Re: Entering Unicode characters
Hi Esther, I will look into Text Expander, it may be useful for me. It seems sometimes my substitutions are working and sometimes not, even taking into account cursoring up then down again, I must get someone sighted to look at what I'm doing ad see whether the substitutions are being made or not. I can't work out any pattern to what's happening. Maybe the semicolon immediately followed by an a only works when there's a space immediately before the semicolon as well which isn't much use for that particular substitution. That does seem to be the case actually, if I do a space then semicolon a it gets submitted but not in the middle of a word. And there is no space before the semicolon in the table of substitutions n preferences…I should maybe choose a different string to substitute...I must have a look at those other apps as well. Yes I can make use of the numpad on my Maltron keyboard, I haven't ventured much into the yet smile Thanks, Catherine On 4/16/13, Esther mori...@mac-access.net wrote: Hi Catherine, I should have thought of having you move away and then back to the word or line in question to check that substitution was being done. The issue is that the screen dynamically updates, and your screen reader is telling you what it it read when you first navigated to that text. It doesn't refresh the content until you move off and then back on again. This can be one of the problems in using iOS apps, if one of the elements changes but the developer hasn't had the screen do a refresh. With third party text substitution software, there's generally a setting enabled by default to have a distinctive alert sound played when a substitution is made. This is what I hear when I use TextExpander on my Mac or TextExpander Touch on my iOS devices and a substitution has been made. It's also why, when I suggested that some list members might want to look into the aText text expansion software 15-day free trial version, I suggested that they go into the preferences pane (Command-comma), and change the default notification sound from click to something more distinctive. By the way, I think that part of my description of the aText text substitution software got cut off in the original post. I meant to detail one of my reasons for preferring the TextExpander interface is that it's easy to review the list of substituted strings, whereas in aText you get the list of your defined text snippets, but you have to VO-J to the detailed panel for editing, in order to read the substituted text string. On the other hand, aText sounds like a bargain for what it does at $4.99 -- seven times less than the TextExpander list price -- especially since it can now be used for synced Dropbox content, and I think also Google Drive. As I said, I hope some other list member checks this out in more detail from the aText web page: http://www.trankynam.com/atext/ I also read at the web page that some of the functionality of being able to do text expansion involving AppleScripts and shell scripts may be limited if you get the version from the Mac App store instead of the one at the developer's site. That's because of the restrictions placed on software in the Mac App store. While the policy limits the ability of malicious software to take over other software, it also limits the ability of your software to use certain system-wide actions, or bits of other software. It's difficult for me to do more than a casual test of the aText software because I already have TextExpander running for most of my text expansion. Catherine, I read that the Maltron one-handed keyboards also have a separate numpad. I don't know how convenient it is for you to use the number pad, but you could also customized those keys by turning on NumPad Commander in VoiceOver Utility, if that is a desirable option for you. I'm deleting some of the earlier messages in this thread, to keep the post from being too long. HTH. Cheers, Esther On Apr 15, 2013, at 8:54 PM, Catherine Turner wrote: Hi Esther, Ah, I have progress. It seems the substitution was being made but Voiceover wasn't necessarily reporting it accurately. I discovered that if I did the substitution and then went down onto a new line and then cursored back up again VO would read it accurately. THis also happens with the other (default) substitutions such as the copyright sign - if I type left paren c right paren and then cursor left to check it VO still reports as left parent c right paren. But if I cursor up or down to a different line and then back again VO reports the copyright sign. So I guess it takes VO a while to pick up on it or I need to refresh/refocus VO somehow to make it realise it has changed. Well I can be confident it's working now. I guess I just need to make sure that checkbox for allowing substitutes is checked in any apps I want to use it in. Thank you very much for your help. And yes, by the way, my
Re: Entering Unicode characters
Hi Esther, Ah, I have progress. It seems the substitution was being made but Voiceover wasn't necessarily reporting it accurately. I discovered that if I did the substitution and then went down onto a new line and then cursored back up again VO would read it accurately. THis also happens with the other (default) substitutions such as the copyright sign - if I type left paren c right paren and then cursor left to check it VO still reports as left parent c right paren. But if I cursor up or down to a different line and then back again VO reports the copyright sign. So I guess it takes VO a while to pick up on it or I need to refresh/refocus VO somehow to make it realise it has changed. Well I can be confident it's working now. I guess I just need to make sure that checkbox for allowing substitutes is checked in any apps I want to use it in. Thank you very much for your help. And yes, by the way, my Windows key is functioning as the Command key. Catherine On 4/15/13, Esther mori...