larryni.me.uk

If, like myself, you are using an english keyboard layout then you won’t have easy access to accented letters, umlauts, or special characters like the copyright symbol. Sure, there’s unicode which you can enter using the number pad. But who can remember all the codes without a cheat sheet? An easier way is to use the Compose Key in Gnome. Once activated it will enable you to enter a lot of these characters with just a few easy to figure out/remember keystrokes.

To activate it open System > Preferences > Keyboard and click the Layout Options tab. Expand the Compose key position option.

I used the right Win key, but pick any one that’s not already in use on your system. Close the preferences window.

To use the key, press it once followed by a couple of keystrokes. Here are a few examples:

é - Win key > e > '
à - Win key > a > `
î - Win key > i > ^
ä - Win key > a > "
¿ - Win key > ? > ?
¡ - Win key > ! > !
č - Win key > c > <
© - Win key > c > o
¢ - Win key > c > |

Feel free to add your own in the comments, I’m sure there’s many more.