OS X’s Keyboard Viewer (U.S.)

Keyboard Viewer (U.S.) — Typesetting For The Rest Of Us
Once upon a time when we said Key Caps and not KeyCaps, Mac OS 9 had a utility called — you guessed it — Key Caps. It was an Apple Menu Item. Easy to use, even for those of us who never admit to knowing how to type (more about another time).

Key Caps went away with OS X and the item was replaced by Keyboard Viewer. I spent years mourning my loss. Until I figured out how to use Keyboard Viewer.

To see Keyboard Viewer, you need to set it up. This is a one-time event, very easy to do.

Setting Up Keyboard Viewer
In System Preferences, click on the International icon in the Personal section, then click on the Input Menu pane and check Keyboard Viewer. Close System Preferences.

A U.S. flag appears in the Menu Bar. Stop counting the stars and stripes and click the flag. A drop-down menu appears. Click Show Keyboard Viewer. (This command is like a toggle switch, so to hide Keyboard Viewer, click on Hide Keyboard Viewer.)

Using Keyboard Viewer

Just like any other cool tool palette, Keyboard Viewer sits on top of whatever window you’re working in until you minimize it. But unlike most tool palettes, it is application-independent, so it’s there for you to use in Word or Quark or InDesign or wherever. Just make sure you maximize the window the first time you use it, otherwise you’ll be like the New York cop who stopped me once for speeding to a Mets game, squinted at my dirty license plate and said, “Hey Lady. I can’t distinct da lettahs.”

Keyboard Viewer responds by highlighting whatever key you’re pressing on your keyboard. You can also mouse click the keys right in Keyboard Viewer and they will appear in your document, wherever you placed your cursor.

Using Keyboard Viewer To Make Accented Characters

Forging ahead, let’s say you want to make an é, or as our French friends would say, an «e, accent aigu.» It’s a two-hit deal: 1) you need to click the accent key and 2) you need to click the letter key. Just like in Key Caps. Only Keyboard Viewer teaches you how to fish: all you have to do is memorize what five keys turn into which accents when the option key is pressed.

Before we begin, click your cursor where you want the letter to appear in your document.

Hold down the option key on your keyboard. Or, you can click on the option key in Keyboard Viewer. Your choice. Notice the option keys in Keyboard Viewer turn gray and 5 keys become orange. Note them well. These are all the accents you need to make accented characters with a U.S. keyboard. One of them is the «accent aigu,» the e key when the option key is not pressed.

So holding down the option key, click the aigu (some say “acute”) accent in Keyboard Viewer. The orange keys disappear and an “´”appears in your window to the left of your cursor, highlighted in (guess what) orange.

Now click the é that has taken the place of the orange-colored ´ key. (Or, you can click the e key on your keyboard, no matter.) «et voilà, mon chèr général,» an é appears in your document.


Accented Character Chart

Here is a copy of a 22 year-old dog-eared, flea-bitten, coffee-stained, folded, torn and all forlorn chart from my Mac design and typesetting days.

I used it with Key Caps. Now that I have Keyboard Viewer, I no longer need it, but I still keep it in my wallet because, well, who knows why:

Accented Character Chart

á option+e, then a

à option+`, then a

â option+i, then a

ä option+u, then a

å option+a

é option+e, then e

è option+`, then e

ê option+i, then e

ë option+u, then e

í option+e, then i

ì option+`, then i

î option+i, then i

ï option+u, then i

ó option+e, then o

ò option+`, then o

ô option+i, then o

ö option+u, then o

ú option+e, then u

ù option+`, then u

ü option+u, then u

û option+i, then u

ç option+c

ñ option+n, then n

« option+\

» option+shift+|

¿ option+shift+?

• option+8

¡ option+1

By the way, Keyboard Viewer also work with other ANSI keyboards, for instance those designed to work with Windows OS software.

Say you have a USB Microsoft ergonomic or a Dell USB keyboard sold in North America (ergo, an ANSI keyboard). No harm. We can’t all be cool. Step right up and plug it into your Mac. Just don’t blame me if shortly afterwards you see smoke seeping out of your computer (kidding).

OS X’s Keyboard Setup Assistant will take you through some steps to determine what kind of keyboard it is — ANSI (North America), ISO (sold in other parts of the world — it has an additional key in between the Left-hand Shift key and the Z key ) or JIS (your guess is as good as mine — I’ve never seen one, but then I don’t type in Japanese. Oh. I forgot. I don’t type at all).
If you use a USB keyboard made for Windows, remember that the Windows key functions the same as the Command (Apple) key and the Alt key is the same as the option key.


Two Little Keyboard Appetizers

If you’re a klutz like me and sometimes hit the caps lock key by mistake, and don’t really ever want to use ALL CAPS, there’s a way to turn it off. To disable the Caps Lock key, go to System Preferences, click the Keyboard & Mouse icon, click on the Modifier Keys button (in Keyboard pane) and change Caps Lock to No Action.

To force two contiguous words to stay together on the same line, avoiding the last word of a paragraph appearing solo on a new line (is that still called a widow??), hold down the option key while pressing the space bar.