711;(unicode 02D8) and
> ¯(00AF) to my keyboard? It's seems that this is not possible. I'm
> using a Swiss French keyboard.
> --

Then go here <http://thias.absyrde.net/wordpress/?page_id=258>
and you'll have a working solution, at least for the macron. For the
breve, you might need to modify the keylayout file yourself, I have
not checked.

HTH
Cyril

PS: if your French is not up to the task of reading the page, let me
know.