Adding ascii characters to your posts

Contains help topics such as posting photos to the forum
Post Reply
User avatar
ABQTBird
Posts: 1183
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 1:13 am
Location: Land of Enchantment
Contact:

Adding ascii characters to your posts

Post by ABQTBird »

Sometimes you may want to add a special symbol to your post. For me, the most common symbol is the degree symbol; 185º. Other examples are a Spanish n as in mañana or a Greek letter such as Omega, Ω for ohms. To add a special character, look up the symbol in the charts below and note the number. To create 200 degrees for example, type 200 then hold down the alt key and type 167, which will give you 200º. Another example would be Omega. Just type a number and then alt-234 which results in 75Ω. This is a bit esoteric, but it is rather fun to play with.

Image
Tom in Albuquerque
61-63 Forum Moderator
1962 Corinthian White Hardtop, Medium Chestnut Metallic #89 Leather, A/C, P/W
2003 Premium Torch Red/Performance White HT, Partial Accent Interior, 1 of 47.
Past T-Bird: 1960 Convertible, 1974-1978
User avatar
redstangbob
Posts: 3604
Joined: Fri May 02, 2008 4:06 pm
Location: 40 miles east of Wixom

Re: Adding ascii characters to your posts

Post by redstangbob »

I need to add the £ sign occasionally when communicating with the UK. I could never figure out how to do it from my laptop. It seems it's a fairly common issue with laptops, I've tried several work-arounds. It works fine with a desktop computer, using the numerical keypad on the right side. Any tips? Bob C
It's gonna be cool when it's done
And now it's really cool !!



59 convertible
58 convertible
65 hardtop
User avatar
Alan H. Tast
Posts: 4214
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2003 10:52 pm
Location: Omaha, NE

Re: Adding ascii characters to your posts

Post by Alan H. Tast »

Spell out 'pounds' and then physically do the same to your laptop - teach it a lesson :mrgreen:
Alan H. Tast, AIA
Technical Director/Past President,
Vintage Thunderbird Club Int'l.
Author, "Thunderbird 1955-1966" & "Thunderbird 50 Years"
1963 Hardtop & 1963 Sports Roadster
User avatar
ABQTBird
Posts: 1183
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 1:13 am
Location: Land of Enchantment
Contact:

Re: Adding ascii characters to your posts

Post by ABQTBird »

I need to add the £ sign occasionally when communicating with the UK. I could never figure out how to do it from my laptop. It seems it's a fairly common issue with laptops, I've tried several work-arounds. It works fine with a desktop computer, using the numerical keypad on the right side. Any tips? Bob C
Bob, I have the same problem except my laptop has a right-side keyboard. For some reason it does not work using the top row numeric keys. My recommendation would be to create the pound sign in a Notepad file on your desktop and just copy the file over to your laptop with a usb stick or just email it to yourself. Then you could just open the file and copy the character.

I found this note, I don't know why this is so.
Note: all the numbers in this article have to be typed on the number pad part of the keyboard with the Num Lock button set ON – the number keys on the top row, above the letters, won’t work. This limitation is one of the reasons why we didn’t mention this in the accent article.
Tom in Albuquerque
61-63 Forum Moderator
1962 Corinthian White Hardtop, Medium Chestnut Metallic #89 Leather, A/C, P/W
2003 Premium Torch Red/Performance White HT, Partial Accent Interior, 1 of 47.
Past T-Bird: 1960 Convertible, 1974-1978
User avatar
60fore
Posts: 2144
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:17 pm
Location: Edmonton, Alberta

Re: Adding ascii characters to your posts

Post by 60fore »

Interesting stuff. Tom, do you know of a way to create the trademark (TM) symbol and the registered trademark (R within a circle)?
Currently Birdless....we'll see how long that lasts!

