Professional Engraving Systems

  

Using Extended Character Sets - by Ben Rosenstein

Occasionally there will be a need to enter a text with an odd punctuation mark or character. This is most common when creating signage with foreign languages such as Spanish, French, and German.

Let's consider the word resumé. (also spelled résumé)

Since there is no keyboard for button for the character "é", and we are not using a variable Input Method Editor, we will insert the character by typing a series of keystrokes:

Before we type, we should note that the numerical values used for this process must be typed using the number keypad on the right side of the keyboard, as the keys along the top of your keyboard will not work. Most notebook computers do not have a dedicated number keypad either, but more notebook computers are being designed to incorporate these dedicated keys.

The sequences will be represented as (ALT+####)

This nomenclature simply instructs us to depress and hold the ALT key while keying the (up to) 4-digit number. Release all keys. Note that nothing will appear until we have typed the entire sequence and released all keys.

So, once in text mode, the typing steps to represent this text would be:

1) resum

2) ALT+0233

3) release all keys

You can also use Windows™ and other utilities to access a map of these characters as a reference or a typing assistant.

From the run or search boxes in Windows, type charmap and press <enter>.

 

 

You can see that the font you want to use is selected at the top of the window. This is important because not every character is designed into every font.

When you select a character from the map, you are given an indication of the ASCII value at the lower right of the window. Some characters do not have a listing here, and will only have a listing in the lower left corner, starting with U+. This indicates a unicode representation. To use the characters in XGW, an ASCII value located at the lower right MUST be present.

The fonts that are available to view in the character map are TrueType™ fonts. Therefore,  what is accessible to you in the character map is also available for use with the font in XGW.

However, specially-designed engraving fonts (resident fonts) will not be found in this charmap. You will need to consult your fontbook or chart for the extended sets included in each font specifically. Font designers have tried to design these fonts so that extended characters provided in the resident fonts match the corresponding values found in the TTF file. However, not every resident font has every extended character included.

ASCII Character Chart

To use the chart:

• 1.      Hold down the <ALT> key on the keyboard.
• 2.      Type in the appropriate number for the character you wish to use.
• 3.      Release the <ALT> key on the keyboard.

 

32 (space bar)

33 !

34 "

35 #

36 $

37 %

38 &

39 '

40 (

41  )

42 *

43 +

44 ,

45 -

46 .

47 /

48 0

49 1

50 2

51 3

52 4

53 5

54 6

55 7

56 8

57 9

58 :

59 ;

60 <

61 =

62 >

63 ?

64 @

65 A

66 B

67 C

68 D

69 E

70 F

71 G

72 H

73 I 

74 J

75 K

76 L

77 M

78 N

79 O

80 P

81 Q

82 R

83 S

84 T

85 U

86 V

87 W

88 X

89 Y

90 Z

91 [

92 \

93 ]

94 ^

95 _

96 '

97 a

98 b

99 c

100 d

101 e

102 f

103 g

104 h

105 i

106 j

107 k

108 l

109 m

110 n

111 o

112 p

113 q

114 r

115 s 

116 t

117 u

118 v

119 w

120 x

121 y

122 z

124 |

126 ~

0162 ¢

0163 £

0164 ¤

0165 ¥

0166 ¦

0167 §

0169 ©

0188 ¼

0189 ½

0190 ¾

0191 ¿

0192 À

0193 Á

0194 Â

0195 Ã

0196 Ä

0197 Å

0198 Æ

0199 Ç

0200 È

0201 É

0202 Ê

0203 Ë

0204 Ì

0205 Í

0206 Î

0207 Ï

0208 Ð

0209 Ñ

0210 Ò

0211 Ó

0212 Ô

0213 Õ 

0214 Ö

0216 Ø

0217 Ù

0218 Ú

0219 Û

0220 Ü

0221 Ý

0222 Þ

0223 ß

0224 à

0225 à

0226 â

0227 ã

0228 ä

0229 å

0230 æ

0231 ç

0232 è

0233 é

0234 ê

0235 ë

0236 ì

0237 í

0238 î

0239 ï

0240 ð

0241 ñ

0242 ò

0243 ó

0244 ô

0245 õ

0246 ö

0247 ÷

0248 ø

0249 ù

0250 ú

0251 û

0252 ü

0253 ý

0254 þ

0255 ÿ