I love the compose key on Linux and other -nix-like OS'es. I'm Dutch, and use a standard US-layout keyboard. I can type every diacritic and special character I need — including these em-dashes — just by hitting the compose key (most people use right-alt for this), and a logical sequence of keys.
For ë, this is (compose key) " e. For the em-dash; (compose key) - - - (for en-dash, it is - - .). I.e., it all makes sense.
So when I write in German, I can enter the ß by hitting (compose key) s s. Makes sense right? So reading this article I wondered: could I compose the upper-case ß?
Sure: ẞ. (compose key) S S. Totally guessable. Someone must have submitted a patch for it sometime these past few years, and another person submitted the glyph to a couple of fonts.
It's such a shame the compose key never took off on Windows or Mac OS. I cringe every time I see a colleague enter a memorized alt-code on Windows, or just forego diacritics and non-ASCII characters in general; even in people's names.
For ë, this is (compose key) " e. For the em-dash; (compose key) - - - (for en-dash, it is - - .). I.e., it all makes sense.
So when I write in German, I can enter the ß by hitting (compose key) s s. Makes sense right? So reading this article I wondered: could I compose the upper-case ß?
Sure: ẞ. (compose key) S S. Totally guessable. Someone must have submitted a patch for it sometime these past few years, and another person submitted the glyph to a couple of fonts.
It's such a shame the compose key never took off on Windows or Mac OS. I cringe every time I see a colleague enter a memorized alt-code on Windows, or just forego diacritics and non-ASCII characters in general; even in people's names.