Most Useful Discovery for Online Woodworkers EVER EVER EVER
- Thread starter Droogs
- Start date
Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:
J-G
Established Member
Umlaut if you are using German. Diaeresis is the more general term for this Diacritical Mark.
I'm just about to run a Zoom Quiz and one round is using various 'Symbols' including the Diaeresis, Silcrow, Thorn, Obelus etc.
Last edited:
The one I have always used is from the ASCI character set and is ALT-248 °
J-G
Established Member
Using the Alt-XXXX has no affect on the Font being used. Whatever symbol/character is produced using these Alt-NumberPad entries is always determined by the font in use at the time - in fact 'after the event' - ie. when the charcters have been 'typed' - they can be selected and the font changed at will.
Attached is a .PDF showing a few versions of the same entry. You'll see that Alt-1959 & Alt-0186 produce the same character.
That was created in Word2000 which I don't normally use - WordPerfect is a vastly superior program.
I selected a few fonts at random to show just how the choice of font determines what you get.
For reasons I don't know, if I type that character in from calibri, it changes to MV boli. It could be that the font set that I have just doesn't have the character since it's an OEM and probably stripped down version of office.
If I go back to regular text, I can change the font, but as it is shown here, I can't even change the font after changing the text.
In notepad, it shows up properly as a superscript "o" with a line under it.
J-G
Established Member
Here is what I get from those two fonts.
I have no idea what is going on with your system but it must be down to your copy of Office. It's certainly nothing to do with using Alt-XXXX.
The character you get is a Diaeresis/Umlaut but I can't hazzard a guess as to which font it comes from. I suspect that your copy of MV Boli has been 'modified' but that still doesn't explain why you can't edit the font - nor why Office wants to change the font from Calibri.
A modified / 'cut down' version of Office would not affect the fonts - MV Boli is a standard font (I didn't even know that I had it!!) - like Calibri it (well my copy) is an OpenType - as opposed to TrueType - It's an Agfa Monotype creation though owned by Microsoft and introduced with Windows XP so nothing to do with Office per se.
Curiouser and curiouser (said Alice)!
Last edited:
J-G
Established Member
A little research and I see that what I thought could be a Diaeresis is in fact a Diacritical mark in the Thaana Script used to write the language of the Maldives, which is what MV Boli was designed for.
It's used above or below the basic vowel symbol to indicate either 'aa' or 'ee' ...
When I awoke this morning there is no way I could have thought that I'd be researching a language/writing system that I'd never even heard of !!
Every day is a school day
I suggest that your copy of MV Boli is one that has the Thaana characters in but that still doesn't explain why you can't edit or why Office selects it. . . . .
It's used above or below the basic vowel symbol to indicate either 'aa' or 'ee' ...
When I awoke this morning there is no way I could have thought that I'd be researching a language/writing system that I'd never even heard of !!
Every day is a school day
I suggest that your copy of MV Boli is one that has the Thaana characters in but that still doesn't explain why you can't edit or why Office selects it. . . . .
Last edited:
ajs
Established Member
To nitpick that isn't an ASCII character - those only go up to 127. What you get in the range 128-255 depends on the character encoding ("code page") in use which varies between systems - what you see may well not match what someone else sees. The numbers starting with 0 are a different system and should be the same for everyone.
Of course real computers have a compose key which makes entering oddball characters easy...
A little research and I see that what I thought could be a Diaeresis is in fact a Diacritical mark in the Thaana Script used to write the language of the Maldives, which is what MV Boli was designed for.
It's used above or below the basic vowel symbol to indicate either 'aa' or 'ee' ...
View attachment 141837
When I awoke this morning there is no way I could have thought that I'd be researching a language/writing system that I'd never even heard of !!
Every day is a school day
I suggest that your copy of MV Boli is one that has the Thaana characters in but that still doesn't explain why you can't edit or why Office selects it. . . . .
My PC is refurbished. I kind of wonder if the seller isn't as honest as they claimed to be.
clogs
just can't decide
did have a go and now all the writing on this forum is so small I need my glases..
in future it'll be just DEG's.....
It'll take days to sort this mess out....OH Bxxger"....
in future it'll be just DEG's.....
It'll take days to sort this mess out....OH Bxxger"....
