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Something from typewriters that I'd love to see brought back, the fraction keys. I get it that you can type 1/2 or 1/4, but it was nice to be able to just hit a button for them, and sometimes it looked better. I just wish there had been a 1/3 key as I find myself using that a lot too.

It would at least be nice to have them as shortcuts via the alt text button or something.

in reply to Xoa Gray

mkj
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mkj
• •

*nix has the compose key. For example, if I hit Compose + 1 + / + 3, I get ⅓. Or Compose + 1 + / + 7 gives me ⅐.

Certainly once you learn of the magic of Compose, that's far more intuitive than some arbitrary number sequence.

in reply to mkj

Xoa Gray
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Xoa Gray
• •
@mkj I'm aware of the compose key, I've just never seen it do that before, Nice. :) Thanks for the heads up!
@mkj
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mkj
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mkj
• •

I've been vaguely aware of Compose for a long time, but it's only recently I've actually started using it in earnest.

Oh, and if you have special needs, it's even configurable, so you can map custom key sequences to characters. 🙂

in reply to mkj

Xoa Gray
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Xoa Gray
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@mkj I've been using it for some time for typing special characters. US keyboards don't have any accented letters, so If I want to type anything with accents I have to use compose. I just didn't realize you could type strings into it like you have to for fractions. Though I did find you can also do something similar on Mac by using the "fraction key" that's under compose + shift + 1. It doesn't look quite the same though, basically it just shortens 1/4 into 1⁄4. But it gets the job done.
@mkj
in reply to Xoa Gray

🌴 Seph 💭 👾
friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
🌴 Seph 💭 👾
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@Xoa Gray I have that option on my computer running LMDE, but I use it less than ½ the time
@Xoa Gray
in reply to 🌴 Seph 💭 👾

Xoa Gray
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Xoa Gray
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@vextaur Apparently I did to, I just didn’t know. It’s not obvious on any modern computer.
@🌴 Seph 💭 👾
in reply to Xoa Gray

🌴 Seph 💭 👾
friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
🌴 Seph 💭 👾
•
@Xoa Gray You might not, I'm running English-Mac keyboard, and have to keep an image handy on my desktop to reference where the symbols and modifiers are. I'd love to have a better image, or rather a series of images from the old #mac
#mac @Xoa Gray

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Xoa Gray
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Xoa Gray
• •
@vextaur MacOS 26 here on my Macs. Most of what I know I just remember because I use them all the time. I type a little in different languages, and I use some letters that aren't used commonly today like þ and ð on a not too infrequent basis.
@🌴 Seph 💭 👾
in reply to Xoa Gray

🌴 Seph 💭 👾
friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
🌴 Seph 💭 👾
•
@Xoa Gray If you're on MacOS, bring up the on screen keyboard, and then press the option key, and it'll change to those you what's available. Press option and shift, and it'll show you another set, at least if'n they haven't changed anything.
@Xoa Gray
in reply to 🌴 Seph 💭 👾

Xoa Gray
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Xoa Gray
• •
@vextaur that would definitely be better than having to use character picker for things I can’t find. :-)
@🌴 Seph 💭 👾
in reply to Xoa Gray

Xoa Gray
mastodon - Link to source
Xoa Gray
• •
@vextaur also I just realized I don’t run the standard US English keyboard, I run the international one so I have access to some characters that aren’t normally there
@🌴 Seph 💭 👾
in reply to Xoa Gray

🌴 Seph 💭 👾
friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
🌴 Seph 💭 👾
•
@Xoa Gray What characters, since the options set is pretty darn good, I mean I can easily spell café correctly for example.
@Xoa Gray
in reply to 🌴 Seph 💭 👾

Xoa Gray
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Xoa Gray
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@vextaur me too, but things like eth and thorn aren’t in the regular keyboard under the compose (usually one of the opt keys on Mac) key. So ð and þ. On the international English keyboard they’re under compose+d and compose +t.
@🌴 Seph 💭 👾
in reply to Xoa Gray

🌴 Seph 💭 👾
friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
🌴 Seph 💭 👾
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@Xoa Gray Interesting, they're on mine, þÞ <opt><shift>L and <opt><shift>: for thorn, and was that ð there? That's <opt><shift>D
@Xoa Gray
in reply to 🌴 Seph 💭 👾

Xoa Gray
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Xoa Gray
• •
@vextaur maybe it’s changed since the last time I looked up the character map. The last time I checked the standard English didn’t have it only international English did. Also, are you required to use shift specifically? Can you only make the uppercase versions of the letters?
@🌴 Seph 💭 👾
in reply to Xoa Gray

🌴 Seph 💭 👾
friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
🌴 Seph 💭 👾
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@Xoa Gray Yep, that's the full map, top row requires shift, left is regular, right is <opt>
@Xoa Gray
in reply to 🌴 Seph 💭 👾

Xoa Gray
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Xoa Gray
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@vextaur on the international English keyboard. It’s a little bit more sane. Option plus T is thorn option plus D is eth. Adding shift to the equation just makes the capital versions of both letters.
@🌴 Seph 💭 👾
in reply to Xoa Gray

🌴 Seph 💭 👾
friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
🌴 Seph 💭 👾
 — (STL, MO, US, Earth) •

@Xoa Gray I don't have a problem with where thorn is, but I do wonder why they split it up between two keys, you definitely could've kept them on one key.

Oh, and some symbols actually aren't on that image, not sure why, I really need a set of good images for the OS X on screen keyboard that shows everything, has the right layout and clearly shows the modifier keys in there, those were colour coded in the old day.

@Xoa Gray
in reply to 🌴 Seph 💭 👾

Xoa Gray
mastodon - Link to source
Xoa Gray
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@vextaur I don’t know either. I guess we’d have to ask whoever designed the keyboard maps for that. Hell, it might even come down to just two different people designed them and never discussed where things would go between them.
@🌴 Seph 💭 👾
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