How can I post special characters?

[MammonAzrael]

Specifically, I want to type Faerun, but how do I get the thing over the "u?"

[Mystic Muse]

Faerûn
If the above worked, Copy/Paste is probably the easiest way.

EDIT: It did work according to my computer. Alternatively, do you really need the thing above the U?

[averagejoe]

It's called a circumflex (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumflex).

[Dogmantra]

For (most) special characters, you can go to CopyPasteCharacter (http://copypastecharacter.com/) and click the character you want. I understand the impact of this is lessened considering I just checked and it doesn't have the U with a circumflex but it's still useful for other situations.

[Elder Tsofu]

Push the button for the ^ right before pushing u to get û.
(On nordic keyboards we have to use shift to get the roof instead of the dots)

[Zherog]

If you're on a Windows PC, you can find a tool called the Character Map. Mine was under Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools, but yours may be in a slightly different location depending on your version of Windows. (I'm on Vista.)

Once you have the character map up, you can find pretty much whatever you want. Click the character, then copy/paste it to where you need it.

(And as a side note, Microsoft Word -- and I assume other word processors -- has a built-in tool for it so you don't have to go to the Character Map. In Word, there's a menu item or button (depending on your version) for "Insert Special Character." That'll bring up a screen in Word that's very similar to the Character Map, and inserts the characters directly into your document.)

*


Push the button for the ^ right before pushing u to get û.
(On nordic keyboards we have to use shift to get the roof instead of the dots)

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but this doesn't work on my keyboard. If I push the key with the ^, I get the number 6.

There should be an "alt" number that can be typed on the number pad to produce it, though. Find the code, hold down the alt key, and type the number sequence on your keyboard's number pad.

[Sir]

With alt-i + U on a mac. Works like a charm for me :smallsmile:.



(Faerûn)

[averagejoe]

(And as a side note, Microsoft Word -- and I assume other word processors -- has a built-in tool for it so you don't have to go to the Character Map. In Word, there's a menu item or button (depending on your version) for "Insert Special Character." That'll bring up a screen in Word that's very similar to the Character Map, and inserts the characters directly into your document.)

Every character should also have a key consisting of alt+a four digit numeric sequence, or alt+shift+letter, and so on. On my version of word you go to insert->symbol and then a menu pops up. If you double click on a letter then it will pop up in the document, and single clicking will show you the code near the bottom of the menu. Often the codes aren't worth remembering, but if you use that letter often enough they might be.

[Elder Tsofu]

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but this doesn't work on my keyboard. If I push the key with the ^, I get the number 6.

Is it situated above the number 6? (I assume they are on the same button)
Then I would think you'll have to push shift+6 and after that u. (the roof will not appear until you push u though)
If you use any other button instead of shift to access the characters above or below the "default" characters use that instead.

[Prime32]

Nope, just comes out as ^u

However...
Ctrl+Alt+a results in á
`(that button at the top-left) followed by a results in à

[ChowGuy]

To the OP: If you are using Windoze and a US standard keyboard (seems likely from your location) you can directly enter diacritics (such as û) using dead keys as mentioned above (ie as "^" followed by "u") by changing to the US-International keyboard layout.The procedure for doing so will depend on your specific OS and whether or not you are using the classic interface.

See here (http://email.about.com/od/netiquettetips/qt/et_any_char_win.htm) for additional details, but note that unless you use them extensively, it may be more trouble then it's worth, particularly if you routinely use the caret, quote or other meta-keys as stand alone characters, since entering these now requires an appended space.


ETA: fixed url

[Saposhiente]

http://natural-innovations.com/wa/doc-charset.html
just enter the thing on the left in your post (&#<number>;) and the thing on the right will come out.
@^: wot? you linked to the 'post in this thread' URL

[ChowGuy]

http://natural-innovations.com/wa/doc-charset.html
just enter the thing on the left in your post (&#<number>;) and the thing on the right will come out.
@^: wot? you linked to the 'post in this thread' URL

oops:smalleek: That's what I get for having too many tabs open.