@mac-access.net wrote: Hi Catherine and Colin, I thought that Catherine was probably using TextEdit, but the instructions I gave her should have worked for Mail (and notes in Mail), too. Catherine, when you type in your first string, just type the semi-colon and the a, and then press tab. Then, in the next field, paste in the apostrophe with Command+v and press return. You want your string to end with a character, and you want your substituted text to also end with a character. If you're typing a space after the semi-colon and the a in the table, that might be the problem. If your Mac is accepting letters and key combinations from your Maltron keyboard, then you should be able to do the character substitution. Can you check whether you can use the Windows key of your Maltron keyboard as a Command key so that you can copy with Command+c and paste with Command+v? That's usually what works with PC keyboards that have a Windows key. If I type a note with ;a (where I omit the quotation marks, and where I've changed the substitution characters to match the ones you've used), as soon as I press the spacebar after typing the a, the string turns into an apostrophe for me. This should work for you, too. By the way, is it easier for you to repeat using the arrow keys to move to the Add button, or would you prefer to use item chooser menu (Control+Option+i) and type a d to move to the Add button? HTH. Cheers, Esther On Apr 14, 2013, at 10:13 PM, Red.Falcon wrote: Hi sorry I've got nothing about the coding but you said you did not have textedit! But if your using a MBA MBP textedit is already on there to use! On 15 Apr 2013, at 08:31, Catherine Turner catherineturner2...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi Esther, Thanks for these instructions. I haven't been able to get the text substitution to work though. This is most likely something I've done wrong but I can't figure out what. I haven't got Textedit at the moment but I was trying it out with Notes. In notes if I go to edit, Substitutions, Show Substitutions, the checkbox Text replacement s checked, and I press the Text Preferences button. In the ensuing preferences the use symbol and text substitution checkbox is selected. I pressed the add button and used the string ;a that's semicolon a space. I've tried other strings too ad can't get any of them to work. When I interact with the table of substitutions now at the bottom is the one I've added and the checkbox on the left of it is checked. I've gone in and out of the preferences a few times and it's still there so I guess it's saved. But it doesn't appear in notes when I type it. I tried out some of the other substitutions from that table like left paren c right paren for copyright symbol and it works. I can only think that there's some small thing I haven't noticed but not sure what. Let me know if you get any ideas. I'll see if I can go to a Mac store though it's a bit awkward because they're quite noisy and don't know if there'd be a space I could set my stuff up with a desk I could get under (I'm in a wheelchair). Anyway at least I have the unicode entry working now... Thanks, Catherine On 4/14/13, Esther mori...@mac-access.net wrote: Hi Catherine, If you simply need to type an apostrophe, then the quickest way to enable you to do that is to use your Mac's facility for keyboard substitution. This will let you continue to use your Maltron keyboard, but give you access to the apostrophe character when you type some other string. Here's how to do this. I'm going to set up a shortcut so that the 2-letter combination ;l when typed together, with no space between the semi-colon and the l, will be substituted with an apostrophe character. So the substitution will use the two character groups: ;l ' (that's semi-colon+l, a space separator, and the apostrophe character, so you can copy and paste). You should choose a convenient key
Re: Entering Unicode characters
Hi Catherine, I should have thought of having you move away and then back to the word or line in question to check that substitution was being done. The issue is that the screen dynamically updates, and your screen reader is telling you what it it read when you first navigated to that text. It doesn't refresh the content until you move off and then back on again. This can be one of the problems in using iOS apps, if one of the elements changes but the developer hasn't had the screen do a refresh. With third party text substitution software, there's generally a setting enabled by default to have a distinctive alert sound played when a substitution is made. This is what I hear when I use TextExpander on my Mac or TextExpander Touch on my iOS devices and a substitution has been made. It's also why, when I suggested that some list members might want to look into the aText text expansion software 15-day free trial version, I suggested that they go into the preferences pane (Command-comma), and change the default notification sound from click to something more distinctive. By the way, I think that part of my description of the aText text substitution software got cut off in the original post. I meant to detail one of my reasons for preferring the TextExpander interface is that it's easy to review the list of substituted strings, whereas in aText you get the list of your defined text snippets, but you have to VO-J to the detailed panel for editing, in order to read the substituted text string. On the other hand, aText sounds like a bargain for what it does at $4.99 -- seven times less than the TextExpander list price -- especially since it can now be used for synced Dropbox content, and I think also Google Drive. As I said, I hope some other list member checks this out in more detail from the aText web page: http://www.trankynam.com/atext/ I also read at the web page that some of the functionality of being able to do text expansion involving AppleScripts and shell scripts may be limited if you get the version from the Mac App store instead of the one at the developer's site. That's because of the restrictions placed on software in the Mac App store. While the policy limits the ability of malicious software to take over other software, it also limits the ability of your software to use certain system-wide actions, or bits of other software. It's difficult for me to do more than a casual test of the aText software because I already have TextExpander running for most of my text expansion. Catherine, I read that the Maltron one-handed keyboards also have a separate numpad. I don't know how convenient it is for you to use the number pad, but you could also customized those keys by turning on NumPad Commander in VoiceOver Utility, if that is a desirable option for you. I'm deleting some of the earlier messages in this thread, to keep the post from being too long. HTH. Cheers, Esther On Apr 15, 2013, at 8:54 PM, Catherine Turner wrote: Hi Esther, Ah, I have progress. It seems the substitution was being made but Voiceover wasn't necessarily reporting it accurately. I discovered that if I did the substitution and then went down onto a new line and then cursored back up again VO would read it accurately. THis also happens with the other (default) substitutions such as the copyright sign - if I type left paren c right paren and then cursor left to check it VO still reports as left parent c right paren. But if I cursor up or down to a different line and then back again VO reports the copyright sign. So I guess it takes VO a while to pick up on it or I need to refresh/refocus VO somehow to make it realise it has changed. Well I can be confident it's working now. I guess I just need to make sure that checkbox for allowing substitutes is checked in any apps I want to use it in. Thank you very much for your help. And yes, by the way, my Windows key is functioning as the Command key. Catherine On 4/15/13, Esther mori...