Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Windows Alt Code Problem  (Read 10510 times)

Rory

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 528
    • Recent images
Windows Alt Code Problem
« on: October 08, 2015, 01:57:24 pm »

I've installed a new copy of windows 10 and ALT + 251 no longer generates the square root symbol.  Here is what I get:

ALT + 251 = ¹
ALT + 0251 = û
ALT + 8730 = →

Region = Canada
Windows display language = United States

Anyone have any idea how do I change this to get the square root symbol?
Logged
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/roryhi

Otto Phocus

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 655
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2015, 02:44:23 pm »

I would imagine that one of the multitude of windows user fora would be a better place to ask this. 
Logged
I shoot with a Camera Obscura with an optical device attached that refracts and transmits light.

Rory

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 528
    • Recent images
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2015, 02:47:55 pm »

I'm trying that, but I'm always impressed by the knowledge base and generosity of the LuLa community.
Logged
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/roryhi

AlterEgo

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1995
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #3 on: October 08, 2015, 02:54:52 pm »

I've installed a new copy of windows 10 and ALT + 251 no longer generates the square root symbol.  Here is what I get:

ALT + 251 = ¹
ALT + 0251 = û
ALT + 8730 = →

Region = Canada
Windows display language = United States

Anyone have any idea how do I change this to get the square root symbol?

I always use a free MS Keyboard Layout Creator...   https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb964665.aspx

Logged

Bart_van_der_Wolf

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8913
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #4 on: October 08, 2015, 02:58:03 pm »

I've installed a new copy of windows 10 and ALT + 251 no longer generates the square root symbol.  Here is what I get:

ALT + 251 = ¹
ALT + 0251 = û
ALT + 8730 = →

Region = Canada
Windows display language = United States

Anyone have any idea how do I change this to get the square root symbol?

Hi,

You need to also specify a default font that supports ALT+251, and has the square root sign at that position 251.
Does Win 10 still have the "Character map" utility?

Cheers,
Bart
Logged
== If you do what you did, you'll get what you got. ==

Rory

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 528
    • Recent images
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #5 on: October 08, 2015, 03:43:20 pm »

Hi,

You need to also specify a default font that supports ALT+251, and has the square root sign at that position 251.
Does Win 10 still have the "Character map" utility?

Cheers,
Bart

Thanks Bart.  There are no fonts on my computer that support 251 = square root, but it worked on my Windows 7 computer wherever I tried it.  I found it in Character Map: U+221A, which is 8730 in decimal I believe.  Still don't know how to generate this using the ALT key, although using Character Map works.  Doing more research I did not realize this was such a complex topic.
Logged
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/roryhi

Rory

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 528
    • Recent images
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2015, 04:19:00 pm »

An interesting review of windows Character Map.
Logged
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/roryhi

Alan Goldhammer

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4344
    • A Goldhammer Photography
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #7 on: October 08, 2015, 05:07:00 pm »

Bart is correct, you need to have the correct font set selected in order for ALT + number to return the desired character.  In Windows 8.1 the only font set that has the square root sign is 'symbol.'  Your font for Windows 7 was probably different from what you are seeing in Windows 10 which is why you were surprised at the û return.  AFAIK, all ALT + number commands from 0000 through 0255 are supposed to call up the respective extended ASCII character.

Alan
Logged

Rory

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 528
    • Recent images
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #8 on: October 08, 2015, 05:16:51 pm »

I don't think it is quite that simple.  After some experimentation I am finding that ALT+UNICODE is not bringing up the correct symbols either.  For Ascii codes the ALT+Code is showing the DOS: Western Europe character set.  It does not make any difference which conventional font I select - and this was working with conventional fonts before.
Logged
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/roryhi

arobinson7547

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 187
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #9 on: October 08, 2015, 08:03:23 pm »

Rory,

my default font in windows 7 and Windows 8 and windows 10 is Calibri for Word 2016 and Wordpad. And all three generate your symbol with the first code you listed. I tested it for you.
Logged

Rory

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 528
    • Recent images
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #10 on: October 08, 2015, 08:20:50 pm »

Rory,

my default font in windows 7 and Windows 8 and windows 10 is Calibri for Word 2016 and Wordpad. And all three generate your symbol with the first code you listed. I tested it for you.

