shiny new laptop redux

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Okay – first of all, I have a co-worker that I email in Spanish. Everything was fine on my old p.c., but I can’t figure out how to do the “~” over the proper letters so that ano doesn’t look bad (there’s supposed to be an ~ over the n). I tried the usual hold down alt key and type in code, but my laptop isn’t cooperating. I know this isn’t the proper forum but anyway, it’s causing a bit of a problem and I don’t wish to offend.

Also, my “y” key is sticking. No end to the humor there. I’m thinking it’s my appendage, rather than the keyboard.

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Can you insert it into a Word document (using Insert > Symbol…) to get ñ then Copy and Paste?

(You need to use the numeric keypad for entering the digits – and enter 0241, not just 241)

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Can you insert it into a Word document (using Insert > Symbol…) to get ñ then Copy and Paste?

(You need to use the numeric keypad for entering the digits – and enter 0241, not just 241)

The little dim bulb went off in my head – now I got it. I don’t have a numeric keypad, darn it. I’ll try the copy/paste next time.

Now to find out how to deal with the non-traditional fonts that I had installed on my p.c……

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The little dim bulb went off in my head – now I got it. I don’t have a numeric keypad, darn it. I’ll try the copy/paste next time.

You mean you don’t have any numbers in (probably?) blue on the keys on several rows just to the right of the centre of the laptop keyboard, accessed by pressing the Fn key?
Bit of a pain to use, but that’s what they’re there for!

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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You mean you don’t have any numbers in (probably?) blue on the keys on several rows just to the right of the centre of the laptop keyboard, accessed by pressing the Fn key?
Bit of a pain to use, but that’s what they’re there for!

The font you are using may not support the language you want to use, although I’m fairly sure that Spanish is included in the standard western alphabets. Anyway, any Unicode font will certainly have it, and of the conventional Windows (Office) fonts, I think Palatino Linotype has about the most extensive character set.

For starters, however, I suggest you download and try a program called Fontexpert. It is expensive, at $60, if you decide to purchase, but the 30-day trial should let you explore the character sets and learn or copy enough to have the characters available for future use. (I just happen to be on the verge of purchasing it myself.)

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The font you are using may not support the language you want to use, although I’m fairly sure that Spanish is included in the standard western alphabets. Anyway, any Unicode font will certainly have it, and of the conventional Windows (Office) fonts, I think Palatino Linotype has about the most extensive character set.

For starters, however, I suggest you download and try a program called Fontexpert. It is expensive, at $60, if you decide to purchase, but the 30-day trial should let you explore the character sets and learn or copy enough to have the characters available for future use. (I just happen to be on the verge of purchasing it myself.)

Sorry – busy at work – yes I did find the blue number keys by accident when I was trying to do something else. Just like I found out I can disconnect myself from WIFI when I’m deleting something and I’m not paying a lot of attention where my fingers are going up there. My co-worker isn’t as picky as I thought, but it’s still nice to use the correct characters.

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You might experiment with setting the keyboard to US International – see How To Use the United States-International Keyboard Layout in Windows XP.

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Okay – first of all, I have a co-worker that I email in Spanish. Everything was fine on my old p.c., but I can’t figure out how to do the “~” over the proper letters so that ano doesn’t look bad (there’s supposed to be an ~ over the n). I tried the usual hold down alt key and type in code, but my laptop isn’t cooperating.

Is this instruction file of any assistance, for Word at least?

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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Here is a lively bit of news for you and all others with an interest in such things. Microsoft, at last, has included a Character Map, applicable to all installed fonts, in Windows 7 in Accessories/System Tools. If you care to download the latest release (still freely available, so far as I know) and have a machine or setup to run it on, you can start using it at once. If you plan to migrate to Windows 7, it will be available to you from then on

I should have recommended to you the complementary Lucida series of Windows fonts, and if you would like an open source FREE set of fonts, the dejavu complementary series.

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Here is a lively bit of news for you and all others with an interest in such things. Microsoft, at last, has included a Character Map, applicable to all installed fonts, in Windows 7 in Accessories/System Tools. If you care to download the latest release (still freely available, so far as I know) and have a machine or setup to run it on, you can start using it at once. If you plan to migrate to Windows 7, it will be available to you from then on

I should have recommended to you the complementary Lucida series of Windows fonts, and if you would like an open source FREE set of fonts, the dejavu complementary series.

I’m a font junkie. Do you have any links to these fonts? I’m puzzled by your reference to the Character Map. Is this different from the one included in Windows XP and in Vista?

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Here are some important suggestions that I completely missed, so better late than never. The Microsoft features are not exactly free – you have already paid for them, and all you have to do is download them. (One possible exception is that I am running Vista Ultimate.) The ‘Review’ tab in Word 2007 is one place to look for changes, but there may be changes to font sets as well.

1. DejaVu was a recommendation I made, and you may note that the ‘the derivative called DejaVu LGC covers only Latin, Greek and Cyrillic scripts’. The marginal increase in size for the more extensive set of scripts is small.

2. Go to Control Panel/Windows Update/Available Optional Updates/View Available Updates/Windows Vista Ultimate Language Packs/Spanish Language Pack. I don’t know if you have to have Vista Ultimate to get these, but it seems unlikely. I have just installed Spanish as an experiment; it has given me about 22 different national versions and dialects. At 800 MB, I obviously got a lot of something, but I’m not sure what. I expect I have Spelling and Grammar at least.

3. Download the FREE Windows Font Properties tool from the Microsoft Typography site. Once installed, double-click on the font file, typically in Control Panel/Fonts, then click on Properties in the upper right hand corner of the display, and you will have a display of properties, complete with language sets supported (under the CharSet/Unicode tab). The tool is described HERE, with the download link at the bottom of the page. The other links in that article are may interest you as well.

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