@mac-access.net wrote: Hi Catherine and Colin, I thought that Catherine was probably using TextEdit, but the instructions I gave her should have worked for Mail (and notes in Mail), too. Catherine, when you type in your first string, just type the semi-colon and the a, and then press tab. Then, in the next field, paste in the apostrophe with Command+v and press return. You want your string to end with a character, and you want your substituted text to also end with a character. If you're typing a space after the semi-colon and the a in the table, that might be the problem. If your Mac is accepting letters and key combinations from your Maltron keyboard, then you should be able to do the character substitution. Can you check whether you can use the Windows key of your Maltron keyboard as a Command key so that you can copy with Command+c and paste with Command+v? That's usually what works with PC keyboards
Re: Entering Unicode characters
Hi Esther, Thanks for these instructions. I haven't been able to get the text substitution to work though. This is most likely something I've done wrong but I can't figure out what. I haven't got Textedit at the moment but I was trying it out with Notes. In notes if I go to edit, Substitutions, Show Substitutions, the checkbox Text replacement s checked, and I press the Text Preferences button. In the ensuing preferences the use symbol and text substitution checkbox is selected. I pressed the add button and used the string ;a that's semicolon a space. I've tried other strings too ad can't get any of them to work. When I interact with the table of substitutions now at the bottom is the one I've added and the checkbox on the left of it is checked. I've gone in and out of the preferences a few times and it's still there so I guess it's saved. But it doesn't appear in notes when I type it. I tried out some of the other substitutions from that table like left paren c right paren for copyright symbol and it works. I can only think that there's some small thing I haven't noticed but not sure what. Let me know if you get any ideas. I'll see if I can go to a Mac store though it's a bit awkward because they're quite noisy and don't know if there'd be a space I could set my stuff up with a desk I could get under (I'm in a wheelchair). Anyway at least I have the unicode entry working now... Thanks, Catherine On 4/14/13, Esther mori...@mac-access.net wrote: Hi Catherine, If you simply need to type an apostrophe, then the quickest way to enable you to do that is to use your Mac's facility for keyboard substitution. This will let you continue to use your Maltron keyboard, but give you access to the apostrophe character when you type some other string. Here's how to do this. I'm going to set up a shortcut so that the 2-letter combination ;l when typed together, with no space between the semi-colon and the l, will be substituted with an apostrophe character. So the substitution will use the two character groups: ;l ' (that's semi-colon+l, a space separator, and the apostrophe character, so you can copy and paste). You should choose a convenient key or key combination that is easy for you to type on your Maltron keyboard in place of the semi-colon+l that I use in my example. Those two keys are next to each other on the Mac keyboard, and it's unlikely that you'll type a semi-colon+another letter without an intervening space in regular usage. I think the following instructions will minimize the number of keystrokes, but you'll have to use sticky keys. I'll assume that you have the TextEdit application open. Before you start the steps below, use Command+C to copy the apostrophe character to your clipboard so you are ready to paste it in. Here is the apostrophe character again on a line by itself: ' 1. Control+F2 to move to the menu bar 2. Press e to move to the Edit menu 3. Down arrow into the Edit menu 4. Press s u to move to Substitutions 5. Right arrow to the Show Substitutions submenu option, then press return 6. In the Substitutions window, right arrow through, and make sure that the Text Replacement box is checked. Continue to right arrow to the Text Preferences button and press it (with your up+down arrow keys if QuickNav is on, or with VO-Space). If your keyboard is set up so that you can use NumPad commander and this is turned on, I think you can also press the 5 key. 7. You'll be on the Text pane of the Language Text preferences. Right arrow in the pane. The first entry in the pane should be a check box for Use symbol and text substitution that should be checked by default. If it isn't already checked, check this box. Then continue to right arrow to the Add button 8. Press the Add button to append an entry to the Substitutions table 9. Type the letters you want to use for substituting (e.g.,semi-colon+l, in the above example) 10. Press tab, then type or paste the character you want substituted. Here is where you can press Command+v to paste in the apostrophe symbol. Then press return 11. Press Command+w to close the Text Preferences window 12. Press Command+w to close the Substitutions window You should now be able to type the letter combination you selected, and have it replaced with an apostrophe. You'll have to type your letter combination and then press space for the substitution to be made. This means that you'll have to press the left arrow key or the delete key to move back. HTH. Cheers, Esther On Apr 13, 2013, at 9:29 PM, Catherine Turner wrote: Hello Esther, Wow, thank you muchly for your comprehensive reply here. I'm sure there'll be something in here to help me. I'll have a play with these things but in the meantime If I explain further my problem maybe you'll have an idea... Basically my keyboard, a Maltron right handed keyboard, is really designed for Windows but seems to work largely in a usable way