[Rawhide]

Push the button for the ^ right before pushing u to get û.
(On nordic keyboards we have to use shift to get the roof instead of the dots)


Is it situated above the number 6? (I assume they are on the same button)
Then I would think you'll have to push shift+6 and after that u. (the roof will not appear until you push u though)
If you use any other button instead of shift to access the characters above or below the "default" characters use that instead.

This will work ONLY if you're using a keyboard layout for a language that requires special characters. The US English layout, for example, does not. In order to use special characters that way, US English keyboard layout users will need to switch their layout to US International.

[Elder Tsofu]

Huh, why do you use crippled keyboards as standard in the US? :smallconfused:
(Its not like they lack the space to encompass them)

[Rawhide]

Huh, why do you use crippled keyboards as standard in the US? :smallconfused:
(Its not like they lack the space to encompass them)

Because almost all people in countries that use that layout have absolutely no reason at all to use any sort of diacritic or accent (except a few people in very rare, one off, scenarios occasionally), want their keypresses to appear immediately (rather than be held back until the next keypress), and do not want any sort of strange diacritic or accent appearing when they didn't want it to (remember, they don't use them) instead of the character on the key that they have pressed?

[MammonAzrael]

Wow, lots of responses. I just did the super fancy copy/paste and it did the trick, but thanks for all the extra info! :smallsmile:

(And I didn't need to have it, but it looks better, so why not?)

[averagejoe]

Because almost all people in countries that use that layout have absolutely no reason at all to use any sort of diacritic or accent (except a few people in very rare, one off, scenarios occasionally), want their keypresses to appear immediately (rather than be held back until the next keypress), and do not want any sort of strange diacritic or accent appearing when they didn't want it to (remember, they don't use them) instead of the character on the key that they have pressed?

Pretty much. All we ever have is accents from the odd French-origin words, and even then it's not incorrect to leave it off. (e.g. using cliche instead of cliché is fine.)

[Elder Tsofu]

*shrugs*
If you get them when you don't want them then you're doing it wrong as you have to literary get out of your way to get them on the screen (see above example with the û). The more used letters don't need a button-combination to get.

But then again, I like to have options rather than restrictions (I wouldn't mind more letters actually, put in some ancient Greece on the normal letters for the scientific comunity - they have one spot left!) and drive a car with manual gears. I'm a bit odd.

Glad it worked out for MammonAzrael though.

[AsteriskAmp]

*shrugs*
If you get them when you don't want them then you're doing it wrong as you have to literary get out of your way to get them on the screen (see above example with the û). The more used letters don't need a button-combination to get.

But then again, I like to have options rather than restrictions (I wouldn't mind more letters actually, put in some ancient Greece on the normal letters for the scientific comunity - they have one spot left!) and drive a car with manual gears. I'm a bit odd.

Glad it worked out for MammonAzrael though.

You can always build your own keyboard or create custom layouts, I had a custom keyboard with Cyrillic characters apart from the diacritic accents clearly separated with some of the UNIX characters mapped, it mades a great weekend project.

[Trixie]

Pretty much. All we ever have is accents from the odd French-origin words, and even then it's not incorrect to leave it off. (e.g. using cliche instead of cliché is fine.)

How about words like naïve, naïveté, fête, ménage à trois, or Adamaï? :smallamused:

Is that too European to use in USA? I honestly don't know.

As for Tsofu, be grateful us heathens from Europe have 'options', writing in Polish without

'Ą Ć Ę Ł Ń Ó Ś Ź Ż'

is really irritating :smallwink:

[Keld Denar]

When I used to write a lot in german, I had to memorize the alt + codes for the umlauts.

Alt + 0223 results in ß
Alt + 0228 results in ä
Alt + 0246 results in ö
Alt + 0252 results in ü

Or, in your case:

Alt + 0251 results in û.

Faerûn :)

[AsteriskAmp]

When I used to write a lot in german, I had to memorize the alt + codes for the umlauts.

Alt + 0223 results in ß
Alt + 0228 results in ä
Alt + 0246 results in ö
Alt + 0252 results in ü

Or, in your case:

Alt + 0251 results in û.

