Talk:Tutorial for Developers: Text Input Methods
The Alt method
The Alt method is available on Windows (some parts only from Windows 98 onwards). Is it available on other platforms? Will it be available on the OLPC laptop?
If the general method is available, what happens with Alt 130 on platforms other than Windows?
The following description relates to Microsoft WordPad.
One needs to do the following.
Make sure that the Num Lock key has been used to switch on Number Lock.
Put the cursor line where the character is needed.
Hold down the Alt key
Using the numbers at the right of the keyboard, key a number.
Release the Alt key.
Provided a suitable number has been chosen for keying, a character will appear provided that there is a glyph for it in the font which is being used.
If the number starts with a 0 or is above 255, then the number is the decimal equivalent of the Unicode hexadecimal code for the character: this can be found using Microsoft Calculator using the View | Scientific mode.
If it is below 256 and does not start with a 0 the number refers to a place in a Microsoft code page. Try 130 and a é character will hopefully appear. Try 142 and a Ä character will hopefully appear.
The Unicode Webspace
The Unicode webspace at http://www.unicode.org is a good source of information about the characters used in the various scripts of the world.