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Ask HN: What symbols would you like to add to the standard keyboard?

10 points by acadapter ↗ HN
I'm aware that there are different sets of special characters for different languages, and that some have a menu system (such as the Japanese input).

What would you like to be commonplace on most people's keyboards?

I'll start with ≈.

24 comments

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drost
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
adhesive_wombat
That's Compose+i,d,k for me.

The compose key is brilliant and also completely stupid (why is there no way to query the list it's using?)

krapp
"Any"
sethammons
20 years or so ago, as a highschooler, I thought it was funny the time I called 1-800-compaq1 (or whatever the computer company number was - which was also funny since our phones didn't show a 'z' label, but 'w,x,y' I think, and asked support where the "any" key was as I was "stuck" installing something that required me to press the "any" key to continue. Support person was not amused. "It's any key"; "yeah, sure, but where is that on the keyboard?"; "ugh. It's any key"; " yeah, totally, but where is it? -- oooooh, you mean any key of my choosing? I can press spacebar or "esc"?"
_Microft
Are you familiar with compose key sequences? This is a way of extending the set of characters that can be directly typed by having predefined sequences of keys that map to particular characters. They are started after pressing a so called "compose key". There are some examples in this article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compose_key

ciderpunx
λ
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
stevenalowe
Every computer needs a "Hurry Up!" button
bitwize
Em and en dashes (‘-’ is a hyphen, not a dash, you bloody illiterates), ellipsis, and paired quotes.
maxnoe
Compose key:

En dash: Compose - - .

Em dash: Compose - - -

Ellipsis: Compose . . .

66 quotes: Compose 66 99 quotes: Compose 99

archontes
I want a science/engineering Shift key.

I want to hold down RShift and get greek and mathematical symbols.

gedy
Not standard I suppose but option/alt does this with macos.
omosubi
Copy and paste, zoom that is standard for all applications
SamReidHughes
Lately I've felt stuck in Dvorak copy/paste hell, where Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V are two-handed or right-handed operations, while using the mouse. I'd want some kind of keys on the left side of the keyboard for that purpose (even insert, for shift+insert or ctrl+insert).
throwaway889900
Have you considered a mouse with macro buttons? Or a keyboard with macro buttons?
SamReidHughes
No, and a mouse with macro buttons sounds like a good idea.
ffwacom
An extra meta key like ctrl, alt, super, etc, reserved for the user to define their own key-chord shortcuts.
b20000
SPAM and PHISHING buttons to use with email clients
logicalmonster
To me, it's interesting how Apple's Touch Bar on the keyboard often gets criticism from technically oriented people, yet in theory it appears to solve the needs of everybody here: just figure out a way to program your desired key into one of the spaces and you have anything you need.

I've never bought one of those machines, so I have to ask, what was the problem with it? Was the issue just not having tactile feedback? In pictures, it appears nice looking at least.

willcipriano
I'd remove the apple/windows key. Keyboards should be OS independent.