Thursday, November 19, 2009

Grave accent: A language switching key or an opening quotation mark?

Are you a LaTeX user? If so, you must know that the opening (left) quotation is in fact the grave accent (`). Writing two of (') would give you two ending (right) quotation marks. This works fine, until you install two keyboard layouts in your Windows OS.

By default, Windows use a grave accent key to switch between language. Hence, you cannot type an opening quotation mark. If you press on a grave accent, instead of showing (') on the screen, Windows will switch the language for you.

Does it mean you cannot use LaTex under multiple keyboard layout setting? Well, there are two workarounds:

  1. Use different key for language switching bar: Windows allows you to use either alt+shift or ctrl+shift. I don't like this option, since I tend to miss one of the keys. And, it will mess up my typing rhythm.
  2. Use Windows key: Most new computers would have a window key. By pressing windows+grave accent, Windows will show an opening quotation mark on the screen (rather than switching the language).
Well, the WINDOW+GRAVE ACCENT is my savior!!

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