Jim Phillips writes:

> (The following information was scanned from the pages of the
> AICS Research laboratory notebook)
[big snip]
> The AICS solution is have the end-user type the standard character
> (such as the letter "o") and then press a function key that modifies
> the standard letter in a known, circular pattern (in our example,
> the letter "o" would cycle through o-umlaut, o-grave, o-accent, o-tilde,
> etc. finally coming back to the standard letter "o").

Ugh.  Workable, but hardly "typist-friendly."

> An option was discussed that would allow the
> end-user to select a language preference in the terminal options
> (unrelated to the keyoard language selection), that would control
> which "enhanced" character appears first.

I'm not convinced this would help.

> The DS (Demon Spawn) solution was reviewed and found sadly lacking.  In
> order to type a foreign language character, the end-user is required to
> navigate some pull-down menus, select a font set that has the character
> needed, and select the character by either double-clicking it or
> cut-and-pasting it to the application.

I don't know which DS app was tried, but chances are it wasn't
DS Word 97.

Fortunately, DS has improved the technique over the years, so that
now there's actually some thought behind it.  While it always takes
me several aborted attempts to determine which menu option is needed
(it's Insert -> Symbol...), once I find the char (say, o-umlaut)
it is relatively easy to remember for when I need it again (in the
short term).  In this example, it's Control+: o (control-colon oh,
where the colon is like a tipsy umlaut).

Of course, diacriticals have been on the Mac since day 1, but you
knew that. :)  Their philosophy is slightly different.  For example,
since the tilde [~] is "most often" used over 'n', the you get this
diacritical with Option+n n.  To get the tilde over other characters
where it makes sense, you still start with Option-n.  Use "Key Caps"
under the Apple menu for experimenting.  Note the wide border displayed
around some keys when pressing Option.


> The test subject affirmed the AICS belief that easier is better.
> The AICS algorithm for entering diacriticals was clearly superior,
> in both utility and ease-of-use.

For the intended use of diacriticals in the AICS app, this may well
be true.  But for more than extremely-casual use, it would be a pain
(IMHO, of course).

--Glenn