Keyboard Shortcut for Unicode Characters

[ym]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: Power PC

Hello,

How do I add a keystroke shortcut for unicode characters that I have found in the character palette? I see how to do this for symbols and special characters that one gets from the "insert symbol" dialogue box, but the character I amusing is not there, it is only in the character palette. (It is the "combining acute accent, unicode 0301.)

Thanks.

 

[Elliott Roper]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: Power PC

Hello,

How do I add a keystroke shortcut for unicode characters that I have found in
the character palette? I see how to do this for symbols and special
characters that one gets from the "insert symbol" dialogue box, but the
character I amusing is not there, it is only in the character palette. (It is
the "combining acute accent, unicode 0301.)

In general, it is easy. Insert into a dummy document, select it, then
paddle in the autocorrect dialog till golden brown.

I'm not sure that autocorrect and combining characters will play all
that well together. The experiment you need to perform is pretty
obvious.

You do know about the option-e etc. trick for accents courtesy of OS X
for any application? see keyboard viewer. Press option.

PS What are you doing "amusing" characters? Students of typography need
to know.
"Nancy with the laughing E's"

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

How do I add a keystroke shortcut for unicode characters that I have
found in the character palette?

You should be able to find it in the Insert>Symbol palette as well. In
the palette, you have the option to assign it a shortcut.

Corentin

 

[ym]

Hmm ... I can't seem to select the thing itself since it is a combining character, and even then, I haven't been able to figure out what "paddle in the autocorrect dialog" would involve.

I do know about option e, that doesn't quite do what I want. I am using this (amusing, this?) for poetic analysis and I need the higher accent mark.

Thanks,
ym

 

[ym]

Corentin,

Can you give me any further clues? How would I find it in the <Insert Symbol> palette? I am looking for unicode 0301 and also 0306.

-ym

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Corentin,

Can you give me any further clues? How would I find it in the <Insert
Symbol> palette? I am looking for unicode 0301 and also 0306.

0301 is the acute accent. You don't need anything for this one since
it's built-in.

Type alt-e then the letter you want it on.
Eg: alt-e e gives you é.

0306 is called breve (actually, combining or non-spacing breve). It's
not built in with the US layout. You need a different layout to get it
through a built-in shortcut.
The easiest in this case is to find the letter you want, already wit the
breve on, in the Symbol palette and to create a shortcut for it.

I looked and didn't find it (but it might be buried somewhere I didn't
look).

An alternate option is to enable the Czech keyboard layout, switch to it
and use the 1234 keys to enter the letters you need with the breve on
it. Once you are done, you can revert back to the US layout (you can
switch between layouts using the command-lat-space shortcut).

Corentin

 

[Elliott Roper]

Hmm ... I can't seem to select the thing itself since it is a combining
character, and even then, I haven't been able to figure out what "paddle in
the autocorrect dialog" would involve.

Sorry, it is so hard to write down the games you have to play.
I got a bit flippant. The trick is to have been in the right font (one
that contains the diacritic character in a form that looks OK on top of
the font of the one you are are about to put it on top of. Then with it
selected in the document, hop into autocorrect, type in the string you
wish to have replaced by it, then click on the 'insert formatted'
jellybean. I'm still not convinced it will be any good for combining
characters. You will have to experiment. It may even be that you cannot
insert the combining diacritic without something underneath it.

I do know about option e, that doesn't quite do what I want. I am using this
(amusing, this?) for poetic analysis and I need the higher accent mark.

Ah. Why did that make me think of Peter Sellers and the Pink Panther?

And it only works for characters that are normally accented. Not at all
what you want for poetic analysis (I guess you are using it to show
stressed syllables?)

I spent a few minutes trying to make it work in autocorrect without
success. It would let me insert the 0302 but it wouldn't combine with
either preceding or succeeding characters. I found that the select
worked by holding down shift and typing two left arrows. I reckon the
first was selecting the character I hadn't typed yet. I tried a few
variations of selecting without success. It often autocorrected to the
accent character, but I couldn't get it to combine with anything.
(See what I meant by 'paddle in the autocorrect' now?)

