I have a suggestion=^..^=

Question

When I'm typing a message in Spanish I want to be as correct as possible when it comes to the accent marks. What I'm doing now is I have my computer character map up while typing so I can be sure to put in the correct accent marks where needed, but, that can be a little slow. Also, for some reason my character map doesn't seem to have the inverted exclamation point. That seems a bit weird, but..................
My suggestion is...........................
Would it be feasable to put all the special characters in Spanish under all the reply boxes AND in chat as well?
I'm just a perfectionist at heart and want to be as correct as possible. It also keeps up the practice while I'm doing the lessons. I think it would be a great idea! What do you think?
Thanks for taking it into consideration!
Purrs,
Catwoman=^..^= & Mija

Answer 1

Hi Catwoman, it´s not a bad idea.Before I started learning Spanish I tried learning Turkish and their dictionary websites did have all the unusual Turkish letters in little boxes for users to click on. It´s possible to reconfigure the keyboard so accented vowels can be entered with the ' key followed by the vowel key, the ñ can be entered by the ;/: key and the ¿ and ¡ can be entered by the =/+ key. You can then reset the keyboard back to normal. I managed to give my keyboard this option but I can't remember exactly how. Hopefully a computer expert will read this and tell you.

Answer 2

I agree - that is the first thing I asked when I joined but if you want to know the shortcuts using the Alt key - they are below.

Capitals
Á ALT+0193
ÿ ALT+0201
Í ALT+0205
ÿ ALT+0211
ÿ ALT+0218
ÿ ALT+0209
ÿ ALT+0220

Lowercase
á ALT+0225
é ALT+0233
í ALT+0237
ó ALT+0243
ú ALT+0250
ñ ALT+0241
ü ALT+0252

Punctuation
¿ ALT+0191
¡ ALT+0161

Answer 3

loctite297 said:

Hi Catwoman, it´s not a bad idea.Before I started learning Spanish I tried learning Turkish and their dictionary websites did have all the unusual Turkish letters in little boxes for users to click on. It´s possible to reconfigure the keyboard so accented vowels can be entered with the ' key followed by the vowel key, the ñ can be entered by the ;/: key and the ¿ and ¡ can be entered by the =/+ key. You can then reset the keyboard back to normal. I managed to give my keyboard this option but I can't remember exactly how. Hopefully a computer expert will read this and tell you.

"Rules/Resources" (above) and then "Typing"

Answer 4

I like the idea of having the characters available. Maybe Christopher will include that in the next update. For myself, I just change the keyboard settings. It's easy to toggle between the Spanish settings and the English, with just Shift/Alt combination.

Answer 5

Answer 6

Catwoman,

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by putting the "special characters under the reply boxes". However, the the way I do it is to configure my keyboard as "English Internacional". All the acute accents are achieved by pressing the " ' " (apostrophe) immediately preceding the vowel: á, é , í, ó, ú. "ÿ". is SHFT-~, n; "ñ", is simply ~-n; "¿" is ALT-168; "¡" is ALT-173. This may seem awkward, but one learns with practice. I write mosly in Spanish and I've been doing it so long that it comes naturally. When I'm working on a keyboard that is not my own, I always carry with me a 2x2" piece of paper that I temporarilty tape on the monitor with the ALT key equivalents. I've been doing it since 1984 on IBM clones whereever I happen to be without a problem. The ALT key thing is slower, but it suffices. I have included with this missive, a copy of my "2x2". I wrote this entirely in English. I hope there are no errors.

Answer 7

Follow Quentins instructions, it's so much easier. All I have to do if I want ñ is hold down the alt key & type n, I'd go nuts with all those numbers. Quentin's method also works on Windows XP. It did take a while to figure out ü, which is alt y, alt u types the accent ú

Answer 8

Thanks for telling me about that. I had no idea you could do that with your keyboard. I hope you can do it on a laptop as well because that's what I have
Purrs,
Catwoman=^..^= & Mija

loctite297 said:

Hi Catwoman, it´s not a bad idea.Before I started learning Spanish I tried learning Turkish and their dictionary websites did have all the unusual Turkish letters in little boxes for users to click on. It´s possible to reconfigure the keyboard so accented vowels can be entered with the ' key followed by the vowel key, the ñ can be entered by the ;/: key and the ¿ and ¡ can be entered by the =/+ key. You can then reset the keyboard back to normal. I managed to give my keyboard this option but I can't remember exactly how. Hopefully a computer expert will read this and tell you.