Re: Entering Unicode characters
Hi sorry I've got nothing about the coding but you said you did not have textedit! But if your using a MBA MBP textedit is already on there to use! On 15 Apr 2013, at 08:31, Catherine Turner catherineturner2...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi Esther, Thanks for these instructions. I haven't been able to get the text substitution to work though. This is most likely something I've done wrong but I can't figure out what. I haven't got Textedit at the moment but I was trying it out with Notes. In notes if I go to edit, Substitutions, Show Substitutions, the checkbox Text replacement s checked, and I press the Text Preferences button. In the ensuing preferences the use symbol and text substitution checkbox is selected. I pressed the add button and used the string ;a that's semicolon a space. I've tried other strings too ad can't get any of them to work. When I interact with the table of substitutions now at the bottom is the one I've added and the checkbox on the left of it is checked. I've gone in and out of the preferences a few times and it's still there so I guess it's saved. But it doesn't appear in notes when I type it. I tried out some of the other substitutions from that table like left paren c right paren for copyright symbol and it works. I can only think that there's some small thing I haven't noticed but not sure what. Let me know if you get any ideas. I'll see if I can go to a Mac store though it's a bit awkward because they're quite noisy and don't know if there'd be a space I could set my stuff up with a desk I could get under (I'm in a wheelchair). Anyway at least I have the unicode entry working now... Thanks, Catherine On 4/14/13, Esther mori...@mac-access.net wrote: Hi Catherine, If you simply need to type an apostrophe, then the quickest way to enable you to do that is to use your Mac's facility for keyboard substitution. This will let you continue to use your Maltron keyboard, but give you access to the apostrophe character when you type some other string. Here's how to do this. I'm going to set up a shortcut so that the 2-letter combination ;l when typed together, with no space between the semi-colon and the l, will be substituted with an apostrophe character. So the substitution will use the two character groups: ;l ' (that's semi-colon+l, a space separator, and the apostrophe character, so you can copy and paste). You should choose a convenient key or key combination that is easy for you to type on your Maltron keyboard in place of the semi-colon+l that I use in my example. Those two keys are next to each other on the Mac keyboard, and it's unlikely that you'll type a semi-colon+another letter without an intervening space in regular usage. I think the following instructions will minimize the number of keystrokes, but you'll have to use sticky keys. I'll assume that you have the TextEdit application open. Before you start the steps below, use Command+C to copy the apostrophe character to your clipboard so you are ready to paste it in. Here is the apostrophe character again on a line by itself: ' 1. Control+F2 to move to the menu bar 2. Press e to move to the Edit menu 3. Down arrow into the Edit menu 4. Press s u to move to Substitutions 5. Right arrow to the Show Substitutions submenu option, then press return 6. In the Substitutions window, right arrow through, and make sure that the Text Replacement box is checked. Continue to right arrow to the Text Preferences button and press it (with your up+down arrow keys if QuickNav is on, or with VO-Space). If your keyboard is set up so that you can use NumPad commander and this is turned on, I think you can also press the 5 key. 7. You'll be on the Text pane of the Language Text preferences. Right arrow in the pane. The first entry in the pane should be a check box for Use symbol and text substitution that should be checked by default. If it isn't already checked, check this box. Then continue to right arrow to the Add button 8. Press the Add button to append an entry to the Substitutions table 9. Type the letters you want to use for substituting (e.g.,semi-colon+l, in the above example) 10. Press tab, then type or paste the character you want substituted. Here is where you can press Command+v to paste in the apostrophe symbol. Then press return 11. Press Command+w to close the Text Preferences window 12. Press Command+w to close the Substitutions window You should now be able to type the letter combination you selected, and have it replaced with an apostrophe. You'll have to type your letter combination and then press space for the substitution to be made. This means that you'll have to press the left arrow key or the delete key to move back. HTH. Cheers, Esther On Apr 13, 2013, at 9:29 PM, Catherine Turner wrote: Hello Esther, Wow, thank you muchly for your comprehensive reply here. I'm sure there'll be something
Re: Entering Unicode characters
Hi, Ah, silly me, had thought because it wasn't in the Dock, and also wasn't sure if it was of the optional things I didn't pay for when I ordered the Macbook, thought I didm't have it. But it is in Launchpad, thanks for pointing that out... Catherine On 4/15/13, Red.Falcon velocity.focu...@virginmedia.com wrote: Hi sorry I've got nothing about the coding but you said you did not have textedit! But if your using a MBA MBP textedit is already on there to use! On 15 Apr 2013, at 08:31, Catherine Turner catherineturner2...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi Esther, Thanks for these instructions. I haven't been able to get the text substitution to work though. This is most likely something I've done wrong but I can't figure out what. I haven't got Textedit at the moment but I was trying it out with Notes. In notes if I go to edit, Substitutions, Show Substitutions, the checkbox Text replacement s checked, and I press the Text Preferences button. In the ensuing preferences the use symbol and text substitution checkbox is selected. I pressed the add button and used the string ;a that's semicolon a space. I've tried other strings too ad can't get any of them to work. When I interact with the table of substitutions now at the bottom is the one I've added and the checkbox on the left of it is checked. I've gone in and out of the preferences a few times and it's still there so I guess it's saved. But it doesn't appear in notes when I type it. I tried out some of the other substitutions from that table like left paren c right paren for copyright symbol and it works. I can only think that there's some small thing I haven't noticed but not sure what. Let me know if you get any ideas. I'll see if I can go to a Mac store though it's a bit awkward because they're quite noisy and don't know if there'd be a space I could set my stuff up with a desk I could get under (I'm in a wheelchair). Anyway at least I have the unicode entry working now... Thanks, Catherine On 4/14/13, Esther mori...