I’m really impressed by what a MacBook can do. Back then when I used my old PC or notebook, I’ve had gone thru some trouble to find how to type special characters, especially when I worked on my French course homework and needed to type é, è, ê, œ, ç, etc. I had a character map and had to switch keyboard layout to do those things. Recently, I found that I wouldn’t need any character map nor to switch layout. All I have to do is press Alt/Option button and one or two other key. The best part is, I don’t have to remember the combination, because Apple made the combination very intuitive. For example, to make a ‘ç’ we only need to type Alt-c and add Shift to make it capital or to make a œ we just simply type Alt-q since ‘Q’ somehow looks like ‘œ’.
Here’s the complete combination:
Type Alt and the character in the left column to create the character in the right one:
` + a/e/i/o/u --> à/è/ì/ò/ù * 1 --> ¡ 2 --> ™ 3 --> £ 4 --> ¢ 5 --> ∞ 6 --> § 7 --> ¶ 8 --> • 9 --> ª 0 --> º - --> – = --> ≠ |
q --> œ w --> ∑ e + vowels --> á/é/í/ó/ú * r --> ® t --> † y --> ¥ u + vowels --> ä/ë/ï/ö/ü * i + vowels --> â/ê/î/ô/û * o --> ø p --> π [ --> “ ] --> ‘ \ --> « |
a --> å s --> ß d --> ∂ f --> ƒ g --> © h --> ˙ j --> ∆ k --> ˚ l --> ¬ ; --> ; ' --> æ |
z --> Ω x --> ≈ c --> ç v --> √ b --> ∫ n + a/o/n --> ã/õ/ñ * m --> µ , --> ≤ . --> ≥ / --> ÷ |
* release the first two keys (e.g. Alt+`) before typing the letter to be accented, including capitalized letter. For example, Ü is the result of the combination of Alt + u -> [release] -> Shift + u.
Type Alt + Shift and the character in the left row to create the character in the right one:
1 --> ⁄ 2 --> € 3 --> ‹ 4 --> › 5 --> fi 6 --> fl 7 --> ‡ 8 --> ° 9 --> · 0 --> ‚ - --> — = --> ± |
q --> Œ w --> „ e --> ´ r --> ‰ t --> ˇ y --> Á u --> ¨ i --> ˆ o --> Ø p --> ∏ [ --> ” ] --> ’ \ --> » |
a --> Å s --> Í d --> Î f --> Ï g --> ˝ h --> Ó j --> Ô k --> l --> Ò ; --> Ú ' --> Æ |
z --> ¸ x --> ˛ c --> Ç v --> ◊ b --> ı n --> ˜ m --> Â , --> ¯ . --> ˘ / --> ¿ |