The Quick Unicode Input tool - an informal introduction
There are more characters in the world than will fit on our keyboards.
Most of us learn this quite early on, usually when having to type names in foreign languages. Even without a Spanish keyboard, you learn early on that you can type Paco Peña on any keyboard with a bit of ingenuity. Even if you don't have a French keyboard, you still work out (eventually) how to type Glière. [For ñ, hold down the Alt key, type 0, 2, 4, 1, then release the Alt key. For è, it's 0, 2, 3, 2].
Here are the letters you can type like this: À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ð Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö Ø Œ Š Ù Ú Û Ü Ý Ÿ Ž Þ ß à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ð ñ ò ó ô õ ö ø œ š ù ú û ü ý ÿ ž þ. For any other letter, forget it: the simple method doesn't work.
Unicode - the solution
Unicode is a system whose aim is to assign a unique code to every printable character from every alphabet in the world. So you can talk about Janáček just as easily as Fauré, Lutosławski just as easily as Händel. Unicode is one of the great achievements of modern scholarship: it can display any character from any language, living or dead. But there is one snag. ("Unicode" is a trademark of the Unicode Consortium).
Unicode - the problem
Windows has no standard method for typing Unicode characters.
Apparently Microsoft's idea was that no-one wants to be able to type foreign words. Your only reason for wanting to type (say) a Greek word would be if you were actually Greek. In that case you would install the Greek keyboard layout into Windows and type your Greek words using that.
So Windows has no provision for an "Alt+number" way of typing Unicode characters. To type Janáček, Lutosławski and Beyoğlu, you first have to know that the words are Czech, Polish and Turkish, and switch to a Czech, Polish or Turkish keyboard to type them (and then, of course, have fun guessing which key, on one of those keyboards, types which letter). Without knowing that Mohorovičić was Croatian you're not allowed to type his name. Even if you know that Sei Shōnagon was Japanese, you still can't type her name because no Windows keyboard layout has the letter ō.
The only alternative that Windows provides is the charmap utility (or the equivalent Insert Symbol command in Microsoft Word). This lets you scroll through a list of all possible Unicode characters, and you can click on them, copy them to the Clipboard, and paste them into whatever you are typing. This is an excellent utility but it's impossibly cumbersome unless your use of Unicode characters is very, very rare.
The Quick Unicode Input solution - part one
If you install our Quick Unicode Input tool then your troubles are almost at an end. Once you have worked out that Alt+2,6,9 represents č, you can type Janáček and you are half way to Mohorovičić.
Some specific Windows programs already do this for you, but their support is erratic and inconsistent. Even among Microsoft's own software, Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer don't handle these codes at all. The result is that there is no way that (for example) you can fill in a form or do a Google search in Greek unless you first install a Greek keyboard.
Quick Unicode Input brings one, single, simple, consistent, straightforward method of typing Unicode characters to all Windows programs.
The decimal code problem
How do you find out the code for č in the first place? Unless you find someone who has a made a list of Unicode characters and their decimal codes, it is hard. The trouble is that all the official Unicode documentation refers to characters by their hexadecimal code: ğ is U+011F, Ł is U+0141, Ω is U+03A9. Microsoft's charmap utility gives exactly the same hexadecimal code when you click on each letter in its chart.
Microsoft Word, and some other Microsoft programs (but again, not Internet Explorer or Windows Explorer) have attempted to solve the problem. What they want you to do is type the code first, and then Alt+X to convert the hexadecimal digits to a letter. Word and WordPad operate in subtly and confusingly different ways, but even when you have got over the differences you can run into trouble. To write the word "poseł" they expect you to type "pose142" and then press Alt+X. But the trouble is that Word then interprets "e142" as the hexadecimal code of a Unicode character and displays "pos" on the screen in place of "poseł". It gets very distracting, having to look over your typing the whole time to see what keystrokes Word has misunderstood.
And, of course, this particular technique only applies to one or two Windows programs anyway.
The Quick Unicode Input solution - part two
Quick Unicode Input solves this problem too. In fact, this was the first problem that the tool was built to solve. To type the character whose code is U+0141, hold down Alt, type .,1.4.1, then release Alt. (That first "." in the sequence is the decimal point on the numeric keypad). To type the character whose code is U+03A9, hold down Alt, type .,3,A,9, then release Alt.
This single simple solution works with all Windows programs that can accept Unicode input. And it doesn't interfere with any solutions that your existing programs might already be using - whether they use Alt+X or anything else.
You may be thinking - where are the hexadecimal digits A to F? You have two choices: you can use the letters A to F on your normal keyboard, or you can take advantage of the way that the Quick Unicode Input tool reinterprets the numeric keypad after you've typed that crucial first numeric-keypad decimal point:
| A | B | C | |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | D |
| 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | E |
| 0 | F | ||
This is quick to learn, but the best thing is that you don't even need to learn it if you don't want to, because the normal keyboard will work just as well (even though it's a little less convenient for your fingers).
The Quick Unicode Input solution - part three
This is a simple matter of convenience: if you want to open the charmap utility, just hold down the Alt key, press the decimal point on the numeric keypad, then release the Alt key.
Why did we write the Quick Unicode Input tool?
- For the greater glory of Cardbox. Cardbox is an excellent end-user database and everyone should know it, buy it, and use it.
- To make life easier for Unicode users everywhere.
- To spread the use of the simple "Alt+." convention, in the hope that one day all Windows programs will (like Cardbox) support it without needing a special utility.
Price
The Quick Unicode Input tool is free.
More information
See the links in the main page.