Faerûn :)

If you change your keyboard layout to German you can easily get those symbols:

Esset is apostrophe - ß
And the Umlauts are obtained through other nearby keys.
To the right of the Ö - ä
To the right of the L - ö
To the right of the P - ü
The "y" and the "z" are inverted though

[Keld Denar]

Yea, I had a toggle setup on my keyboard to remap it when I was writing essays for my 300+ level german classes back in college, but I don't do it much anymore so I just use the shortcuts.

[NerfTW]

How about words like naïve, naïveté, fête, ménage à trois, or Adamaï? :smallamused:



Naive and naivete can be used without accents, and ménage à trois isn't even English to begin with.

[averagejoe]

How about words like naïve, naïveté, fête, ménage à trois, or Adamaï? :smallamused:

Is that too European to use in USA? I honestly don't know.


Naive and naivete can be used without accents, and ménage à trois isn't even English to begin with.

Actually, ménage à trois is in my dictionary, and that's the only listed spelling (while it lists both naive and naïve as correct, for example). It's not a very common phrase, though, and I suspect it doesn't come up very often except in fiction. Most people would know what, "Menage a trois," means in any case, as it isn't as if there's an identically spelled accentless word running around in English.

I have never even heard fête or Adamaï before this, so I can't comment.

[Saposhiente]

...whatever happened to my suggestion (HTML codes) with no copy/paste stuff at all?

[Duneyrr]

I didn't even know about the alt+shift+letters to get special characters (it dunnae work on my machine, anyway) an I'd be all uppity if my characters didn't show up the moment I pushed the keys!

[Castaras]

Actually, ménage à trois is in my dictionary, and that's the only listed spelling (while it lists both naive and naïve as correct, for example). It's not a very common phrase, though, and I suspect it doesn't come up very often except in fiction. Most people would know what, "Menage a trois," means in any case, as it isn't as if there's an identically spelled accentless word running around in English.

I have never even heard fête or Adamaï before this, so I can't comment.

You don't have Fêtes in America? :smallconfused: Hnuh.

I'm guessing you have School Fairs? An afternoon at a school with stalls and games run by the kids to raise money for some such thing? Round where I am, we call them School Fêtes. :smallsmile:

[Zherog]

It's listed in dictionary.com as fete (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/F%C3%AAte) and then lists fête as an alternate spelling.

[Rawhide]

*shrugs*
If you get them when you don't want them then you're doing it wrong as you have to literary get out of your way to get them on the screen (see above example with the û). The more used letters don't need a button-combination to get.

If I had a dollar for every time I've been asked to fix someone's computer because they changed it to the International layout without realising what it means....

....

...Oh, sorry. I was dreaming about what I could do with the money.


You don't have Fêtes in America? :smallconfused: Hnuh.

I'm guessing you have School Fairs? An afternoon at a school with stalls and games run by the kids to raise money for some such thing? Round where I am, we call them School Fêtes. :smallsmile:

I don't know about America (perhaps they call them something different, like "fair"?), but we definitely have fetes here in Australia. Only, I've never seen it spelt with an accent before.

[Elder Tsofu]

It is always bad when your keyboard doesn't do what it should, happens now and then for me when I accidentally change it into the thrice cursed American setting. (there is some short-cut command which I never remember)

I'm not sure if you've ever seen or used an ordinary keyboard Rawhide - but the roofs, dots and lines are printed on the keys like every other letter which in turn make it nigh impossible to get them in print without meaning it.

[Trixie]

It's listed in dictionary.com as fete (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/F%C3%AAte) and then lists fête as an alternate spelling.

Er, it's exactly the other way around, they use 'fête' even in the URL you given...


I'm not sure if you've ever seen or used an ordinary keyboard Rawhide - but the roofs, dots and lines are printed on the keys like every other letter which in turn make it nigh impossible to get them in print without meaning it.

It's worse in Poland, where you have to install 'programmer keyboard' every time you install windows, as the default is 'typist keyboard' which doesn't match even a single keyboard currently sold :smallsigh:

If you ever see me mixing 'z' and 'y' (plus a few other letters) it's the fault of obscure combination (which I activate 2-3 times per week) that switches the damn thing to typist style :smallsigh:

[Zherog]

Er, it's exactly the other way around, they use 'fête' even in the URL you given...

