~ ` Key

[Stephanella]

Guys, I was wondering what the little sign on the ~ key is for. I mean this one:

`

In many languages such as French, Italian and Spanish we use these sort of accents (that one looks like a grave accent, to call it by its name really), but if you have an English/American keyboard you will need some special characters to be able to type e and a with that sort of accent on. So, if it is the grave accent, here are two questions:

a- where have they put its opposite accent on the keyboard?
b- how do I get it on the actual vowel? Because if I type "proble`me" it is not the same as the accent of the e where it should be.

It looks like one of the signs that we use in phonetics and not the grave accent. Anyone knows? Thanks!

[lil]

Hi hon,

I'm not sure if this is what you mean

To get the accents, you need to use the Option key (Alt) with the letter you wish to accent, e.g.:

Option + E = ´ (example: Option + e, release Option and press e = é)
Option + ` = ` (example: Option + a, release Option and press a = à)
Option + i = ^ (example: Option + i, release Option and press i = î)
Option + u = ¨ (example: Option + u, release Option and press o = ö)
Option + c = ç

Hope this helps if this is indeed what you meant :flower: It's quite inituitive after a while.

There are others such as Option + r = ® and Option + g = ©.

:flower:

Just to add, to type problème, you'd type:

probl (option + `) eme

Vicky

[the_New_guy]

~ means home directory.

[inflexion]

hey could be worse, you could be using IRC and not find the # key hahaha like i did (alt + 3 if you didnt know)

[Avalon]

~ means home directory.

~ means tilde, it represents the home directory in Terminal. You don't get to the home directory by pressing the ~-key.

Actually, to avoid all those accent troubles (I need to type in English, German and French) I use a Swiss keyboard...where the most used accented vowels are accessible immediately. :cool:

Though to type ~, I need to press Option-n and space... neye:

[Stephanella]

Chappies and Vicky especially, thanks, this is exactly what I need. I also considered changing the keyboard for writing in all those languages that need the accents, but the shortcuts above will do just fine. Maybe I should change the keyboard because I cannot see half of the letters on the keys anymore?! ;-)

[lil]

No problem, glad I could help :flower: Sounds like you could do with a new keyboard though!

Vicky

[ed724]

deleted, ed724

[Avalon]

No problem, glad I could help :flower: Sounds like you could do with a new keyboard though!

Vicky

I guess Vicky is right, Stephanella, you need a new keyboard... :cool:
You could get a new English one for your iBook and an external Swiss keyboard for the foreign typing.
Or, if you want a new challenge, try a French one (AZERTY instead of QWERTY), it'll drive you nuts... :p