a thing i am tired of being frustrated by

[fox]

So okay. On the computer I was using in college - a Mac II-something, bless its heart - the word processing program I used, which was probably Microsoft Works (anyone remember that)? made it much easier than I think it is now to get the basic western European diacritics: with the command or apple key and a, e, i, u, c, or n, you could apply a grave accent, acute accent, circumflex, umlaut, cedilla, or tilde to the next letter you typed, whatever it was. (So command-e followed by e gave you é.) (I assume there were easy ways to get the macron, the slash through the o, the circle on top of the a, the ogonek, and the hacek, as well, but I didn't need those then.)

Now, I can't do any of this. In Word and even in its clones, I have to go to "insert" and then "symbol" and then scroll all around until I find the letter I want with the diacritic I want on it. But I feel like there must be something I'm missing. Someone, please tell me: are there keystrokes for (combining) ´, ̀, ˆ, ¨, ¸ ˜, ̌, ̨, etc.?

Comments

[queue]

Someone, please tell me: are there keystrokes for (combining) ´, ̀, ˆ, ¨, ¸ ˜, ̌, ̨, etc.?

Yes. They're not particularly intuitive, but they're there. To see an example, go to "insert" and then "symbol" and then highlight the letter you want with the diacritic you want on it. Say, é. Towards the bottom of the Symbol box, the shortcut key (keyS, usually) for that letter with diacritic will be spelled out. You also have the option, should you wish to use it, of setting your own shortcut key using the Shortcut Key button.

Is that responsive?

[fox]

Sort of, thanks! I think I always knew about these particular "shortcuts", but Alt+0233 (for é) isn't really all that short, nor memorable, and by the time I've looked it up I might as well pick it from the list. Setting my own shortcuts could be helpful, though - as long as I could be sure I wouldn't be making some other necessary process impossible. I don't want a different shortcut for every letter, though; I want a different shortcut for every diacritic, so that I can put a grave accent on any letter I choose, and conversely put any accent I like on the same letter - if I use up window-A for à, e.g., then what will be my shortcut key for á? And bloody Microsoft gives us combining acute, grave, tilde, hook above, and dot below, but not (apparently) any of the rest.

Sigh.

[queue]

Yeah, not as responsive as I'd hoped, especially since I didn't completely understand what you were looking for :-s. Sorry about that. I understand your frustration, and I certainly agree that the cuts aren't all that short in most cases. I find the shortcut function useful because I use it for single symbols, not for diacritical markings. Maybe someone on your flist/circle - or on the wider Web - has come up with a workaround. *crosses fingers*

[james]

And, bizarrely, you can get those shortcuts - but not in the actual Word program. alt-e e gives you é (and alt-e u gives you ú and so on.) But of course you can only use those in, say, your web browser.

I sympathise with the annoyances of word processing programs which are too over-programmed!

(Mostly I just like being able to type the ¢ symbol! Whee!)

[snakeling]

Hi, here via the network.

It doesn't really depends on Word, but on what flavour of Windows you're using, with what kind of keyboard. If you're using the basic US keyboard, setting up accented characters is possible, but a pain as you have to do every single character by hand. You can change your keyboard to something that'll give you pre-set shortcuts, though.

Depending on what Windows you're using, I may be able to help you set that up.

[fox]

At work it's Windows XP Pro and you'd be my favorite complete stranger ever.

(At home it's Mac OS X and maybe that's not your department.)

[snakeling]

(Neither is, actually, as I'm a Linux girl, but I can have access to a Windows computer more easily.)

XP's easy, I don't even have to type the tutorial ;)

You might wish to print the keyboard layout.

Let me know if you can't work it out :)

[meara]

Well, on a Mac it's still the same thing.

...I can't help you with windows. I try to avoid typing accented things in windows. :) S'why I did my French and Spanish papers on my Mac all through college.