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Answer 9

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I will put these on post it notes and put them on and around my laptop! I feel so rich now!
Purrs,
Catwoman=^..^= & Mija

One Bored Employee said:

I agree - that is the first thing I asked when I joined but if you want to know the shortcuts using the Alt key - they are below.CapitalsÁ ALT+0193ÿ ALT+0201Í ALT+0205ÿ ALT+0211ÿ ALT+0218ÿ ALT+0209ÿ ALT+0220Lowercaseá ALT+0225é ALT+0233í ALT+0237ó ALT+0243ú ALT+0250ñ ALT+0241ü ALT+0252Punctuation¿ ALT+0191¡ ALT+0161

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Answer 10

Hi Calvo!
All the suggestions I'm getting from everyone here are just great, but, I still think it would be super great if they included the accented letters anyway. It would be just another great convenient feature this site could offer as a real selling point. Thanks for your comment and suggestion!
Purrs,
Catwoman=^..^= & Mija

CalvoViejo said:

I like the idea of having the characters available. Maybe Christopher will include that in the next update. For myself, I just change the keyboard settings. It's easy to toggle between the Spanish settings and the English, with just Shift/Alt combination.

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Answer 11

Hi Quentin,
Thanks so much for the instructions! I haven't tried them as yet, but, I will definitely work on it later tonight! I have Vista and these instructions are very useful to me. I do have the ~ (tilde) symbol just below the escape key, but, I can't seem to figure out how to incorporate it with the letter n.
Thanks also for the including the website. That will help greatly as well!
Wow! I'm getting such a gold mine of information from everyone here!
Purrs,
Catwoman=^..^= & Mija

Quentin said:

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Answer 12

Thank you for your tidbit of information AND the attachment! Very kind of you! By the way, your English is perfect! The only thing I could see that needed correction was your spelling of 'International'. You put a 'c' where the second 't' is. Of course, being that Spanish is your first language you more than likely spelled it that way out of habit
Thanks for your reply and info!
Purrs,
Catwoman=^..^= & Mija

Robert said:

Catwoman,I'm not exactly sure what you mean by putting the "special characters under the reply boxes". However, the the way I do it is to configure my keyboard as "English Internacional". All the acute accents are achieved by pressing the " ' " (apostrophe) immediately preceding the vowel: á, é , í, ó, ú. "ÿ". is SHFT-~, n; "ñ", is simply ~-n; "¿" is ALT-168; "¡" is ALT-173. This may seem awkward, but one learns with practice. I write mosly in Spanish and I've been doing it so long that it comes naturally. When I'm working on a keyboard that is not my own, I always carry with me a 2x2" piece of paper that I temporarilty tape on the monitor with the ALT key equivalents. I've been doing it since 1984 on IBM clones whereever I happen to be without a problem. The ALT key thing is slower, but it suffices. I have included with this missive, a copy of my "2x2". I wrote this entirely in English. I hope there are no errors.

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Answer 13

Thanks for the info regarding the letter 'u' with the '..' above it, but, it doesn't seem to work on my computer. I think it's because I have a laptop. I'm not sure. It's still good information to know for future reference, though Thanks for your help!
Purrs,
Catwoman=^..^= & Mija

motley said:

Follow Quentins instructions, it's so much easier. All I have to do if I want ñ is hold down the alt key & type n, I'd go nuts with all those numbers. Quentin's method also works on Windows XP. It did take a while to figure out ü, which is alt y, alt u types the accent ú

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Answer 14

I use a laptop too, but I do think computers work a little different according to brand. My is Toshiba & has a mind of it's own.

Catwoman=^..^= said:

Thanks for the info regarding the letter 'u' with the '..' above it, but, it doesn't seem to work on my computer. I think it's because I have a laptop. I'm not sure. It's still good information to know for future reference, though Thanks for your help! Purrs,

Catwoman=^..^= & Mija

motley said:

Follow Quentins instructions, it's so much easier. All I have to do if I want ñ is hold down the alt key & type n, I'd go nuts with all those numbers. Quentin's method also works on Windows XP. It did take a while to figure out ü, which is alt y, alt u types the accent ú

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Answer 15

I also like your suggestion of putting the accented characters below the reply boxes. There will always be site novices that won't know the ALT codes or have the proper keyboard installed. Think of all the time it will save correcting omitted punctuation in discussions.

Catwoman=^..^= said:

Hi Quentin,Thanks so much for the instructions! I haven't tried them as yet, but, I will definitely work on it later tonight! I have Vista and these instructions are very useful to me. I do have the ~ (tilde) symbol just below the escape key, but, I can't seem to figure out how to incorporate it with the letter n.Thanks also for the including the website. That will help greatly as well!Wow! I'm getting such a gold mine of information from everyone here!Purrs,Catwoman=^..^= & Mija

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