It's in the URL I gave because that's the way I queried it. If you query without the little hat on the e, you get this URL:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fete

And note that in the link I posted the first time, the word on the top of the page is without the hat on the e, and it later lists fête as an alternate spelling.

So no, it's not exactly the other way around; it's exactly as I said -- fete is listed as the primary spelling, with fête as an acceptable alternate spelling.

[Rawhide]

I'm not sure if you've ever seen or used an ordinary keyboard Rawhide - but the roofs, dots and lines are printed on the keys like every other letter which in turn make it nigh impossible to get them in print without meaning it.

I have seen an ordinary keyboard and I use it all the time. As does everyone else around here, the United States, and other places. Whether you like it or not, US (and to a lesser extent, UK) is the ordinary layout. Certain languages need extra characters, so for countries that use those languages, they have to produce different keyboard layouts.

You're looking at this entirely the wrong way, they have not "crippled" the keyboard for these countries. They have first designed a layout that serves the purpose of the target audience and then gone "hmm, this place needs extra characters, how are we going to deal with it?", they've then even gone to the effort of providing alternate layouts for people who do regularly use the characters on ordinary keyboards.

Yes, I have seen special keyboards with all the accents printed on them, but I have no desire or need to buy one. Why would I? I have absolutely no need to use those characters, at all. Why would I need or even want to buy a special keyboard that has extra complications that I will never use when on the rare occasion I need an accent, there are a multitude of easy ways to do it?

I'm a technically oriented person and I see no need for a special keyboard for me where I live. Imagine average Joe Blow, without such technical savvy, as the main target audience and you can see why the ordinary keyboard layouts do not include characters that are, by and large, useless junk and a needless complication to that audience.

[Irbis]

Whether you like it or not, US (and to a lesser extent, UK) is the ordinary layout.

I have travelled to UK, and no, their keyboards, if we go by my Lab equipment, are not standard. I have to look for a lot of characters every time I use the internet for more than forum-reading :smallsigh:

Why the '@' cant be above 2 like in the rest of the world? >.<

[Elder Tsofu]

Well Rawhide, whatever you like it or not - that's not the ordinary keyboard. :smalltongue:

Just because Mr. Joe Blow apparently never have seen an keyboard which wouldn't limit his options to such an extent as his normal one, doesn't mean that he wouldn't use the options if they were implemented on the one he's got. It's just that his keyboard needs these apparently very backwards ways to get the letters on the screen - so he will never use those letters as it is too much effort to do so. (I assume Mr. Joe Blow is not "technically savvy" enough to know the tricks to come around this limitation)

That's quite easy to confuse with Mr. Joe Blow "not needing the letters".

But then again, I like to think of your average person to be at least as clever and adaptive as your average Swedish person. This might not be the case, I'm fully aware of this, in which case society would likely collapse from all the miss-typing done in the USA and Australia if they got their hands on more than the bare essentials. :smalltongue:

[Irbis]

This. It certainly wouldn't hurt to add a way to type at least some of the most popular foreign letters, instead of pretending they don't exist, as we already established they can be found even in respected dictionaries.

Of course, I'd prefer eliminating extra letters instead, after all, you can write 'rz' instead of 'ż', or 'w' instead of 'v', but while we still have them, the focus should be on easier access, not on barring them.

It's like in cars - cruise control and ABS might be extra equipment, but saying adding them will confuse the driver and make his workload bigger instead of lessening it just because 'traditional' cars don't have them isn't really an argument :smalltongue:

Plus, after thinking, I'm not sure if something used by less than 4% of the world's population should be called 'standard' in any way :P

[Prime32]

Why the '@' cant be above 2 like in the rest of the world? >.<*Looks at keyboard*

*sees " above 2*

[Zherog]

This. It certainly wouldn't hurt to add a way to type at least some of the most popular foreign letters, instead of pretending they don't exist, as we already established they can be found even in respected dictionaries.