@mac-access.net wrote: Hi Catherine, If you simply need to type an apostrophe, then the quickest way to enable you to do that is to use your Mac's facility for keyboard substitution. This will let you continue to use your Maltron keyboard, but give you access to the apostrophe character when you type some other string. Here's how to do this. I'm going to set up a shortcut so that the 2-letter combination ;l when typed together, with no space between the semi-colon and the l, will be substituted with an apostrophe character. So the substitution will use the two character groups: ;l ' (that's semi-colon+l, a space separator, and the apostrophe character, so you can copy and paste). You should choose a convenient key or key combination that is easy for you to type on your Maltron keyboard in place of the semi-colon+l that I use in my example. Those two keys are next to each other on the Mac keyboard, and it's unlikely that you'll type a semi-colon+another letter without an intervening space in regular usage. I think the following instructions will minimize the number of keystrokes, but you'll have to use sticky keys. I'll assume that you have the TextEdit application open. Before you start the steps below, use Command+C to copy the apostrophe character to your clipboard so you are ready to paste it in. Here is the apostrophe character again on a line by itself: ' 1. Control+F2 to move to the menu bar 2. Press e to move to the Edit menu 3. Down arrow into the Edit menu 4. Press s u to move to Substitutions 5. Right arrow to the Show Substitutions submenu option, then press return 6. In the Substitutions window, right arrow through, and make sure that the Text Replacement box is checked. Continue to right arrow to the Text Preferences button and press it (with your up+down arrow keys if QuickNav is on, or with VO-Space). If your keyboard is set up so that you can use NumPad commander and this is turned on, I think you can also press the 5 key. 7. You'll be on the Text pane of the Language Text preferences. Right arrow in the pane. The first entry in the pane should be a check box for Use symbol and text substitution that should be checked by default. If it isn't already checked, check this box. Then continue to right arrow to the Add button 8. Press the Add button to append an entry to the Substitutions table 9. Type the letters you want to use for substituting (e.g.,semi-colon+l, in the above example) 10. Press tab, then type or paste the character you want substituted. Here is where you can press Command+v to paste in the apostrophe symbol. Then press return 11. Press Command+w to close the Text Preferences window 12. Press Command+w to close the Substitutions window You should now be able to type the letter combination you selected, and have it replaced with an apostrophe. You'll have to type your letter combination
Re: Entering Unicode characters
Hi Catherine and Colin, I thought that Catherine was probably using TextEdit, but the instructions I gave her should have worked for Mail (and notes in Mail), too. Catherine, when you type in your first string, just type the semi-colon and the a, and then press tab. Then, in the next field, paste in the apostrophe with Command+v and press return. You want your string to end with a character, and you want your substituted text to also end with a character. If you're typing a space after the semi-colon and the a in the table, that might be the problem. If your Mac is accepting letters and key combinations from your Maltron keyboard, then you should be able to do the character substitution. Can you check whether you can use the Windows key of your Maltron keyboard as a Command key so that you can copy with Command+c and paste with Command+v? That's usually what works with PC keyboards that have a Windows key. If I type a note with ;a (where I omit the quotation marks, and where I've changed the substitution characters to match the ones you've used), as soon as I press the spacebar after typing the a, the string turns into an apostrophe for me. This should work for you, too. By the way, is it easier for you to repeat using the arrow keys to move to the Add button, or would you prefer to use item chooser menu (Control+Option+i) and type a d to move to the Add button? HTH. Cheers, Esther On Apr 14, 2013, at 10:13 PM, Red.Falcon wrote: Hi sorry I've got nothing about the coding but you said you did not have textedit! But if your using a MBA MBP textedit is already on there to use! On 15 Apr 2013, at 08:31, Catherine Turner catherineturner2...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi Esther, Thanks for these instructions. I haven't been able to get the text substitution to work though. This is most likely something I've done wrong but I can't figure out what. I haven't got Textedit at the moment but I was trying it out with Notes. In notes if I go to edit, Substitutions, Show Substitutions, the checkbox Text replacement s checked, and I press the Text Preferences button. In the ensuing preferences the use symbol and text substitution checkbox is selected. I pressed the add button and used the string ;a that's semicolon a space. I've tried other strings too ad can't get any of them to work. When I interact with the table of substitutions now at the bottom is the one I've added and the checkbox on the left of it is checked. I've gone in and out of the preferences a few times and it's still there so I guess it's saved. But it doesn't appear in notes when I type it. I tried out some of the other substitutions from that table like left paren c right paren for copyright symbol and it works. I can only think that there's some small thing I haven't noticed but not sure what. Let me know if you get any ideas. I'll see if I can go to a Mac store though it's a bit awkward because they're quite noisy and don't know if there'd be a space I could set my stuff up with a desk I could get under (I'm in a wheelchair). Anyway at least I have the unicode entry working now... Thanks, Catherine On 4/14/13, Esther mori...