I usually just use option-0 (the option key plus the zero key) on my mac. Although, the symbol it produces is slightly bigger than the two you use in your email which is quite perplexing. Whoever knew that there was three different keyboard shortcuts to get a degree symbol? This keyboard shortcut is much easier for me to remember as the degree symbol resembles a tiny zero in superscript.
Option-0 ---- º Option-K ---- ˚ Option-Shift-8 ---- ° - Andrew Winn On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 9:56 AM, Bill Hooper <[email protected]> wrote: > 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. > °˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚°˚° >