There is a way to type them, via the alt code.


Of course, I'd prefer eliminating extra letters instead, after all, you can write ... 'w' instead of 'v', but while we still have them,

Why would I write a W instead of a V when they're entirely different letters. For example, I'm going on vacation in May, not waycation.


It's like in cars - cruise control and ABS might be extra equipment, but saying adding them will confuse the driver and make his workload bigger instead of lessening it just because 'traditional' cars don't have them isn't really an argument :smalltongue:

Poor analogy, in my opinion.

My parents are the perfect example of the Joe Average not-tech-savvy person Rawhide is talking about. My mother uses their computer to send some e-mails (including chain letters *sigh* ), look at pictures, and use her family tree program. That's it. She has no use for letters with accents or little hats or whatever else. They're not enough a part of the English language for her to ever need them. Even words that have them are also correctly spelled without them -- fete is correct; cliche is correct. The marks above them are -- for English speakers -- superfluous.

[SMEE]

And there are other people who live in said regions that have extra characters in the keyboard layout and hate them with passion.
Hence, I got a laptop with and standard US 102 keys instead of an ABNT2 keyboard.
I need no ç key on my keyboard, thank you. Even worse as it's placed where the most useful ; key is located!

[Irbis]

*Looks at keyboard*

*sees " above 2*

You're in Ireland. Unless you mean north, that's not exactly UK :smallwink:


There is a way to type them, via the alt code.

There's even simpler one, ALT+letter :smallwink:

You don't use console commands instead of icons, do you?


Why would I write a W instead of a V when they're entirely different letters. For example, I'm going on vacation in May, not waycation.

Because they're the exact same thing? V is so superfluous it's absent from most European languages I'm aware of, it's a relict that isn't needed anymore. W/F can replace it fine as far as I'm aware.

In fact, in my home language, 'x' and 'q' are dead, too, long since replaced by 'ks' (x) or 'kl'/'kł'. I agree Q does have some point, X a bit less, but V has nothing.


Poor analogy, in my opinion.

My parents are the perfect example of the Joe Average not-tech-savvy person Rawhide is talking about. My mother uses their computer to send some e-mails (including chain letters *sigh* ), look at pictures, and use her family tree program. That's it.

You never seen how much new tech in cars is used by older people? That's the exact same case.


She has no use for letters with accents or little hats or whatever else. They're not enough a part of the English language for her to ever need them. Even words that have them are also correctly spelled without them -- fete is correct; cliche is correct. The marks above them are -- for English speakers -- superfluous.

English? From the responses in this thread, and from my own experiences in UK, England certainly does use them. Are you sure you didn't mean American speakers? :smallconfused:

Hmm, now that I think about it, I'd like to know the answer to that. Still, seeing that USA simplifies British words, much less foreign ones, I do suspect that is the case.

[Kobold-Bard]

...

Why the '@' cant be above 2 like in the rest of the world? >.<

:smallconfused: The @ above the 2? What is this craziness?

[Prime32]

You're in Ireland. Unless you mean north, that's not exactly UK :smallwink:That was my point. :smallconfused:


English? From the responses in this thread, and from my own experiences in UK, England certainly does use them. Are you sure you didn't mean American speakers? :smallconfused:American is not a language.

[Claudius Maximus]

Because they're the exact same thing? V is so superfluous it's absent from most European languages I'm aware of, it's a relict that isn't needed anymore. W/F can replace it fine as far as I'm aware.

What? V and W are totally different, at least in English. I mean it's impossible to teach Latin to English speakers without a whole bunch of minds getting blown about the Latin V = W thing.

[Rawhide]

Well Rawhide, whatever you like it or not - that's not the ordinary keyboard. :smalltongue:

Elder Tsofu, whether you like it or not, it is the ordinary keyboard. It was designed in America, by a Americans and is the standard on new computers and keyboards.


