USGerman Keyboard Layout for the Mac
by Volker Weber
If you are using a Mac with a U.S. keyboard layout (great for writing code, for example), but need to type lots of German text, then this is for you. This keyboard layout is exactly the same as the standard U.S. layout, but it lets you use the following keyboard shortcuts for German special characters:
- option-a for ä
- option-o for ö
- option-u for ü
- option-s for ß
This also works as expected for uppercase umlauts (Shift-option-A, Shift-option-O, Shift-option-U), and with Caps Lock enabled. Shift-option-S or Caps-option-S will create "SS", in accordance with typographical standards.
I know at least one person who will find this very useful. :-)
Comments
You can add me to the list. =)
I learnt typing while I studied in the US and never took the time to learn it on Swiss German keyboards (which is really painful as the Enter key is significantly smaller to fit the umlauts - I keep on hitting those instead of inserting a new paragraph).
I've been using various Mac with U.S. keyboard for almost 3 years now. I'm so used to Option-u-u (resulting in an "ü") that I even try that keystroke with Windows machines when I'm using them from time to time ;-)
But I'm sure I can get used to the "new" layout, too! Thanks for the Link, Volker!
I don't know about the German Mac keyboard layouts, but at least with the U.S. layout you'll find yourself being able to use a lot of "foreign" characters by easily combining character keys with the Option key: åéüøß.
And the euro sign (€) is the Option - Shift -2, took me a while to find that one, but is useful for those of us who come from North America.
Reizvoll, würde aber diese vorziehen. Bzw. werde.
I'm using the new U.S. desktop keyboard on a English Mac OS X 10.4.11, but your shortcuts don't work on my machine except of the ß and €.
Thank you Volker, very timely and exactly what I needed on the iMac.
I created a similar Windows keyboard driver (US english with german umlauts) a couple years ago.
I still use it every day.
You are the one. ;-)
I figured ;-)
