Andrew AbdalianHow is #Windows still so bad at entering characters with #diacritics? I know you can install custom keyboards or use alt-codes (and I have done both), but is there really no simpler way to use dead keys on a standard English keyboard? I guess I could switch to a Canadian French keyboard and remap my mental keyboard when I'm using Windows...or I could just do what I usually do and avoid Windows like the plague.
Dr. Angus Andrea Grieve-Smith@abdalian You can pick special characters from Character Map!
@grvsmth It's easier than memorizing alt codes, but it's poorly designed and looks like it hasn't been updated in a long time. Even dragging and dropping the character is hit or miss. The lack of care and attention for special character entry—and the fact that it hasn't improved—saddens me.
Entering an em-dash:
Windows: Alt-0151 for the em-dash if you have a keypad and a good memory. If you're missing one or the other, use character map.
Mac: Option-Shift-hyphen
@abdalian Yes, Charmap is definitely a pain to use, I just wanted to make sure you knew about it.
I actually like the way you can toggle between keyboards on Windows - when it works. I haven't been able to figure out how to do that on a Mac.
And the long-keypress on the Mac is helpful - if you remember which key offers the option of the special character you're looking for!
I actually don't find option-shift-hyphen very helpful, because I haven't used a Mac enough to memorize it!
@grvsmth you can enable keyboards in the text input dialog in Keyboard preferences. The active keyboard layout can then be toggled via the Input Sources menu or a keyboard shortcut. I think the ability to switch keyboard layouts via menu has been around since system 7.
Jim DeLaHunt@abdalian is that a Windows thing, or a US-edition thing? The fact that there are French and French Canadian keyboard layouts alludes to a US-centric keyboard layout also existing. Maybe the US customers mostly don't care about diacritics, and the US-centric layout gives them what they want.
You apparently want something different than most US customers. Maybe there's a different keyboard layout, accessible from Windows settings, which will work better for you.
I for one am glad you care about diacritics and correct hyphens!
You apparently want something different than most US customers. Maybe there's a different keyboard layout, accessible from Windows settings, which will work better for you.
I for one am glad you care about diacritics and correct hyphens!
@jdlh there are keyboard layouts that might meet my needs, but I don't think any are built into Windows; I'd have to make my own.
Diacritics don't impede anyone who doesn't care about diacritics or punctuation from using the keyboard. On a Mac or iPhone, you can access a plethora of diacritics by pressing and holding a letter (this can be turned off if need be).
The most frustrating thing to me is that there are many better solutions and Windows just can't be bothered.
Scarlett B.@jdlh @abdalian it's a windows thing, I use a slovak layout and it contains all diacritics of the language on both windows and linux, but on linux it also includes combination keys for pretty much all other diacritics of other languages, like ¨, ˝, ˚, ˙ and some lower ones I can't type with the layout I use on my phone. Not just that, people who write code usually hate the slovak layout because it "doesn't have the programming characters". Yeah, not on windows, but mine has pretty much everything. If it doesn't, the compose key adds several layers on top of that. Only then you need the unicode code or a character map app.
bok@abdalian
I'd think United States International Layout (or equivalent) would be a person's choice if they commonly used accented letters from Western European languages.¹ Then it's just RightAlt+n for 'Señor' or AltGr+c for 'façade'.
[1] But you have to really want those letters, to put up with the annoyance of having to hit some keys (' " ^ ` ~) twice to get them plain. On Linux now, I'm just doing a ComposeKey sequence.