@mac-access.net wrote: Hi Catherine, If you simply need to type an apostrophe, then the quickest way to enable you to do that is to use your Mac's facility for keyboard substitution. This will let you continue to use your Maltron keyboard, but give you access to the apostrophe character when you type some other string. Here's how to do this. I'm going to set up a shortcut so that the 2-letter combination ;l when typed together, with no space between the semi-colon and the l, will be substituted with an apostrophe character. So the substitution will use the two character groups: ;l ' (that's semi-colon+l, a space separator, and the apostrophe character, so you can copy and paste). You should choose a convenient key or key combination that is easy for you to type on your Maltron keyboard in place of the semi-colon+l that I use in my example. Those two keys are next to each other on the Mac keyboard, and it's unlikely that you'll type a semi-colon+another letter without an intervening space in regular usage. I think the following instructions will minimize the number of keystrokes, but you'll have to use sticky keys. I'll assume that you have the TextEdit application open. Before you start the steps below, use Command+C to copy the apostrophe character to your clipboard so you are ready to paste it in. Here is the apostrophe character again on a line by itself: ' 1. Control+F2 to move to the menu bar 2. Press e to move to the Edit menu 3. Down arrow into the Edit menu 4. Press s u to move to Substitutions 5. Right arrow to the Show Substitutions submenu option, then press return 6. In the Substitutions window, right arrow through, and make sure that the Text Replacement box is checked. Continue to right arrow
Re: Entering Unicode characters
Hello Esther, Wow, thank you muchly for your comprehensive reply here. I'm sure there'll be something in here to help me. I'll have a play with these things but in the meantime If I explain further my problem maybe you'll have an idea... Basically my keyboard, a Maltron right handed keyboard, is really designed for Windows but seems to work largely in a usable way under Mac except I just cannot find a way of typing an apostrophe. I'm sure there are going to be other things I can't type but so far I've just discovered I can't ttype an apostrophe. Of course I could press the apostrophe on the Macbook keyboard itself but a) it's a little difficult for me to do this and b) it'd be more productive for me not to take my hand off my Maltron keyboard. So I figured I could enter it by doing the unicode thing. I have now got this to work. It turned out that I misunderstood the layout of the languages and checkboxes in the list of languages in the system preferences, somehow I was ticking the checkbox associated with the language after the one I wanted. (A fairly basic mistake, I am still learning smile ) So now in the extras menu I have an item for unicode entry, and if I select that I can then hold down the Option key, type 0027, let go of Option and I have an apostrophe. But now that I've read your post there must be a quicker way I reckon. I suppose the easiest to set up would be have an apostrophe in a file and paste it in. But I'm very interested in setting up a string I could type and have it replaced with an apostrophe. So maybe I should look at the text substitution feature. This would be better than the current situation, but I did also read somewhere about a program called Ukelele which allows you to remap your keyboard. I'm not sure how accessible this would be and it doesn't sound particularly easy but I may give it a go... Thanks, I will read your post several times more and figure out a way forwards :-) Catherine On 4/14/13, Esther mori...@mac-access.net wrote: Hi Catherine, I have a general suggestion that should help you enter all kinds of text more easily, which is to use a third-party program for text expansion like aText ($5 in the Mac app store), or to at least use custom text substitution that you can set up under the Text pane of your Mac's Text Language page of System Preferences. However, I'll first try to answer your question about entering unicode characters. I've entered unicode characters, but not by the unicode numbers. If you're trying to type the more common special characters and symbols, then the easiest way I've found is to type these is with Option key combinations. I'll post some of these combinations (pasted from an old list post) at the end of this message. Please note that the Option key combinations depend on your input language keyboard. The ones I list are for an English language keyboard, and I've noted the differences between British and U.S. English (mainly a couple of instances in the currency symbols for pounds and Euros -- other English input keyboards that use dollars will be like the U.S. keyboards in this regard.) Also note that the description mostly matches what VoiceOver will say, but I use Angstrom instead of A ring, because that's how the symbol is used in what I read. If you want to know how to type accented characters, Anne, I, or others, can follow up in a second post about using Option key combinations. Depending on the letter you want to accent, or whether you want to type the accent by itself, you'll type these in different ways. Only accents that are uniquely associated with a specific letter, like the cedilla with the c in French, or the German esszett for sharp s, can be typed as Option+c and Option+s. You can also look up external sources like The Mac also lets you enter special characters using the character viewer. You can bring up this window from TextEdit or Mail by choosing the last entry in the Edit menu on the application's menu bar. This will be labeled Special Characters… Navigate to this option directly once you've arrowed down into the Edit menu by pressing Command+down arrow, or else if you're in TextEdit you can use the Command+Option+t shortcut. If you use multiple languages on your Mac, you'll probably have Show input menu in menu bar checked as a preference option, and have that menu on your status menu bar (move there with Control-F8 or VO-m-m). This entry can also be brought up with the Show Character Viewer option under your Input Menu. The Character Viewer window is accessible, and if you set the pop up in the title bar to Code Tables, I believe you can locate unicode characters by their code numbers. I've never used the character viewer with unicode characters. In general, you can find a special character set that you want, and put it on the favorites tab in the character viewer, but I've never found this convenient to use. It's much easier to copy