QWERTY is designed for English, a language without any diacritical marks. QWERTY keyboards meet issues when having to type an accent. Until recently, no norm was defined for a standard QWERTY keyboard layout allowing the typing of accented characters, apart from the US-International layout.

and


Depending on the operating system and sometimes the application program being used, there are many ways to generate Latin characters with accents.

and


The United States keyboard layout is used as default in the currently most popular operating systems: Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

and finally, it is:


By far the most widespread layout in use, and the only one that is not confined to a particular geographical area.

and your non standard layout also gets a mention:


International QWERTY keyboards feature minor changes to the QWERTY key layout used on most computer keyboards.


So, in short, your keyboard layout is not the ordinary one I'm afraid.

[Prime32]

...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Don%27t_abbreviate_as_Wiki_%28English_version%29.p ng/600px-Don%27t_abbreviate_as_Wiki_%28English_version%29.p ng (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Don%27t_abbreviate_Wikipedia_as_Wiki)

[Trixie]

American is not a language.

Not meet enough Americans, I take it? :smalltongue:


What? V and W are totally different, at least in English. I mean it's impossible to teach Latin to English speakers without a whole bunch of minds getting blown about the Latin V = W thing.

What? Is there any difference?

And besides, isn't 'V' an 'U' in latin? I see it all the time in words such as Augustus written as AVGVSTVS.

[Elder Tsofu]

Elder Tsofu, whether you like it or not, it is the ordinary keyboard. It was designed in America, by a Americans and is the standard on new computers and keyboards.



and



and



and finally, it is:



and your non standard layout also gets a mention:




So, in short, your keyboard layout is not the ordinary one I'm afraid.

No, but I've been let down on an other point. You win.

[Claudius Maximus]

What? Is there any difference?

Yes. V is a voiced labiodental fricative (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_labiodental_fricative) (basically a "softer" F sound that involves a bit of humming). W is a voiced labio-velar approximant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_labial-velar_approximant), which is much harder to describe, but suffice to say your mouth is dong an altogether different thing.


And besides, isn't 'V' an 'U' in latin? I see it all the time in words such as Augustus written as AVGVSTVS.

There is no real V in Classical Latin, only U (which is written as "V"). Often people will edit Latin text to include U and u to differentiate when the letter is being used as a consonant (as in veni, vidi, vici - all of these start with a sound English speakers would describe as "W") or as a vowel where it makes some typical u-vowel sounds.

So yeah it gets confusing for beginning Latin students because V is really U and is occasionally pronounced like W.

[Zherog]

Because they're the exact same thing? V is so superfluous it's absent from most European languages I'm aware of, it's a relict that isn't needed anymore. W/F can replace it fine as far as I'm aware.

They most certainly are not the same thing. They make entirely different sounds.


You never seen how much new tech in cars is used by older people? That's the exact same case.

Again, the car analogy isn't a good one. New car features have uses; there is, quite literally, no use for the majority of English speakers to have accents and other goofy characters like the e-with-a-hat and the c-with-a-hook. None. Zero. I completely recognize that speakers of other languages need them. Great, I'm glad they have a really easy way for you to do it.



English? From the responses in this thread, and from my own experiences in UK, England certainly does use them. Are you sure you didn't mean American speakers? :smallconfused:

People in the United States speak English. People in Canada speak English. People in Australia speak English. People in the UK speak English. Each country has it's own dialect (some more than one dialect), but the language is still English.

[Saposhiente]

The question has been answered
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=383&d=1214037416

[Rawhide]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Don%27t_abbreviate_as_Wiki_%28English_version%29.p ng/600px-Don%27t_abbreviate_as_Wiki_%28English_version%29.p ng (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Don%27t_abbreviate_Wikipedia_as_Wiki)

I didn't abbreviate it as wiki. I called it "The Wiki", with a capital T and a capital W. It's like the difference between going to see a riverdance and going to see The Riverdance or having a piece of a Berlin wall and having a piece of The Berlin Wall. Also, it was used as a joke, primarily because the term is highly recognisable (TV Tropes, I believe, call it The Other Wiki), like how you don't search for something online these days, you Google it. I know what a wiki is and why it isn't an abbreviation, but the way it was used was completely in jest and recognisable. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go watch The Doctor.


The question has been answered

Correct. Thread closed.