-----Original Message----- From: Enrique Perez-Terron [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 10:29 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [users] Re: [discuss] Keystrokes
On Thu, 2008-10-30 at 00:54 -0400, Eli wrote: > [...]>> 2008/10/27 Bob Redman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Dear sirs, > > > > I like your Writer word processor, especially because of the > > included spell-checking dictionaries for various languages. > > > > However, there is one thing it can't do, and Microsoft Word can do, > > is critical for me. > > > > With Word in the "Insert Symbols" window, there is a "Keystroke" > > function which allows me to reprogram individual commands on my > > keyboard. > > > > I write a lot in German using my US keyboard, and I have developed a > > rapid system for typing the German umlauts and the Eszet, for > > example: Ctrl a = ä, Ctrl A = Ä, Ctrl s = ß, and so on. > > > > This is much faster than using Alt 132, Alt 142, Alt 225, etc. on > > the number pad. [...] > My solution to the same problem is to use the "US International" > keyboard, which is built into all versions of Windows since (at least) > Windows 95. (MS-DOS had a similar layout called "Brazilian".) This > keyboard is the same as the regular US keyboard, except: > 1. The keys ' ` " ~ ^ are "dead keys" and don't do anything until you > press another key; then it places the appropriate accent on the > letter, if possible; else it displays the original symbol before the > next letter. If you want an umlaut, you just type " and then the > letter. If you want á (a with acute accent), you type ' and then a. > If you want to type "a" with the quotes, you type ", then space bar, > then a, then ", then space bar; this becomes natural after a while. > (Many, many years ago I had a clunky mechanical typewriter that did > the same thing.) > > 2. The right Alt key is now Ctrl-Alt, and has been empowered to do > some cool and nifty things. To get ß (Eszet), you just hold down the > right-Alt key and s at the same time. To get ÷ (division sign), hold > down right Alt, shift, and + at the same time. Right-Alt-d is ð > (edh), Right-Alt-comma is ç (c with cedilla), and lots of others -- > exploration is recommended. This is similar to my solution. However, in my case, I have TWO keyboard layouts enabled, Norwegian and US, and there is a chooser on the taskbar just to the left of the system tray. Sometimes the keyboard slips into the other layout mode; I must have inadvertently hit some shift or control key combination that toggles between the enabled layouts. I have not figured out why that happens. Once I have learned it, it is trivial to click on the chooser to revert to the keyboard I want, but before that it was driving me nuts because the keys suddenly did not work, and I could not find out why or what to do. I guess I could keep writing for a while after the inadvertent switch, not noticing any difference until I needed a key that is mapped differently in the two layouts. By that time, there was no way to remember what exactly I had done. -Enrique --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you, Enrique, for sharing about the keyboard chooser. I was reluctant to try this approach until I read this! Elchanan --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