Re: Entering Unicode characters
Hi Catherine, If you simply need to type an apostrophe, then the quickest way to enable you to do that is to use your Mac's facility for keyboard substitution. This will let you continue to use your Maltron keyboard, but give you access to the apostrophe character when you type some other string. Here's how to do this. I'm going to set up a shortcut so that the 2-letter combination ;l when typed together, with no space between the semi-colon and the l, will be substituted with an apostrophe character. So the substitution will use the two character groups: ;l ' (that's semi-colon+l, a space separator, and the apostrophe character, so you can copy and paste). You should choose a convenient key or key combination that is easy for you to type on your Maltron keyboard in place of the semi-colon+l that I use in my example. Those two keys are next to each other on the Mac keyboard, and it's unlikely that you'll type a semi-colon+another letter without an intervening space in regular usage. I think the following instructions will minimize the number of keystrokes, but you'll have to use sticky keys. I'll assume that you have the TextEdit application open. Before you start the steps below, use Command+C to copy the apostrophe character to your clipboard so you are ready to paste it in. Here is the apostrophe character again on a line by itself: ' 1. Control+F2 to move to the menu bar 2. Press e to move to the Edit menu 3. Down arrow into the Edit menu 4. Press s u to move to Substitutions 5. Right arrow to the Show Substitutions submenu option, then press return 6. In the Substitutions window, right arrow through, and make sure that the Text Replacement box is checked. Continue to right arrow to the Text Preferences button and press it (with your up+down arrow keys if QuickNav is on, or with VO-Space). If your keyboard is set up so that you can use NumPad commander and this is turned on, I think you can also press the 5 key. 7. You'll be on the Text pane of the Language Text preferences. Right arrow in the pane. The first entry in the pane should be a check box for Use symbol and text substitution that should be checked by default. If it isn't already checked, check this box. Then continue to right arrow to the Add button 8. Press the Add button to append an entry to the Substitutions table 9. Type the letters you want to use for substituting (e.g.,semi-colon+l, in the above example) 10. Press tab, then type or paste the character you want substituted. Here is where you can press Command+v to paste in the apostrophe symbol. Then press return 11. Press Command+w to close the Text Preferences window 12. Press Command+w to close the Substitutions window You should now be able to type the letter combination you selected, and have it replaced with an apostrophe. You'll have to type your letter combination and then press space for the substitution to be made. This means that you'll have to press the left arrow key or the delete key to move back. HTH. Cheers, Esther On Apr 13, 2013, at 9:29 PM, Catherine Turner wrote: Hello Esther, Wow, thank you muchly for your comprehensive reply here. I'm sure there'll be something in here to help me. I'll have a play with these things but in the meantime If I explain further my problem maybe you'll have an idea... Basically my keyboard, a Maltron right handed keyboard, is really designed for Windows but seems to work largely in a usable way under Mac except I just cannot find a way of typing an apostrophe. I'm sure there are going to be other things I can't type but so far I've just discovered I can't ttype an apostrophe. Of course I could press the apostrophe on the Macbook keyboard itself but a) it's a little difficult for me to do this and b) it'd be more productive for me not to take my hand off my Maltron keyboard. So I figured I could enter it by doing the unicode thing. I have now got this to work. It turned out that I misunderstood the layout of the languages and checkboxes in the list of languages in the system preferences, somehow I was ticking the checkbox associated with the language after the one I wanted. (A fairly basic mistake, I am still learning smile ) So now in the extras menu I have an item for unicode entry, and if I select that I can then hold down the Option key, type 0027, let go of Option and I have an apostrophe. But now that I've read your post there must be a quicker way I reckon. I suppose the easiest to set up would be have an apostrophe in a file and paste it in. But I'm very interested in setting up a string I could type and have it replaced with an apostrophe. So maybe I should look at the text substitution feature. This would be better than the current situation, but I did also read somewhere about a program called Ukelele which allows you to remap your keyboard. I'm not sure how accessible this would be and it doesn't sound particularly easy but I
Re: Entering Unicode characters
I use StickeyKeys also and when I want to lock the option key or any of the modifier keys all I have to do is press the particular key twice. This locks it until the key is pressed witch unlocks the key in use. Hth.. Randy Randy Stegall randy_steg...@att.net Raleigh, NC Sent from my Mac Mini On Apr 13, 2013, at 3:19 PM, Catherine Turner catherineturner2...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi, Has anyone ever entered characters by entering the unicode numbers? To cut a long story short I have a need to do this and cannot get it to work. I found some instructions about it and think I followed them properly,and now I am suppose to be able to hold down the option key and enter the required unicode numbers which should result in the corresponding character being entered. What seems to be happening is I hold down the option key and start typing numbers but it seems to accept the very first digit which I enter without waiting for the others, no matter how fast I type, and I am typing pretty quickly. What complicates matters, and is the reason I have the need for this in the first place, is I am using a special keyboard adapted for one handed typing and I am also using sticky keys. However I have tried on the Macbook keyboard itself and with sticky keys switched off and it does not seem to make a difference. I wonder if anyone has any ideas? And if I cannot get this to work, is there a way I can put certain characters somewhere in the menu so I can select them from there when I need them? Thanks, Catherine --- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net --- To reply to this post, please address your message to mac-access@mac-access.net You can find an archive of all messages postedto the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html or at the public Mail Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/. Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml As the Mac Access Dot Net administrators, we do our very best to ensure that the Mac-Access E-Mal list remains malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free. However, this should in no way replace your own security strategy. We assume neither liability nor responsibility should something unpredictable happen. Please remember to update your membership preferences periodically by visiting the list website at: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/ --- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net --- To reply to this post, please address your message to mac-access@mac-access.net You can find an archive of all messages postedto the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html or at the public Mail Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/. Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml As the Mac Access Dot Net administrators, we do our very best to ensure that the Mac-Access E-Mal list remains malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free. However, this should in no way replace your own security strategy. We assume neither liability nor responsibility should something unpredictable happen. Please remember to update your membership preferences periodically by visiting the list website at: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/
Re: Entering Unicode characters
But how even if you don't have that mode on do you enter those characters, if you can memorize the numbers that is lol! On Apr 13, 2013, at 4:37 PM, Randy Stegall randy_steg...@att.net wrote: I use StickeyKeys also and when I want to lock the option key or any of the modifier keys all I have to do is press the particular key twice. This locks it until the key is pressed witch unlocks the key in use. Hth.. Randy Randy Stegall randy_steg...@att.net Raleigh, NC Sent from my Mac Mini On Apr 13, 2013, at 3:19 PM, Catherine Turner catherineturner2...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi, Has anyone ever entered characters by entering the unicode numbers? To cut a long story short I have a need to do this and cannot get it to work. I found some instructions about it and think I followed them properly,and now I am suppose to be able to hold down the option key and enter the required unicode numbers which should result in the corresponding character being entered. What seems to be happening is I hold down the option key and start typing numbers but it seems to accept the very first digit which I enter without waiting for the others, no matter how fast I type, and I am typing pretty quickly. What complicates matters, and is the reason I have the need for this in the first place, is I am using a special keyboard adapted for one handed typing and I am also using sticky keys. However I have tried on the Macbook keyboard itself and with sticky keys switched off and it does not seem to make a difference. I wonder if anyone has any ideas? And if I cannot get this to work, is there a way I can put certain characters somewhere in the menu so I can select them from there when I need them? Thanks, Catherine --- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net --- To reply to this post, please address your message to mac-access@mac-access.net You can find an archive of all messages postedto the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html or at the public Mail Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/. Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml As the Mac Access Dot Net administrators, we do our very best to ensure that the Mac-Access E-Mal list remains malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free. However, this should in no way replace your own security strategy. We assume neither liability nor responsibility should something unpredictable happen. Please remember to update your membership preferences periodically by visiting the list website at: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/ --- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net --- To reply to this post, please address your message to mac-access@mac-access.net You can find an archive of all messages postedto the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html or at the public Mail Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/. Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml As the Mac Access Dot Net administrators, we do our very best to ensure that the Mac-Access E-Mal list remains malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free. However, this should in no way replace your own security strategy. We assume neither liability nor responsibility should something unpredictable happen. Please remember to update your membership preferences periodically by visiting the list website at: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/ --- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net --- To reply to this post, please address your message to mac-access@mac-access.net You can find an archive of all messages postedto the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html or at the public Mail Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/. Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml As the Mac Access Dot Net administrators, we do our very best to ensure that the Mac-Access E-Mal list remains malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free. However, this should in no way replace your own security strategy. We assume neither liability nor responsibility should something unpredictable happen. Please remember to update your membership preferences periodically by visiting the list website at: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/