J-G
Established Member
Totally unconnected with any use of [Num Lock] or Alt-XXXX codes. To enlarge the display (most web pages) hold down [Ctrl] and press [+] - each press enlarges by a %age - pressing [-] reduces the size,
That's neat. I use Microsoft's Character Map, installed in Windows, for all my odd character needs.If you have a number pad on your keyboard, you can insert the degree symbol by just pressing the left ALT key and the numbers 0176 sequentially
°
Woohoooo
² ¼ ½ ¾ ° é etc....
Jester129
Established Member
So how can I get a tick mark please?
Cooper
Established Member
I'm a Mac user but obviously not enlightened.
Which is the Option key? I know shift and can see the numbers and shift alternatives.
While we're at it is there a trick, without having to remember how to use symbols, to get a Euro sign?
Martin
Adam W.
A Major Clanger
€
option 2, it's the one in between control and command at the bottom left by the space bar.
option 2, it's the one in between control and command at the bottom left by the space bar.
Dr Al
Established Member
In my job, I use a lot of symbols when typing and I got fed up with the alt codes as they seem such a backwards way of doing it. To make my life easier I wrote a little application (written in python, but can be compiled to a windows executable so it doesn't require python) that makes symbol entry much easier (in my opinion). With it, you hit Win+K (or whatever key combination you've configured) and a very simple window pops up:
In that window, you type two characters. When you type the second character, the window disappears and a symbol gets pasted into whichever application you were using before pressing the shortcut. So, for example, I hit Win+K then Co and the result is ©.
The symbol obviously depends on which two characters you type, but I think they're a lot more intuitive than the alt codes (I didn't invent them: they came from a text editor called Vim that has native support for these codes). Examples:
DG makes °
2S makes ²
2s makes ₂
12 makes ½
-: makes ÷
+- makes ±
OK makes ✓
>= makes ≥
=> makes ⇒
TM makes ™
/- makes †
m* makes μ
l* makes λ
p* makes π
W* makes Ω (the letter, * pattern works for all the Greek alphabet letters)
c, makes ç
e' makes é
e> makes ê
e: makes ë
O/ makes Ø
?= makes ≅
!= makes ≠
-N makes – (en-dash)
... and the list goes on
The application used to be published on bitbucket before they removed support for the version control system it was written in. I keep meaning to release it somewhere else (on my website if nothing else), but have never got round to it. I use it many, many times a day and would hate to have to go back to using ALT codes (especially since I sometimes use a laptop without a numeric keyboard and the ALT codes don't work on the top row number keys). However, I guess I'm probably relatively unusual in the number of times a day I type μ, ° and ±, so I'm not sure how widely appealing my little application would actually be!
The lookup table I have printed by my desk (not that I have to refer to it very often as I find most of the codes easy to remember):
In that window, you type two characters. When you type the second character, the window disappears and a symbol gets pasted into whichever application you were using before pressing the shortcut. So, for example, I hit Win+K then Co and the result is ©.
The symbol obviously depends on which two characters you type, but I think they're a lot more intuitive than the alt codes (I didn't invent them: they came from a text editor called Vim that has native support for these codes). Examples:
DG makes °
2S makes ²
2s makes ₂
12 makes ½
-: makes ÷
+- makes ±
OK makes ✓
>= makes ≥
=> makes ⇒
TM makes ™
/- makes †
m* makes μ
l* makes λ
p* makes π
W* makes Ω (the letter, * pattern works for all the Greek alphabet letters)
c, makes ç
e' makes é
e> makes ê
e: makes ë
O/ makes Ø
?= makes ≅
!= makes ≠
-N makes – (en-dash)
... and the list goes on
The application used to be published on bitbucket before they removed support for the version control system it was written in. I keep meaning to release it somewhere else (on my website if nothing else), but have never got round to it. I use it many, many times a day and would hate to have to go back to using ALT codes (especially since I sometimes use a laptop without a numeric keyboard and the ALT codes don't work on the top row number keys). However, I guess I'm probably relatively unusual in the number of times a day I type μ, ° and ±, so I'm not sure how widely appealing my little application would actually be!
The lookup table I have printed by my desk (not that I have to refer to it very often as I find most of the codes easy to remember):
Last edited:
Pete, that's a good quick option - which works! ººººººººº
Similar threads
