On Mar 25, 2006, at 21:15, Elizabeth Ligeti wrote:
I am not much good on the 'puter, either, however on my machine I
hold down the alt key (next to the space bar), and, while still
holding down the key with the left hand, I type in 0246 on the Numbers
on the right side of the keyboard (Not the ones along the top). and
hey presto!! up comes ö, when I let go with both hands!!
0246
Same as plain numbers, without holding down the Alt key (on a Mac
keyboard, Alt and Option are the same key)
Also alt and 148 gets - ö.
¡¢•
Can't even begin to describe this one :) It's an upside-down
exclamation mark, followed by a "cent" sign (slashed c), followed by a
_really large_ dot... :)
I have Windows XP. I don't know if that makes any difference! You
have a Mac, don't you?
I do have a Mac, and it does make a difference... :)
Aurelia has sent me another way of coping with the problem (won't
quote, since we're not supposed to) and, her method seems to work at
least half of the time :)
OK here's Tess, with the same Mac-specific instructions: Option (Alt) u
- release! - type in your letter...
ö ü
Good :) It works when I respond to a message (probably in rich text),
but doesn't (or not always) when I initiate one (I have my mail set up
to "plain text" as default)...
Aurelia also gave me instructions on how to get the "diagonally slashed
o" (by itself, without the two dots beforehand): Option o, release,
type o
øo
Oops... "Option o" is ø, and nevermind what comes after... Which means
that getting a "diagonally slashed l" (a common Polsish character)
through this method is "no go":
øl
"Option l (el), release, l" (which I tried just for the heck of it)
produces:
¬l
and "option l, l":
¬¬
Which might be useful to an ASCII artist, but... :)
I wish there was a _single, standard_ method of adding diacritical
marks to a "stripped" keyboard like we have in US-English. On an US
keyboard, we have a few "peculiar" marks -- @#%^&* (for example) --
but, they're international. OTOH, the only "adjusted _letter_" is the $
sign, for dollars. If there's a way of "adjusting" the L or the E by a
"perpendicular slash" to denote other people's money (pounds and
euros), I don't know it (and it might not work on a Mac, anyway <g>)
I'd be perfectly happy to keep, by my keyboard, a list of _universal_
solutions but specific/sporadic ones do not fullfil my souls's quest
for standards... :)
Take Tess's earlier instructions about Mac's diacriticals...
For Mac users, this is the card I have pinned to my bulletin board:
é (accent aigu) option e, then type the letter
Works just fine: é, once you add the "release factor"... In Polish, we
_also_ have letters with a top accent in the same direction: c, o, s,
and z. All change their sound when so accented. But the "Option e,
release, type in the letter" produces:
´c, ó (correct, as it happens <g>), ´s and ´z.
Without the "release factor", I get:
´ç, ´ø,´ß and ´Ω
ç (cedille) option c
The little hook under a letter... In Polish, we have it also -- under
"a" and under "e" -- and, again, they change the sound (to a nasal
vowel. French "on" is similiar to our "a with a hook"). But, "Option C,
release, letter" gets me:
çc, ça, çe
while "Option c, letter" gets:
çç, çå, ç´
Since the remainder of Tess's suggestions:
For Mac users, this is the card I have pinned to my bulletin board:
é (accent aigu) option e, then type the letter
è (accent grave) option ` , then type the letter
ê (accent circonflex) option i, then type the letter
ü (umlaut) option u, then type the letter
ç (cedille) option c
ñ (as the nya sound in Spanish) option n, then type the letter
are of no use to me in Polish (the other language I use frequently to
write in), I have not tried to see what they'd do -- "released" or not.
But I really do not see _why_ the same "wriggles" could not be applied
to different letters in different languages, using the same basic
"adjustment techniques"... A totally different alphabet (Cyrilic,
Greek, Arabic, Turkish, Chinese etc) may need a totally different
keyboard. But a keyboard shipped to countries which use the same
_basic_ alphabet, should, IMO, include a list of simple "adjustments",
no matter which operating system is being used. "Think global" (as much
as possible)... :)
Apologies for venting it all on lace, but we have far fewer members on
chat and, who knows, someone on lace might know enough "computerese" to
construct a "diacritical Esperanto shortcut", which would be a relief
to everyone who's ever had to deal with more than one language. A list
of, even, 20-30 "letter adjustments", as long as they could be applied
_consistently_, would be a major blessing.
Until then, minor blessings on technology some of the time, and pox on
it most of the time.
--
Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/
Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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