Comments | tracerj: That which is foreign.

tracerj

That which is foreign.

Jan 19, 2010 11:30

I discovered a new annoyance yesterday. It started with a small joy, as these things often do.

For the Thirteen Ribbons source files, I have been keeping the text to 7-bit clean ASCII. The reason for this was solely because of FurAffinity, which didn't take the codepage into account at all and didn't even bother converting ISO 8859-1 to UTF-8 ( Read more... )

Comments 5

shatterstripes January 19 2010, 22:53:04 UTC

Or get a Mac; I've been able to type alt-e, o to get ó for the entire time I've had one, and before that I think my Amiga let me do the same process.

It's… how long since Windows was first released? And you still have to do that alt-three-digit-code method to type anything but flat ASCII? You're just now getting the ability to enter them in a more fluid way, as a weird half-unsupported feature? What the fuck, Microsoft?!? Geeze.

Not an actual platform flame, use what works for you based on all the decisions of price, switching cost, and software availability. Just… holy fuck that operating system is all corners.

tracerj January 19 2010, 23:34:42 UTC

Well, Windows apps consistently use the Alt key for program functions and such, so I can see why it's not the first choice for alternate keyboard mappings. Really, I think we just need to quit having Caps Lock keys and start having Compose keys. There may be a way to map that, actually, but... hell if I know. Windows is indeed a mess of backwards compatibility with long-running standards, and that includes double-bucky keystroke clusters, unusual interface choices, and mice with second and third buttons ( ... )

baxil January 20 2010, 01:42:18 UTC

Various suggestions, in order of decreasing feasibility/workflow integration:

Use jEdit's macro feature to your benefit. If it lets you map macros to keystroke combinations, then look up the accents you need, make macros that insert one of them at the current character position, and then map them to something like Alt+Shift+O or Ctrl+Alt+A.
Use poor man's macros. Write "Flosadóttir" as "Flosado#ttir" or something similar; before exporting the story, do a search-replace with o# for ó.
Use the clipboard to your benefit. Write with a browser window open in the background to http://copypastecharacter.com, alt-tab to it and click on the accented character that you need every time you get to one, and then alt-tab back to jEdit and paste.
Memorize all the codes you need, type them in every time, and curse technology under your breath.
Buy (and write your stories on) a Mac, as per shatterstripes' comment. Simplest but costly.

Edited to add: Wikipedia's AltGr article is interesting ( ... )

blastedheath January 20 2010, 03:02:46 UTC

I'd suggest giving up on it, myself-- assume that the reader already knows how a name is supposed to be pronounced, or wouldn't know how an accent mark affects pronunciation in the first place. This is what I like to call the 'sour grapes' approach, because I have a terrible time with 'normal' pronunciations already and enjoy saying 'fuck it' to myself.

Personally, I have a devil of a time trying to get UTF-8 to display properly. I suspect that it's something messed up in my XP install's language system, or the fonts I use simply don't have characters to match the encoding.

robotech_master January 20 2010, 05:45:21 UTC

I've basically just memorized the alt-codes I use most often: 0151 for emdash, 0133 for ellipsis, 130 for the é in animé (yes, I'm one of few people who still uses the accent mark for that whenever I'm in a forum that accepts special characters), 138 for the è in Arsène Lupin.

Really messes me up when I'm in Linux, though. :P