International times
I have a problem with keyboard layouts. As I earn my living as a programmer, it is imperative that I have easy access to the various keys and characters that are normally used for programming purposes (braces, brackets, greater than-signs etc.). Invariably, international keyboard layouts shift these around to make room for local characters. As a norwegian living in Portugal, I need to access both norwegian and portuguese letters, as well as to the keys I use in my daily work. So far I have had three keyboard layouts active, and switched between them with a keystroke, but this becomes cumbersome, as the keys have different positions depending on which layout is selected, and also on which OS I run. I have therefore now standardized on one keyboard layout (English), and have defined special key bindings for the characters I need frequently. For instance, pressing CTRL-Z followed by N and A, gives me "å". The key combinations have a mnemonic component. CTRL-Z is my "trigger", and then the N means Norwegian. The next keystroke is the letter to modify. CTRL-Z P A gives the portuguese modification of A, which is "ã".
posted at: 11:01 | path: | permanent link to this entry