Re: [libreoffice-users] select en-dash and em-dash characters

Den 17 april 2012 22:32 skrev Thomas Taylor <linxt@comcast.net>:
> On Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:09:31 +0200
> Johnny Rosenberg <gurus.knugum@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Den 16 april 2012 22:36 skrev Séamas Ó Brógáin <sob@iol.ie>:
> > > Regina wrote:
> > >
> > > > They are usually written via AutoCorrect. The simple hyphen is replaced
> > > > with the en-dash or em-dash when the following word is finished . . .
> > >
> > > That is _not_ a good idea. The hyphen, en rule and em rule (dash) are
> > > distinct characters with distinct uses in conventional typography and
> > > typesetting. Their correct use cannot be predicted by context, nor are
> > > they interchangeable.
> > >
> > > You need to find out where these characters are in the character set you
> > > are using. This depends on your operating system, your language, and
> > > your keyboard layout.
> > >
> > > As Johnny pointed out, they can be entered with the compose key. If you
> > > use them so often that even this is too cumbersome you can customise
> > > your keyboard layout,
> >
> > That's actually what I did (called ”Sweden Johnny Rosenberg”,
> > available on my computers only…), but I didn't mention it because I
> > thought it could be a bit tricky…
> > I have the en-dash at AltGr+- and the em-dash at AltGr+Shift+-. I also
> > did a lot of other modification, like removed all my numbers from the
> > first row (I already have them on the num pad to the right – why have
> > them at more than one place?) and moved some Shift+number combinations
> > so I don't need Shift for characters like ”!#%&/” and so on. I even
> > made labels to put on my keys, but most of them was worn out after a
> > couple of weeks of typing…
> >
> > To change the layout (or rather add a new one in this case), you need
> > to fiddle with three files (at least in Ubuntu):
> > /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.lst, /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.xml
> > and /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/<the file representing your language>,
> > more on that another time…
> >
> > Ok, this was a bit off topic…
> >
> >
> > Kind regards
> >
> > Johnny Rosenberg
> > ジョニー・ローゼンバーグ
> >
> > > so that (for example) compose-hyphen gets you the
> > > en rule and shift-compose-hyphen gets you the dash (em rule). If you
> > > want to do this I will help you (but only if you use GNU/Linux!).
> > >
> > > You could, as Johnny suggests, create your own auto-correct sequences,
> > > but personally I would avoid all such contrivances. Auto-correct is
> > > _not_ your friend.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
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>
> Hi Johnny;
> Out of curiosity, what is AltGr+ ? Alt is of course the "Alt" key on the
> keyboard but which key is Gr?  My keyboard (an old IBM windows model) doesn't
> have such a key.
>
> Thanks, Tom

I saw that someone already answered, but I'll reply anyway.
The ”+” does only mean that the key is hold. So Alt+Shift+x means that
Alt, Shift and x is pressed simultaneously, or at least that no key is
released before the other keys is pressed.
The compose key doesn't work that way, therefore no ”+” sign: ”Compose
--.” means ”hit the Compose key, release it, then type --.”.

About the AltGr key, I don't think it exists on standard US keyboards,
for example. Many other languages though, use some characters that are
not on a regular US keyboard, like in my case, Swedish.
We have three extra letters in our alphabet: A-Z, then ÅÄÖ and the
same for lower case (a-z, åäö). That means that there are not enough
keys for everything, so characters like ”{[]}\|” are omitted, or at
least replaced by our Swedish characters. We need them sometimes
anyway though, so they are placed on other keys and we can type them
by using the AltGr key, for example AltGr+8 for ”[” and AltGr+9 for
”]”. On the other hand, at least with Swedish keyboards, they have no
right Alt key, only one to the left, so I guess AltGr is simply the
right Alt key. It's placed immediately to the right of the space key,
at least on my keyboard.


Kind regards

Johnny Rosenberg
ジョニー・ローゼンバーグ

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