Vreleksá

Cordelier · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 60 Location: New Mexico, USA

I was just wondering, how do you write letters (vowels and/or consonants) with diacritics and/or accents on the computer (especially with a laptop)?
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Languages spoken:
1- French
2- English
3- Créole

My Conlangs:
- Firstborn Speech (not named yet)
- Lion Speech (not named yet)

Aeetlrcreejl · Joined: 08 Jun 2007 Posts: 839 Location: Over yonder

I made a keyboard layout that lets me type all kinds of diacritics. Comment est-ce que vous le faites? (trying out my bad French there; I might do that a lot more often)
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Iwocwá ĵọṭãsák.
/iwotSwa_H d`Z`Ot`~asa_Hk/
[iocwa_H d`Z`Ot`_h~a_Hk]

Cordelier · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 60 Location: New Mexico, USA

Oh, je vois (Oh, I see)... Alors, il est mieux que je fasse de même (So, it is best that I do the same).
_________________
Languages spoken:
1- French
2- English
3- Créole

My Conlangs:
- Firstborn Speech (not named yet)
- Lion Speech (not named yet)

Aeetlrcreejl · Joined: 08 Jun 2007 Posts: 839 Location: Over yonder

Cependant, si vous n'utiliseriez que des accents aigus, graves, trémas, circonflexes, et tildes, le "keyboard layout" (je ne sais pas comment c'est dit en français) US-International est mieux.
_________________
Iwocwá ĵọṭãsák.
/iwotSwa_H d`Z`Ot`~asa_Hk/
[iocwa_H d`Z`Ot`_h~a_Hk]

Kiri · Joined: 13 Jun 2009 Posts: 471 Location: Latvia/Italy

Speaking of which - how DO you make a keyboard layout like that? Very Happy

Aeetlrcreejl · Joined: 08 Jun 2007 Posts: 839 Location: Over yonder

Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator. Best program ever.
_________________
Iwocwá ĵọṭãsák.
/iwotSwa_H d`Z`Ot`~asa_Hk/
[iocwa_H d`Z`Ot`_h~a_Hk]

Hemicomputer · Joined: 04 Feb 2008 Posts: 610 Location: Calgary, Alberta

What is a "trémas" accent? I understood the rest of your post, but that confused me.
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Bakram uso, mi abila, / del us bakrat, dahud bakrita!

eldin raigmore · Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 7:49 pm Post subject:

Hemicomputer · Joined: 04 Feb 2008 Posts: 610 Location: Calgary, Alberta

Thank you, o elden!
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Bakram uso, mi abila, / del us bakrat, dahud bakrita!

Cordelier · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 60 Location: New Mexico, USA

@Aeetlrcreejl:

Aeetlrcreejl · Joined: 08 Jun 2007 Posts: 839 Location: Over yonder

Merci beaucoup!

J'ai une moitié du examen du français après-demain. Souhaitez-moi de bonne chance, s'il vous plaît!
_________________
Iwocwá ĵọṭãsák.
/iwotSwa_H d`Z`Ot`~asa_Hk/
[iocwa_H d`Z`Ot`_h~a_Hk]

Cordelier · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 60 Location: New Mexico, USA

Bonne chance, alors, companion de "conlang"! LOL! J'espère que ton examen va bien se dérouler. Very Happy

_________________
Languages spoken:
1- French
2- English
3- Créole

My Conlangs:
- Firstborn Speech (not named yet)
- Lion Speech (not named yet)

Kiri · Joined: 13 Jun 2009 Posts: 471 Location: Latvia/Italy

Again about the layout business. I guess my computer-knowledge is just not good enough, but what do you do when your layout is made? How do you establish it?

Zearen Wover · Joined: 09 Apr 2009 Posts: 42

Concerning the following: I don't think the following is what you meant, however I'll leave it in because it's not necessarily bad information. Someone may even find it useful.

If you use international US, you hold down AltGr (Normally the right Alt key, but you may need to set it) and press the corresponding key. It's very similar to using a shift key.
E.g.
AltGr+e = é
AltGr+d = ð
AltGr+q = ä
One can use the shift key in conjunction with AltGr:
AltGr+Shift+e = É
AltGr+Shift+d = Ð
AltGr+Shift+q = Ä
Note sometimes this is written more simply: AltGr+E. When you are beginning, it may be best to print out a character map and put it beside your computer. There will be four characters on each key. The bottom left is no modifiers. The top left is Shift. The bottom right is AltGr. The top right is AltGr+Shift. A final note, watch out for dead keys. These keys will not type a character themselves, but modify a character following them. E.g. AltGr+6 is the circumflex dead key, so typing AltGr+6 and then e yields ê.

As far as how to apply keyboard settings on Windoze, I have no idea. Personally, I use Ubuntu Linux which has this cool little thing called a compose key (other distros have this as well). For anyone who uses Ubuntu, or anyone interested, I'll explain how to set it up. First go to System>Preferences>Keyboard and click the tab "Layout", then the button "Layout Options" (I use my computer in French, so take my English translations with a grain of salt, (The button is "Options de l'agencement..." in French btw)). Then click "Compose Key Position" and select where you want to put it. I put mine on the Win Key. When you're done, you can close the windows.

Using the compose key is very easy. Normally, its a sequence of only two characters. For example é is Compose, apostrophe, e. This is also sometimes written <Multi> <apostrophe> <e>. A large advantage of the compose key is the larger variety characters it can produce once the basic accent characters are known. For example, it is just as easy to type é as it is to type ś. Of course these characters can be accessed with just a US international layout, but I find compose a little more intuitive. It also has a few characters that can't be accessed with this keyboard layout. However many of these are anecdotal, like the interrobang(‽) for example. Furthermore, if one enables XIM to gain access to an even wider range of accents and characters. To enable XIM, enter the following at the terminal:

Baldash · Joined: 19 May 2009 Posts: 86 Location: Sweden

For Mac OS X there is Ukelele, which is very easy to use.

Kiri · Joined: 13 Jun 2009 Posts: 471 Location: Latvia/Italy

It's all nice but doesn't answer to my question Very Happy

When I have made the layout with a layout creator tool, how do I start using it? Very Happy

What do I do with the layout file? Very Happy

Tolkien_Freak · Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 5:32 pm Post subject:

I've never done it before so I could be horribly wrong, but check and see if it's on the list of keyboard layouts under control panel.

Aeetlrcreejl · Joined: 08 Jun 2007 Posts: 839 Location: Over yonder

If you're using Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator, go to the Project menu and it should have some options. Go to "Build DLL and Setup package," and it should build the files necessary to install your layout unless you have problems with your layout, which it will highlight. If it lists Unicode problems, you can ignore those.

Once it builds the files, choose the i386 file (that's the one that works for me; it may be a different file for you). It should install.
_________________
Iwocwá ĵọṭãsák.
/iwotSwa_H d`Z`Ot`~asa_Hk/
[iocwa_H d`Z`Ot`_h~a_Hk]

Kiri · Joined: 13 Jun 2009 Posts: 471 Location: Latvia/Italy

Thank you very much Smile

I now have my own layout Smile

kyonides · Joined: 28 Aug 2008 Posts: 301

Wow, thanks Zearen Wover, now my Kubuntu distro includes a custom keyboard layout... except in GTK based applications like firefox... Well, that shouldn't be a big issue since it works in Qt and KDE based apps like Konqueror and Opera.

Actually, I even posted a Spanish version of the steps in another forum just to spread the word.
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