Total aside but I never knew about the `kbd` HTML tag used for the key sequence renderings in the readme.<p><a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/kbd" rel="nofollow">https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/kb...</a>
I'm a big fan of the compose key, both for its universality and intuitive "syntax". For many years I endured the pain of a dual French/US keyboard layout (one for writing, the other for coding), until a coworker showed me the special Option-key shortcuts you can use on a Mac to make French accents, and then finally I settled on the nice and intuitive Compose Key support offered natively by Ubuntu: <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ComposeKey" rel="nofollow">https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ComposeKey</a>
WinCompose is one of a handful of utilities that's made using Windows virtually painless as someone who's used to using Linux as a daily driver.<p>(other such utilities include Chocolatey, MobaXterm, Greenshot, WSL in general for common CLI tools, and some KDE apps but especially Kate and Okular)
I was wondering why Windows doesn't come with a built in compose implementation. There doesn't seem to be a reason, just something that exists outside of the folklore of Microsoft/Windows [1].<p>1: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compose_key" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compose_key</a>
I started to use WinCompose when I changed from a full size keyboard (with numpad) to a TKL keyboard which omits it.<p>As a mechanical engineer, I often need to type things like the degree symbol and with WinCompose it is just Compose, o, o whereas I used to type these using alt codes.<p>Other common uses are for sub and super scripts (₁¹), bullets (•), and my own custom ones like on for my email, which I set as Compose, e, m (since these days working from home I am constantly logging into lots of things).
I don't understand how this is different than the "International" keyboard variants that ship with Windows.<p>How is this better than the status quo?
Being a plan 9 nerd, I originally found 9ime [1] when I wanted a compose key in windows. It serves the same purpose and has the same default compose key of right-Alt. I’ve yet to be frustrated by it enough to switch to wincompose (but the UX is certainly better).<p>[1] <a href="https://github.com/sqweek/9ime" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/sqweek/9ime</a>
Related but different (and no emoji special features), I was once recommended (either here or on Reddit) EurKEY [0] and have been using it since. Ö is (AltGr/Ctrl+Alt)+Shift+o.<p>I mainly type in English (and prefer it for programming), but I still need German Umlauts, it’s just a super convenient layout and even has niceties like typographical apostrophes (’ vs ') built in (ctrl+shift+alt+0).<p>To me, that seems more convenient than this (and Windows has a decent emoji picker with Win+. anyway, if you are into that )<p>[0]: EurKEY The European Keyboard Layout <a href="https://eurkey.steffen.bruentjen.eu/" rel="nofollow">https://eurkey.steffen.bruentjen.eu/</a>
I'll have to remember this when I go back to windows one day.<p>I roll my own keyboard layout on Linux, and the Compose key is a nice to have. I put it where the right Alt normally lives along with the dead greek key (by using shift-RALT).
Cute. My least favorite part of any language class I've ever taken is if I have to type anything outside of the standard US english alphabet, the standard alt code method was never good.
The guessability of combos to compose characters with is really key to what makes the compose key a great tool. I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft adopts this into their OS someday.
Also see AllChars:<p><a href="https://allchars.zwolnet.com/" rel="nofollow">https://allchars.zwolnet.com/</a><p>This was universal functionality on the DEC terminals that IBM adapted the PC AT Enhanced keyboard layouts from. It's a standard feature on Sun machines too, and can be turned on trivially in Linux.<p>So there are many implementations.
these days i prefer to use menus like Rofi for things like this. all you need to memorise is 1 hotkey to open the menu and then you can search and filter the list to find whatever character you want, say 'trademark' or 'tra' to find ™, or search for an emoji by describing it
This is great! It's a shame XCompose doesn't follow rfc1345 though, which is the input method I use on Emacs. I have to learn two different sets of composing sequences :(<p>(Fortunately they seem to agree on the majority of the accented Latin letters I use.)
Isn't this something that can be done in AutoHotkey?<p>I feel that it is more effective to have a powerful tool such as AHK and invest a bit into writing the combinations of key/mouse/whatever than to have several standalone programs.
I'm on Linux and on a keyboard layout that already uses AltGr for a lot of symbols. What key do you use for the compose key? I certainly don't have a physical compose key on my keyboards.
Why is it composing e.g. ´ + e into é when that's the default behavior without composing? Is it just to make the compose key a no-op in all such scenarios?
This WinCompose app seemed to be what I've been looking for, but it didn't work for me.<p>Just so sluggish, sometimes missing keystrokes or waiting for it to catch up. Keyboard is one of those things that have to be INSTANT, even milliseconds is too long. This app is way to slow.<p>It seems to be written in .NET? Which would be a very poor choice for such an app.<p>EDIT: I presumed the sluggishness was because of .NET, perhaps my thinking is a bit dated.