Adding symbols to posts

ä <alt> 0228
Ä <alt> 0196
ö <alt> 0246
Ö <alt> 0214
ü <alt> 0252
Ü <alt> 0220
(In case you don't see the pattern, caps are always 32 (Øx20) less than small letters)
ß <alt> 0223
I use them all the time, committed to memory. Also,
° <alt> 0176
± <alt> 0177
² <alt> 0178
½ <alt> 0189
usw

I think these codes only work on PCs, but MACs have a way, too.

It also depends on your operating system. We use Linux, and many Windows key combinations and shortcuts don't work. Use google or whatever search engine you have to find out how your own system works.

For ours, we use alt-key combinations to combine symbols, so I can make Polish characters like ł ż ę etc., as well as € and £. The barred l is alt+l+/, € is alt+e+=. It might vary with your word processor, as well, if that's what you use to write posts and PMs.

Your keyboard needs the Alt key to make this work.

For anyone with a Mac, use the Option key.

For ours, we use alt-key combinations to combine symbols, so I can make Polish characters like ł ż ę etc., as well as € and £

Jane, I added a German keyboard to my Mac, and am able to change it back and forth with a quick keystroke.

On a Mac, if you like those longer hyphens (— instead of -), just key in Option + Shift + Dash for the long (em) dash or Option + Dash for the mid-size (en) dash.

Mardee, I had our computer set up to switch between standard US keyboard and a Spanish one, but that somehow went away on an OS upgrade (along with a couple other features we liked. Grrr.)

I do end up using French, Spanish, Polish, and Portuguese characters, so figuring out the key combos works, most of the time. I haven't been able to figure out how to distinguish between acute and grave accents in French, for example. I figure that if and when I ever need to type anything longer than a sentence here and there, I'll go search out foreign keyboards again.

On a Mac, HOLD down the key you want to add the accent. example: hold down the e key. You will get choices, select the choice you want: è é ê ë ě ẽ ē ė e. The euro sign is €- shift option 2. (works on an iPhone too)

For emojis and other dingbats; go to the edit menu>Emoji and Symbols and choose the emoji you want
♥︎●

No need to learn alt key numbers.

BTW, on a windows PC, use the start button and go down to "Windows", "Accessories" and pick the "Character Map"; pin it to your Task bar. Then you can select any character in your font's map, like €, ß, °, ½, etc.

And, this website accepts HTML ampersand codes, like &lt; for the less than symbol, <.