The only way I could make anything work with any kind of efficiency was
to select the 0302 in the character palette and then hit the character
palette's green jellybean so it shrank to fingernail size. Then, back
in Word, I can type the character I want to be under the 0302 accent
then click on the pygmied palette's character. It then combines with
what I just typed.
Ugly I know. Not at all am-using.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

The only way I could make anything work with any kind of efficiency was
to select the 0302 in the character palette and then hit the character
palette's green jellybean so it shrank to fingernail size. Then, back
in Word, I can type the character I want to be under the 0302 accent
then click on the pygmied palette's character. It then combines with
what I just typed.
Ugly I know. Not at all am-using.

0302 is a circumflex accent. I can get it easily on aeiou through alt-i
the the letter you want.

If you want it in other letters, I don't know any shortcut that would
get it. I fear that you really need to insert the letter you want
accented straight, or you have to switch to an input method that covers
the letter (as I described for breve in my other post: switch to Czech,
type it, switch back to US).

You could also copy it in an application supporting multiple clipbards
(keyboard maestro, iClip, CopyPaste Pro...), then assign it a shortcut
and simply use it to paste it whenever you need to... That might
actually be a lot less tedious,


Corentin

 

[ym]

Thanks, what you give (below) is about what I have been doing, without the green jellybean trick. I might try Corentin's suggestion of using keyboard maestro, iClip, or something like that. I've never used those, looks like maestro costs ~$36, which I am not sure I'm ready to shell out for this alone.

Poetic analysis is what I am trying to do, so I need to place both the accent marks (acute and grave) and breve over any syllable efficiently. Placing them over the vowel in the syllable works. The simple "option e" doesn't work well with the letter "i", though.

Anyway, it seems in fact that there is no efficient way to do this in Word, with a simple key stroke. Am I right? Any other suggestions for applications? Would maestro be the best way to go?

Thanks,
ym

 

[Elliott Roper]

Thanks, what you give (below) is about what I have been doing, without the
green jellybean trick. I might try Corentin's suggestion of using keyboard
maestro, iClip, or something like that. I've never used those, looks like
maestro costs ~$36, which I am not sure I'm ready to shell out for this
alone.

Poetic analysis is what I am trying to do, so I need to place both the accent
marks (acute and grave) and breve over any syllable efficiently. Placing them
over the vowel in the syllable works. The simple "option e" doesn't work well
with the letter "i", though.

OK, A slight variation on the character palette trick might be worth
trying. Place all your accents into the character palette's favourites
(the add to favourites is under the gear at the very bottom left) and
close as many subwindows as you can and drag the palette as small as
possible. I can get mine down to about 95*60 mm with just the
favourites showing, which I could live with if I were doing poetic
analysis. Then you simply double click on the glyph you want and it
hops into your document exactly where you want it.

(PS I'm glad I persevered with this. I learned something. I'm writing
some tech howtos and all the keytop glyphs are easier to reach from the
character palette favourites than trying to remember a whole swarm of
autocorrects.)

 

[ym]

Thanks, I appreciate it. Now back the analyses!
-ym

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

OK, A slight variation on the character palette trick might be worth
trying. Place all your accents into the character palette's favourites
(the add to favourites is under the gear at the very bottom left) and
close as many subwindows as you can and drag the palette as small as
possible. I can get mine down to about 95*60 mm with just the
favourites showing, which I could live with if I were doing poetic
analysis. Then you simply double click on the glyph you want and it
hops into your document exactly where you want it.

That's a pretty good option. I didn't think about it (even though I use
the favorites there myself quite often).


Ym, you don't *have* to buy an application like Keyboard Maestro, but I
find it (and the like) very convenient when you need to do repetitive
tasks and want to be able use a simple keyboard shortcut for them.
It's a convenience more than a requirement.

Corentin

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

The simple "option e" doesn't work well with the letter "i", though.

It does for me with the regular US layout:
í
ì
î
ï

Corentin