I recently discovered an easier and better way to type a degrees symbol on the computer. Maybe some (all?) of you already knew this but I didn't.
I had been using the combination <option-shift-8> (that is, <option-*>, since <shift-8> is the asterisk). I recently learned that I can use <option-k> (note, it's not <option-K>, with a capital K, which is something else interesting but not the degree symbol). Note that the option key may be labelled "alt" or "alternate" on other computers. If you're not interested in my unending list of examples, you may stop reading now; there's nothing much new below. EXAMPLES The <option-shift-8> results in the following examples (on my computer at least): 20 °C is comfortable. The degree symbol is " ° ". 32 °F = 0 °C A right angle is 90°. Using <option-k> instead, these become: 20 ˚C is comfortable The degree symbol is " ˚ ". 32 ˚F = 0 ˚C A right angle is 90˚. I have enlarged the print to 18 pt. in the examples to emphasize the differences in the otherwise quite small degree symbol. You will note that the <option-shift-8> method gives a larger circle and the <option-k> a smaller one. In small sized type, the larger version might be preferred; the small one might be too tiny to see. The <option-k> version also seems to print the degree symbol a little bit higher than the <option-shift-8> version. That seems to be more evident on smaller sized type. Here is my set of examples again, in smaller type (10 pt.). Using <option-shift-8>: 20 °C is comfortable The degree symbol is " ° ". 32 °F = 0 °C A right angle is 90°. Using <option-k> instead, these become: 20 ˚C is comfortable The degree symbol is " ˚ ". 32 ˚F = 0 ˚C A right angle is 90˚. Here are the two symbols side-by-side, <option-shift-8> on the left and <option-k> on the right, in 10 pt. type with a couple numbers added to illustrate the position relative to numeric characters: 20 °C ° ° ° ° ° 90° 20 ˚C ˚ ˚ ˚ ˚ 90˚ and again in 18 pt. type: 20 °C ° ° ° ° ° 90° 23 ˚C ˚ ˚ ˚ ˚ 90˚ Regards, Bill Hooper Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA °˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚° SImplification Begins With SI. °˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°
