How do I...

Hola everyone,

How do I use the online keyboard provided by RL to make an uppercase letter on the "Write It!" test? Is there even supposed to be accented uppercase letter in Spanish?

Adios, hasta luego!

I can type in uppercase letters by hitting the shift bar on my keyboard.  However, I do not see how to create uppercase accented letters using their keyboard.  You also use some sort of input method editor.

I don't use their keyboard personally. I find it easier to cut and paste the letters in from a notepad file.

Anyway, to access the accented letters, just hit the AltGr key.

I dropped points on one of the module tests because of this! I had to start a setence with an accented 'El' (he) but because I could not find the capital accented letter I started to doubt myself and decided when letters were capitals they lose their accents! Oops quickly realised I had completely made that up!!

I am a Mac user, and I have my keyboard set on the US International PC language so that I can easily type á, ñ, ¿ and ¡ characters. 

System Preferences>Language and Text>Input Sources, uncheck whatever input source is checked, then check the US International PC box.

I assume there is a similar setup on Windows computers but I do not know what it is.

Hi! Steven is correct, if you click on the AltGr key it will show you the accented vowels.

As an addition, if your keyboard is not set up like Dan's and you would like to show an upper case vowel with the accent, this combinations might help you in case of emergency:

Á → ALT+181
É→ ALT+144
Í→ ALT+214
Ó→ ALT+224
Ú→ ALT+233

Jo, you were not entirely wrong! Actually, when I was in elementary school we did not add a diacritical accent to vowels in upper case, this rule changed back in 1999, when the RAE (Real Academia Española - Royal Spanish Academy) changed it.

Marie, you are awesome. Thank you so much for your info.

I think the RAE is a very interesting instituion, and it shows how serious Spanish speakers are about their language.

I wonder what would happen if "they" tried to implement a similar instituion here in the United States. Actually, I don't wonder; I can imagine. Larry the Cable Guy advocating for the right to say "Git 'er done."

Using ALT + ASCII code to enter spanish special characters.
Use the keypad to enter the ASCII codes.  The numbers at the top of the keyboard will not work for this purpose.
lower case
á =  Alt + 0225
é =  Alt + 0233
í  =  Alt + 0237
ó = Alt + 0243
ú = Alt + 0250
ñ = Alt + 0241
¡ =  Alt + 0161
¿ =  Alt + 0191

Upper case special characters required more research.
Á = Alt + 0193
É = Alt + 144 or Alt + 0201
Í  = Alt + 0205
Ó = Alt + 0211
Ú = Alt + 0218
Ñ = Alt + 0209

Windows 7 and earlier
For information on how to set up and use the US International Keyboard.  
Go to this link 
www.support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/306560


 

Set up US International Keyboard for Windows 8
Go to the control panel.
(place the mouse in the upper right hand corner.  Several icons will appear. Select the gear labeled settings and click on control panel)
If the control panel is in the Category mode, select “Clock, Language and Region” then select Language.  If it is not in the Category mode just select Language.
On the English (United States) line click options.
Under input method, click on add an input method.
Add United States – International and click Save
Your keyboard will behave the same as Windows 7.
You have the additional feature of an On Screen Keyboard
When set to English US International the Right Alt button is labeled Altgr.  When you select it you have access to all your Spanish special characters.  Upper and Lower Case.  
 

Sounds like the same process to change an Apple keyboard.
Once you get used to the keystrokes it is very convenient.
Oh, don't be surprised if when you intend to enclose something in quotes you might get a strange character. Just hit the space key after " and it operates normally.

Thanks for your input Dan. I had noticed something unusual with the quotes.
" space bar works the way you said it would.

George

I’m still learning how the US International Keyboard works.  In addition to telling how to set up the keyboard for Windows 7 and earlier versions, Microsoft article kb306560 has some general information about the use of the US International Keyboard.  See the section Creating International Characters . Link to the article below 
www.support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/306560
 

The codes work on our Windows PC, but our Apple PC doesn't have any "ALT" buttons so I can't use it on that one.

Brittany: On my old MacBook the Option key is also marked alt, so you might try that.
As far as your question on Apple setting up like Windows 8, I do not know since I don't have access to any Windows machines. But I don't see how you could mess up a keyboard this way. I just know that if you change settings in Apple Preferences like I described above you can type accented characters, the ñ, ¿, and ¡ with little trouble.

I have to admit I’m a windows user and I don’t have access to an apple computer.

On windows the Alt + the ASCII number accesses the ASCII character associated with that number.  For example the ASCII number 0161 will always be associated with the character (  ¡ )  no matter how it is entered.  I’m sure Apple has a similar method for entering ASCII numbers, if that is what you want.

Use of the ASCII characters is less invasive, in that you don’t have to work with the Control Panel.  To set up a Windows machine with the US International Keyboard, you have to access the Control Panel Language section.  There are slight differences in the way this is done in difference versions of Windows.  For Windows 7 and earlier versions the process is described in:

www.support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/306560.

I could not find a similar article for Windows 8 so I distilled the procedure from the Windows Forum comments and I have implemented and tested it.  The Windows implementation of the US International Keyboard makes use of the right Alt key, so it seems that it will be slightly different from the Apple implementation.  I would recommend that you keep the Standard US English keyboard as an input so you can switch back and forth.  It turns out that there are other keys that act like the ( “ ) key  and require Key + space bar to get the desired standard result.  They include the following ( `),( ~),( ^),( ‘ ) .
When you press these keys nothing happens because the keyboard program is waiting
for a second key to create a extended or international character. Entering the space bar cancels that mode.
 
For more info on this topic refer to

Creating Extended Characters and Creating International Characters in the following document.

 www.support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/306560.
link above
The information contained there does not copy well to the forum.  Lo siento

Note: The above information apples to the Windows Implementation of the US International Keyboard.