Past Birds: 1962 Hardtop Corinthian White "The Survivor"
1964 Hardtop Gunmetal Gray "60Fore"
1986 Turbo Coupe Regatta Blue
User avatar
55Greg&Amy
Posts: 1195
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2008 8:43 am

Re: Adding ascii characters to your posts

Post by 55Greg&Amy »

I have a Mac and used a google search to find all the symbols and how to type them. ®, ©, ™, , It looks like I have 255 different symbols.
Greg Minnich
Kendallville, IN
User avatar
ABQTBird
Posts: 1183
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 1:13 am
Location: Land of Enchantment
Contact:

Re: Adding ascii characters to your posts

Post by ABQTBird »

Interesting stuff. Tom, do you know of a way to create the trademark (TM) symbol and the registered trademark (R within a circle)?
Trademark is alt-0153

Registered trademark is alt-0174 ®

Copyright is alt-0169 ©

I changed the font size on these to large because they were pretty hard to see on this screen. In something more sophisticated like Word, you can hunt for these in the symbol set, and then superscript it. But if you just jot down the code number above, you can do it on the fly.

Apparently, these characters are a Microsoft implementation. They may not be available on a Mac. Here is a tutorial on Character Map that may be useful also: http://symbolcodes.tlt.psu.edu/accents/charmap.html
Tom in Albuquerque
61-63 Forum Moderator
1962 Corinthian White Hardtop, Medium Chestnut Metallic #89 Leather, A/C, P/W
2003 Premium Torch Red/Performance White HT, Partial Accent Interior, 1 of 47.
Past T-Bird: 1960 Convertible, 1974-1978
tbird
Posts: 2586
Joined: Sat May 10, 2008 11:07 pm
Location: Tyndall MB. Canada

Re: Adding ascii characters to your posts

Post by tbird »

Alan's method is what I commonly use to fix my computer, just beat it until it gives up.
Jim Mills
VTCI # 8071
VTCI 1964-66 Technical Editor
2002 Thunderbird
1965 Convertible
1962 Convertible (in progress)
1959 Ford Retractable HT
Many parts cars
User avatar
redstangbob
Posts: 3604
Joined: Fri May 02, 2008 4:06 pm
Location: 40 miles east of Wixom

Re: Adding ascii characters to your posts

Post by redstangbob »

Apparently some laptops have a numberlock key, many don't. The quickest way to get to the character map in Windows is Press Start, and in the Search box type "charmap" . You can select between lots of languages and special characters. £®™©°
It's gonna be cool when it's done
And now it's really cool !!



59 convertible
58 convertible
65 hardtop
User avatar
ABQTBird
Posts: 1183
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 1:13 am
Location: Land of Enchantment
Contact:

Re: Adding ascii characters to your posts

Post by ABQTBird »

Thanks for the shortcut, Bob. Otherwise you have to navigate the menu: Programs » Accessories » System Tools » Character Map as described in the hyperlink above. Once there however, you can also make a shortcut on the desktop or taskbar (Win7,8) by right clicking on it.
Tom in Albuquerque
61-63 Forum Moderator
1962 Corinthian White Hardtop, Medium Chestnut Metallic #89 Leather, A/C, P/W
2003 Premium Torch Red/Performance White HT, Partial Accent Interior, 1 of 47.
Past T-Bird: 1960 Convertible, 1974-1978
User avatar
60fore
Posts: 2144
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:17 pm
Location: Edmonton, Alberta

Re: Adding ascii characters to your posts

Post by 60fore »

Thanks for the assistance everyone.

Bob, I owe you a beer at WHIKSIK™ :mrgreen:
Currently Birdless....we'll see how long that lasts!

Past Birds: 1962 Hardtop Corinthian White "The Survivor"
1964 Hardtop Gunmetal Gray "60Fore"
1986 Turbo Coupe Regatta Blue
User avatar
ABQTBird
Posts: 1183
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 1:13 am
Location: Land of Enchantment
Contact:

Re: Adding ascii characters to your posts

Post by ABQTBird »

I just tried this on another laptop, so for laptops that do not have the keypad, but have the dual purpose numeric keys, you can press alt-fn-code if you don't want to use the Character Map.
Tom in Albuquerque
61-63 Forum Moderator
1962 Corinthian White Hardtop, Medium Chestnut Metallic #89 Leather, A/C, P/W
2003 Premium Torch Red/Performance White HT, Partial Accent Interior, 1 of 47.
Past T-Bird: 1960 Convertible, 1974-1978
Post Reply