Showing posts with label keyboard shortcuts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label keyboard shortcuts. Show all posts

Thursday, June 25, 2020

Hebrew Vowels (Niqud) for Google Docs on Chromebooks

I have figured out how to insert vowels into Google Docs on a Chromebook. If this is documented fully anywhere, I haven't found it. Wikipedia is blank on this.

This is for Chromebooks and some newer PCs. It does not work on older PCs. (For Niqud in Windows, see this post.)

If you need a refresher on setting up Hebrew in Google Docs / on a Chromebook, see my post here.

The key (pun fully intended) to doing this is the Alt Graph key, often abbreviated AltGr. Don't panic. You do so have one. It's the Alt Key to the right of the spacebar.


When you are in Hebrew on a Chromebook (Ctrl + Spacebar to switch back and forth), position the cursor after the letter under/over which you wish to insert a vowel. Hold the AltGr (again, the Alt Key to the right of the spacebar) plus the following keys to insert niqqud.

(There's kind of a mnemonic to it - for many of the basic vowels, the key is the Hebrew letter that begins the name of the vowel. So [AltGR +] the ח'‏ key (J) for חירק; the צ'‏ (M) for צירה, the ד'‏ for דגש; the ש'‏ for שוא. The תנועות חטופות are immediately to the right of their counterparts. So פ'‏ (P) for פתח and the [ key for חטף פתח; the ק'‏ (E) for קמץ and the ר'‏ (R) for חטף קמץ; and the ס'‏ (X) for סגול and the ב'‏ (C) for חטף סגול.  The ו'‏‏ (U) is also the dot for the חולם. The backslash \ looks like a קבוץ, I guess.
Since the A is the ש'‏ key, the key to its upper right (W) puts the dot for the shin, and the  key to its upper left (Q) puts the dot for the sin.)



Key Combo
Vowel / Symbol
AltGr + E (ק)
קמץ
AltGr + R (רׂׂ)
חטף קמץ
AltGr + P (פ)
פתח
AltGr + [
חטף פתח
AltGr + X (ס)
סגול
AltGr + C (ב)
חטף סגול
AltGr + U (ו)
חולם dot
AltGr + J (ח)
חירק
AltGr + M (צ)
צירה
AltGr + S (ד)
דגש (also the dot for שורק)
AltGr + A (ש)
שוא
AltGr + \
קבוץ
AltGr + W
dot for שִׁין
AltGr + Q
dot for שִׂין
AltGr + 7
מתג
AltGr + -
מקף
AltGr + ‘/” 
גרשים a/k/a tzupchik -  רש״י
AltGr + `/~
ר׳ - גרש
AltGr + ;
Bottom of the line quote mark - „
AltGr + 
Quote mark proper direction - ”
AltGr + 4
New Israeli Shekel NIS
AltGr + ]
רפה mark - רֿ
Niqqud for Chromebooks  © Jeff Kuperman 2020


Downloadable copy can  be accessed here.

Monday, August 1, 2016

Some helpful hints on using Chromebooks

Many people used to using a computer mouse are stymied at first when using the trackpad on the Chromebooks.

The secret to Chromebooks is


You do not need to make the trackpad go "click" when you hit it. Try practicing the gentlest touch you can muster until you can close a tab, for example. You'd be surprised. 

Here are a few (gentle) finger motions to practice on the trackpad.:
Two-finger tap = right click
(using the tips of your index and middle finger together at one time. Gently.)
Two-finger swipe (vertical) = scroll (it's just a gentle rub, a light tickle, up or down the pad with two finger-tips)
I will admit - I have more trouble pulling off the three-finger motions.
Three-finger tap = open link in new tab
(or you can two-finger tap and tap (gently) "open in new tab"
Three-finger swipe (horizontal)  = switch tabs

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Add a custom character in Chrome

One of the strange things about the world of Chromebooks is that certain shortcuts don't work anymore, or work the way they used to. 
For example, if you're on a PC in Word, and you type alt+10003, you'll insert a check mark. √

If you're in Chrome and on a PC, you can do that by typing alt+251. See? √.

But if you're on a Chromebook, gornisht helfen as my people say. (Nothing helps.)

If you're in Google Docs, you can go to Insert > Special Characters > and then search for Check Mark. Click it and it will insert a check mark into your doc. If you need one elsewhere (like if you're correcting a pdf in Google Classroom on Kami), you can do that in Google Docs first and copy and paste it. Every. Single. Time. You. Need. One.

OR
You can add the Special Characters extension to Chrome. Highlight and copy a check mark (Here - take mine √ ).
Right click the extension in the upper-right hand corner  

and choose Options. 


Click Add Character, paste the check into the empty box. Name it and save it. (And, while you're at it, you can delete the standard characters in the English set if you don't need them.)

Now, whenever you need a check mark (or whatever it is you need to insert not infrequently into text - a winky face or a skull and crossbones) click on the extension and select the mark, and it will now be copied to your clipboard, ready for you to hit ctrl+v, which, happily, still works on Chromebooks. 
(Or right-click, Paste, if you can't give up your mouse.) 
Et voila - √  😉 or ☠ or whatever.


Why'd they take the Delete key away on Chromebooks? And other useful shortcuts

True, they took away the Delete key (and the Home/End keys, and the PrtScr key, et cetera) but all these functions are still available on the Chromebook with the built-in keyboard shortcuts.



First, on your Chromebook type Ctrl + Shift +? (meaning hold down the ctrl and shift keys and then hit the question mark key.) You will get an interactive keyboard map. Proceed to hit each modifier key, one by one (ctrl, shift, alt) and then in combinations. The map will show you what each key or combo does with the various keyboard keys.

Besides your old favorites like ctrl + c (Copy) and ctrl+v (Paste) there are dozens more.

ctrl+shift+up/down arrow will emulate the Home and End keys.

alt+backspace = delete


ctrl + switch window  (that's the show all windows .key) = Print Screen

Here's a list of the shortcuts, for easy reference.

Here's an even longer one, including a lot of foreign language accents. 

Explore and discover the possibilities!


Thursday, July 21, 2016

Keyboard shortcut for switching languages the NEW way on Chromebooks

I started computing in the late 80s, and since the Days of DOS, Alt+Shift has been the keyboard shortcut for switching between language inputs. For me, it's been the way I switch between Hebrew and English. And up until recently, that was the way you still switched languages on a Chromebook in the 21st century..

I do not know why Chromebooks have abandoned that, but abandon it they have. The new keyboard shortcut for switching between languages is (drumroll, please)...

Control+Spacebar 

That is all.