3. Selection of characters

The selection of characters is done as follows:

i.       A hyphen (-) is used when keys should be pressed simultaneously. Hold down the first key and type the following one(s).

ii.      A plus sign (+) is used when keys should be pressed separately – i.e. start the pressing-down process again after the +.

iii.     Windows users: hold down the [alt] key and type the four-digit (starting with 0) on the number pad to get the character, or select the character combination as shown.

iv.     Macintosh users: in most cases, hold down the [option] key and press the specified key – this is often then followed by another character.

[altgr] means the right [alt] or [option] key.

For example, to get the character 'ǫ' you can do one of the following: (1) if the equivalent character (ǫ) is on your keyboard, press the key(s); (2) if you are using Windows, type 0245 on the number pad while holding down the [alt] key; (3) if you are using Mac OS, type 'n' while holding down the [option] key and then type 'o'. The font is designed to be compatible with both Macs and PCs, which means:

v.      The modern Icelandic characters ð Ð þ Þ ý Ý are not in their standard positions. Apologies to those using Icelandic keyboards, but these characters cause real headaches when transferring between platforms. Refer to the table for inserting these characters.

vi.     Characters which do not occur in both the standard Mac and PC font encodings have been disabled (including those mentioned above). If used they will appear as a small triangle ∆.

vii.    You can select different keyboard layouts on both Macs and Windows through the 'Keyboard' control panel. The 'US (International)' keyboard is recommended for those with English language keyboards, as it provides a great many shortcuts for common characters.

viii.   The Character Map (Windows) or Key Caps (Mac) utilities can help you choose and insert characters. Select the ReykholtTimes font once you have started the utility.

References