{"id":1257,"date":"2010-06-01T20:57:47","date_gmt":"2010-06-01T10:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/?p=1257"},"modified":"2010-06-01T20:57:56","modified_gmt":"2010-06-01T10:57:56","slug":"charmap-of-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/2010\/06\/01\/charmap-of-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Charmap of the Future"},"content":{"rendered":"
This is one of those slightly whingy posts, where the author doesn’t bother to do any research about the history or alternatives, but just has a quick rant, and then gets on with his day.<\/div>\n

Back in the old days {When? Describe what technology was like in those days to give people a feel}, I transcribing lots of articles about \u00ce\u00b3-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) {reference?}, so I memorised the ALT-keycode{what’s the proper name?} combination {What’s the magic number and describe the process} for \u00ce\u00b3 {will this lower-case gamma work on other people’s browsers? Wait, that’s upper case! Go check, and reference the Unicode #.}, but these days I have to search Google {add a link to the search term} for a character so I can cut-and-paste {shouldn’t it be copy-and-paste?} it.<\/p>\n

These days, I use non-English characters rarely – perhaps once in every 50,000 words I type? {Find a way to check that stat.} The problem is that it is so hard to include such characters with an English keyboard in Windows. If it was easy, my use would sky-rocket to once every 5,000 words I type. {Bold claim. Doubt it is true. How will you support it? Try using Sapir-Whorf to baffle brains; you could show that having more foreign characters available makes foreign concepts easier to pick up. Beautiful, but is that how you spell Sapir-Whorf?}<\/p>\n

Charmap {I bet that’s not the right name. I bet is it Character Map Tool, or something like that} is an application shipped with Windows {which versions? is it in Windows 7?} which allows you page page down through the thousands {estimate} of characters {Is character the right word? I bet it is called a pictogram or something like that} available in your font {or is it font-face? Whatever.}<\/p>\n

In order to insert a character, you have to go through a long sequence of keystrokes {I don’t know if there a shortcut?} including paging through tiny pictogram after tiny pictogram {?}. When you select it, it gets put in a buffer. Then you press copy and it is in your clipboard to paste into another application.<\/p>\n

If we have learn one thing from Google and Windows Vista {Oooh, I bet the Apple-heads will point out this was a feature of the original Macintosh. Better find out when it appeared in their world.} it is that searching is the best interface {best? prove it, or reduce the claim} way to find a single item from hundreds. {Is that really the best distinction for when search is best? Citation needed. Soften the claim by mentioning that you need to have aliases recorded too, or people will point out that if you don’t know the right word you’ll never find it.}<\/p>\n

The Pictogram Map Tool Utility Application (PMTUA) {Or whatever Charmap is officially called in Windows. Add a link too, for people who want to learn more!} of the Future should be quite different.<\/p>\n

{Oh, and research IME – whatever that stands for, and make sure it doesn’t already do what you are asking for, or you will look like an ignorant monolinguistic fool.}<\/p>\n

Unlike today {? Double-check, especially Windows 7?}, PMTUA Of The Future should have a hot key to launch quickly – let me emphasize that! – quickly, and offer a text box to type the name<\/em> of the character – “degrees” will get you °; “pi” will get you Π and π. “Arrows” will get you a large selection of options.<\/p>\n

When you find the right charactergram, you have several options:<\/p>\n