Techies please help: keyboard setting and shortcuts

[Jenny]

Two things I'm hoping the fine folks at FSU can help with:

Issue #1 - Every now and then when I am in Firefox, I hit something or a sequence of keys on my keyboard, and all of a sudden several of the character keys (such as the apostrophe and quotation mark) switch to letters with accents, as though the keyboard has become French. Can't figure out how to stop it other than closing my browser, which seems to clear it. Any ideas?

Issue #2 - When editing for web content, I would like a simple shortcut to insert a no break, as in <nobr>figure skating</nobr> so the words can't be separated with the content publishes. I've done some googling, and the only suggestion is Control+Shift+Spacebar, which does nothing for me. Anyone know the trick?

Very grateful for any and all hints and help!

[Jenny]

Just bumping up in the hopes that someone out there can help ...

[Really]

Issue #1 -- I've done that many times. On the right side of your task bar, there should be a keyboard icon for 'language' -- reset it to US instead of Canadian French. I have no idea which keys I'm hitting to get it to French, but resetting it to US does the trick.

Don't know the answer to #2, sorry!

[kia_4EverOnIce]

Issue#1: Choose the keyboard icon for "language" (the one Really wrote of), then right click with the mouse and you could be able to choose from the menu "settings". You go on "advanced keyboard settings" and you can see (and change) keys sequences for each language you've activated.

Issue#2: sometimes it works with the "substitute" command. Find: insert just a space. Substitute with: don't write anything. Perhaps someone could suggest a better solutions, though.

[Jenny]

Thanks Really and Kia - I didn't have that icon (which is probably my fault - when I got this computer, I eliminated a ton of desktop content as I prefer an uncluttered look ), but through your suggestions managed to find the setting. I returned that icon to the task bar AND deleted Canadian French as an option for my keyboard (I seriously can't see ever using it anyway), so fingers crossed this does the trick!

For the <nobr> I even tried a proofreader I work with, and she says they do them all manually. Ideas welcome though - perhaps I can create my own custom shortcut? I foresee that I'm going to need this a lot very shortly, so I'm trying to prepare.

[Aceon6]

For the <nobr> I even tried a proofreader I work with, and she says they do them all manually. Ideas welcome though - perhaps I can create my own custom shortcut? I foresee that I'm going to need this a lot very shortly, so I'm trying to prepare.

What program are you using for editing?

[Jenny]

It's a proprietary program for a website. It has its own edit options, but you can also use a lot of standard formatting, and it's fairly easy to import text from other programs. If I can figure out how to embed the code in Word, then I think it might transfer - no idea how to do that though!

[Aceon6]

It's a proprietary program for a website. It has its own edit options, but you can also use a lot of standard formatting, and it's fairly easy to import text from other programs. If I can figure out how to embed the code in Word, then I think it might transfer - no idea how to do that though!

Well, if your starting point is Word, you can create a macro and then assign it to a keyboard shortcut. Using the macro recorder, select the text, insert the [nobr], insert the [/nobr], then save.

[Jenny]

Sounds like a plan - but how do I insert the nobr in the first place? I upgraded last fall, and I swear I'm still looking for stuff - the new system has all kinds of bells and whistles, but sometimes the most basic things are impossible to find.

[Aceon6]

Sounds like a plan - but how do I insert the nobr in the first place? I upgraded last fall, and I swear I'm still looking for stuff - the new system has all kinds of bells and whistles, but sometimes the most basic things are impossible to find.

You'll type it. The macro should record you selecting the text, then inserting the HTML tags before and after. Alternatively, if you always have to do this for the same words, you could just do search and replace. If you save the doc as Word, and not HTML, the tags will come into your site.

[mysticchic]

If your using Firefox, go to tools, then general tab. Unclick check spelling. That may help. Also go into your controls on your computer and you can change fonts, spell check, and many other options. Good luck

[Aussie Willy]

A quick way to do the no break thing - type up your web content in Word, then everytime you want to put in that code, copy the first one, paste it into the next spot and then you can use F4 key to repeat the last action.

[Jenny]

Thanks everyone - however I'm hoping I can do it directly in the web editor, because in most cases, I am editing content that someone else has already put there. If I have to move it to Word and then back again, I might as well just enter the nobrs manually.

At this point, I'm previewing the text and only doing it where the break is actually happening, although technically I'm supposed to do it on all of them. Clearly, whoever decided that this company's brand name should never be broken did so before it had three websites to the tune of about a hundred thousand pages of content.

[TygerLily]

Issue #1 -- I've done that many times. On the right side of your task bar, there should be a keyboard icon for 'language' -- reset it to US instead of Canadian French. I have no idea which keys I'm hitting to get it to French, but resetting it to US does the trick.

You are my hero. This problem's been driving me mad for years. (CNTR-shift switches the keyboard language and too many short cuts use that combo...)