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Ask HN: What symbols would you like to add to the standard keyboard?
I'm aware that there are different sets of special characters for different languages, and that some have a menu system (such as the Japanese input).
What would you like to be commonplace on most people's keyboards?
I'll start with ≈.
- drost 5y ago¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- adhesive_wombat 5y agoThat's Compose+i,d,k for me. The compose key is brilliant and also completely stupid (why is there no way to query the list it's using?)
- krapp 5y ago"Any"
- sethammons 5y ago20 years or so ago, as a highschooler, I thought it was funny the time I called 1-800-compaq1 (or whatever the computer company number was - which was also funny since our phones didn't show a 'z' label, but 'w,x,y' I think, and asked support where the "any" key was as I was "stuck" installing something that required me to press the "any" key to continue. Support person was not amused. "It's any key"; "yeah, sure, but where is that on the keyboard?"; "ugh. It's any key"; " yeah, totally, but where is it? -- oooooh, you mean any key of my choosing? I can press spacebar or "esc"?"
- cato_the_elder 5y agoRainbow flag.
- _Microft 5y agoAre you familiar with compose key sequences? This is a way of extending the set of characters that can be directly typed by having predefined sequences of keys that map to particular characters. They are started after pressing a so called "compose key". There are some examples in this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compose_key https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compose_key
- ciderpunx 5y agoλ
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- stevenalowe 5y agoEvery computer needs a "Hurry Up!" button
- bitwize 5y agoEm and en dashes (‘-’ is a hyphen, not a dash, you bloody illiterates), ellipsis, and paired quotes.
- maxnoe 5y agoCompose key: En dash: Compose - - . Em dash: Compose - - - Ellipsis: Compose . . . 66 quotes: Compose 66 99 quotes: Compose 99
- archontes 5y agoI want a science/engineering Shift key. I want to hold down RShift and get greek and mathematical symbols.
- jfim 5y agoThere were keyboards that were used for entering the various symbols used by APL. See for example the APL2 keyboard: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/APL_syntax_and_symbols https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/APL_syntax_and_symbols
- gedy 5y agoNot standard I suppose but option/alt does this with macos.
- sQEjOG4eEBcsVwU 5y agoInterobang‽
- omosubi 5y agoCopy and paste, zoom that is standard for all applications
- SamReidHughes 5y agoLately I've felt stuck in Dvorak copy/paste hell, where Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V are two-handed or right-handed operations, while using the mouse. I'd want some kind of keys on the left side of the keyboard for that purpose (even insert, for shift+insert or ctrl+insert).
- throwaway889900 5y agoHave you considered a mouse with macro buttons? Or a keyboard with macro buttons?
- SamReidHughes 5y agoNo, and a mouse with macro buttons sounds like a good idea.
- ffwacom 5y agoAn extra meta key like ctrl, alt, super, etc, reserved for the user to define their own key-chord shortcuts.
- b20000 5y agoSPAM and PHISHING buttons to use with email clients
- logicalmonster 5y agoTo me, it's interesting how Apple's Touch Bar on the keyboard often gets criticism from technically oriented people, yet in theory it appears to solve the needs of everybody here: just figure out a way to program your desired key into one of the spaces and you have anything you need. I've never bought one of those machines, so I have to ask, what was the problem with it? Was the issue just not having tactile feedback? In pictures, it appears nice looking at least.
- willcipriano 5y agoI'd remove the apple/windows key. Keyboards should be OS independent.
- Randolf_Scott 5y agoI suppose a section of the keyboard could be designated for use as a scientific calculator? https://i.stack.imgur.com/AMWZj.png https://i.stack.imgur.com/AMWZj.png