To type an accent on the message board, hold down ALT and type the corresponding 3 digit number using the number pad:
à 0224 - - À 0192 á 0225 - - Á 0193 è 0232 - - È 0200 é 0233 - - É 0201 ì 0236 - - Ì 0204 í 0237 - - Í 0205 ò 0242 - - Ò 0210 ó 0243 - - Ó 0211 ù 0249 - - Ù 0217 ú 0250 - - Ú 0218 « 0171 - - » 0187
If you use a lap top, don't use the numbers along the top--use the little numbers on the letter keys on the right side of the keyboard. You probably have never noticed them before.
Pauline's instructions are for Windows. If you are using a Mac, you can bring up a "Character Palette" window displaying all sorts of special characters. Then you just click on the one you want. If you don't know how to find this option, go to Mac Help in the Finder, and search for international characters, to get the how-to.
I've recently learned another method (Word on PCs) for creating accented letters very easily: press CTL + ` (the key to the left of the number one) then lift up both keys and type either a, e, i, o, or u and you'll get that letter with that accent. You can do the same with CTL + ' (the apostrophe, located to the right of the colon) to get the same letters with the other accent mark. Very quick and handy.
Posts: 4 | Location: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: 12 April 2006
Something I learned just a couple of days ago: on a PC keyboard the "Alt Gr" key (to the right of the space bar) in conjunction with a, e, o and u produces á, é, ó, and ú. "Alt Gr" + 4 produces €. Here is a wikipedia article giving some more details.
I never knew what the Alt Gr key was for!
Posts: 533 | Location: West Sussex, England | Registered: 08 February 2007
I always open the character map. In XP, you go to "Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Character map." Then I copy and paste the accented or other characters I need e.g. ¿ ç ä è é ê ǽ £ € ₤
I actually use it enough to have a short cut on my desk top to Character map.
Although not particularly correct, a popular way to work around this problem is to add an apostrophe after the vowel. So à becomes a', è becomes e', etc.
I've recently learned another method (Word on PCs) for creating accented letters very easily: press CTL + ` (the key to the left of the number one) then lift up both keys and type either a, e, i, o, or u and you'll get that letter with that accent. You can do the same with CTL + ' (the apostrophe, located to the right of the colon) to get the same letters with the other accent mark. Very quick and handy.
Likewise for umlaut in German and circumflex in French, you can use shift/ctrl + : or shift/ctrl + ^.
I was searching for instruction on how to type accents in Italian words since I need to know how to do it on my laptop. I used the advanced search and found the thread, then when I posted I realized that the thread is one of the "informational" ones listed right at the top of the forum. (I will attribute this density of thought to yet another senior moment!)
quote:
If you use a lap top, don't use the numbers along the top--use the little numbers on the letter keys on the right side of the keyboard. You probably have never noticed them before.
However, even though I see the numbers (you're right, Jane. I never noticed them before!), I don't know how to make them form the accented letters.
However, even though I see the numbers (you're right, Jane. I never noticed them before!), I don't know how to make them form the accented letters.
Earline, after you hit the number lock, then hold the alt. key and type in the codes that Pauline gives in the original post. Remember to unlock the number lock key afterwards or you will get some strange words. It's easy. I just keep printout of these codes by the keyboard.
Here are a couple other convenient codes: 0128=€ 155=¢ 156=£ I have a list for French, German, Spanish and Other Useful Characters if anyone is interested.
Jane, the old adage, "when all else fails, read the instructions" holds true here.
I still couldn't find the num lock key, so I called up the .pdf file for my laptop and lo and behold! -- there was the keyboard showing the numeric keypad along with instructions on which key does what. I don't know if all laptop keyboards are the same, but on mine it is Fn plus function key Fll.
Thank you for pointing me in the right direction. I've only had this laptop for 2 years and I finally read the instructions.
(I will attribute this density of thought to yet another senior moment!)