Thanks.  I wonder how I was able to do it in Windows 7?  It's a little cumbersome, but at least I have the Character Map utility Bart suggested to use (thanks Bart).
Logged
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/roryhi

Bart_van_der_Wolf

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8913
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #11 on: October 09, 2015, 03:47:29 am »

Thanks.  I wonder how I was able to do it in Windows 7?  It's a little cumbersome, but at least I have the Character Map utility Bart suggested to use (thanks Bart).

You're welcome. If you need to type special characters a lot, without having the proper font, just create a small text document with those characters, and copy and paste when needed. That avoids having to use the kind of clunky Character map dialog and searching for a font. If you give the file a distinct name and save it in a location that is indexed by the OS, it's easy to recall the document with a search from the Start button.

Cheers,
Bart
Logged
== If you do what you did, you'll get what you got. ==

fdisilvestro

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1852
    • Frank Disilvestro
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #12 on: October 09, 2015, 07:50:07 am »

Hi,

In applications that are UTF-8 enabled, such as MS Word you can write the U-code followed by ALT+X

So for the square root sign type 221A and then hold the ALT key and press the letter X

This does not work in simple text editors such as notepad, but it works in Wordpad.

Rory

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 528
    • Recent images
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #13 on: October 09, 2015, 10:23:34 am »

I'm using the checkmark in Lightroom to indicate when the metadata and mapping has been completed for all the images in a folder or group of folders.



Prior to updating to Win10 a couple of weeks ago, all I had to do was rename the folder, adding an ALT+251 to the end.  So nothing has changed regarding fonts.  The weird thing is that ALT+#### is not returning the proper unicode symbols.  The only place I can find where ALT+251 = √ is true in the Character Map utility is the character set DOS: United States.  The results I am getting coincide with the character set DOS: Western Europe.
Logged
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/roryhi

Rory

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 528
    • Recent images
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #14 on: October 09, 2015, 12:27:37 pm »

I found the solution, thanks to the help of an ex-microsoft friend, who in turn contacted the right person at microsoft. 

Quote
I assume it's related to the system locale because on a purely US machine I do get with Alt 251 √. Check in the control panel - Region - under the tab of Language for non-Unicode Programs that it's set to English (United States). That might do the trick.

Takes a little homework to find the right dialog but this does the trick.

There does appear to be a bug in Win10 where ALT+#### does not always return the proper unicode symbol.

Thanks for everyone's help which pointed me in the right direction.
Logged
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/roryhi

mediumcool

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 770
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #15 on: October 19, 2015, 10:26:35 am »

And on a Mac, you type Option-V.  :D
Logged
FaceBook facebook.com/ian.goss.39   www.mlkshk.com/user/mediumcool

Rory

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 528
    • Recent images
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #16 on: October 19, 2015, 10:54:44 am »

And on a Mac, you type Option-V.  :D

Yes.  In this respect OSX is way ahead of windows.
Logged
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/roryhi

mediumcool

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 770
Re: Windows Alt Code Problem
« Reply #17 on: October 19, 2015, 05:36:01 pm »

Yes. In this respect OSX is way ahead of windows.

Probably due to the Mac’s nascent emphasis on DTP and typesetting (72 points to the inch?). I was surprised to discover the “hold-down-the-ALT-key and type quickly on the numeric keypad” technique on PCs when I began teaching multimedia at a tertiary level in the ’90s (and all but one of the tutors were Mac-centric) as we struggled with various versions of Windows on the hand-me-down PCs in Room 8.3 (nice little jape).

Reading the history of TrueType is instructive for anyone interested (check out the Windows Rasterizer!); I do wonder if Microsoft’s move to OpenType (with Adobe) had anything to do with royalties paid to Apple over the years as much as it had to improving the font experience in general.
Logged
FaceBook facebook.com/ian.goss.39   www.mlkshk.com/user/mediumcool
Pages: [1]   Go Up