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In article <c82dnRvDkfdNKc_VnZ2dnUVZ_hCdnZ2d@cablespeedmd.com>, Jimmy Miller <captainthunder@gmail.com> wrote:
> I recently noticed that holding down either the Alt key, or the Shift > and Alt keys in combination, allows you to type a number of non-standard > characters in Mac OS X. To demonstrate: ´¬¯ > > Does anyone know of a document explaining this functionality further, or > maybe a list of all the characters available? Thanks.
Under Classic Mac OS, there was a Keyboard utility to show these. There is a better one under Mac OS X: go to System Prefs> International> Input Menu first, click the bottom box (to show the menubar item for this) second, click Keyboard Viewer and Character palette (and any languages you know and use)
Now, the keyboard Viewer is just like the old Classic tool, and shows you all you need. It even shows in different fonts, because they have different characters. But it's not the show-off piece; it's merely practical. The Character Palette is the reverse; it shows you all characters for a font. You'll be surprised at how much is in some of Apple's -- Lucida Grande shows 2825 character outlines!
Now, change the upper left ppo-up menu to Roman, and select Latin from the left list. You'll see the glyphs for letters. Below that, the characters related in shape and use. Below that, the variations across typesets (my favorite part -- easier than any utility I've ever had to choose a font's appearance!) At bottom, a search box and a button to insert whatever is selected, including the font data.
Now, if you know foreign languages with complex sets, you'll find there are some great guides here: This one shows a category: http://hawaiianreflections.net/palbycat.png and this shows them by radical: http://hawaiianreflections.net/palbyrad.png
