CHAT: TECH: Re: CHAT: Cool Mac Unicode

David McCann writes...
>> I don't have a Mac, but I think you can alter that without too much
>> trouble. Have a look at /Library/DTDs/KeyboardLayout.dtd. Of course,
>> finding out what to do with it is another question. I've got ṭ ạ and
>> even ṱ (if it shows up), but that's Linux :-)
Linux here too, at least sometimes, and I've grown to love mapping the
Compose action to the otherwise-redundant (for me) "Menu" key.

Sounds like it's rather similar in notion to the use of Alt on the US
Extended (Unicode) layout on the Mac. Compose notifies the user
interface that the next keypress should be taken as a diacritic
specifier rather than a regular keypress. For instance, hitting
Compose, `, a gives me à, and Compose, ", a gives me ä, using the
standard US English keyboard layout (aside from adding the Compose
key, which is a simple dialog box operation).

I've not yet played with it enough to discover the complete set of
Compose sequences, but it sounds rather much like it's sufficiently
configurable using ... wait ... DTDs? That seems kinda sorta magical,
but I'm sure it makes sense once you get to know it.

Can anyone here help me explore the Compose key further, especially
configuring it? I'm quite comfortable fiddling around inside config
files in any format you can throw at me.

Without resorting to churning out a whole new deadkey-rich layout in
MSKLC, is there a way I get similar functionality in Vista, too, come
to think of it? Oh, and while my brain's on the subject, how about
being able to map the Windows key to perform as Meta -- or as some
other shiftlike state that I can use in programs instead of accessing
high-level Windows operations?



Thanks,



Paul

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