[supercat]

What did Germans do when using computers that cannot produce the esszet character?

[Paleo Conservative]

Probably use the ALT key plus the ASCII number for the character.

[struwwelpeter]

What did Germans do when using computers that cannot produce the esszet character?

Zey are sscrewed!

Actually, when I used German keyboards over there they worked okay, except that the y and z for some reason were transposed, making for lots of corrections.

[An.American.Expatriate]

Germans have keyboards that produce the Esszet as well as the umlauts (ä, ö, ü).

You should see a Swiss Keyboard!! They have both the german AND the french special characters on the same keys!!!

This nonsense has been going on over here for years now - it's quite silly.

There was recently a proposal to let the people decide by referendum - the gal responsible refused - commenting that the people have "more important" things to worry about a shouldn't be bothered.

Funny thing though is that, instead of "simplfiying" the rules, they have only succeeded in creating exceptions.

German used to be easy to learn because everything was spelled according to defined rules with very few exceptions. Even the adjective endings are easy if you follow ~5 rules.

Now, everything is confused.

For example, the combation "ph" (as is Physics, dolphin, etc...) is to be replaced with "f". So, "delphin" becomes "delfin", but Philisophie remains unchanged - WHY?? - because it is an "ancient" word and the reformers didn't "dare" change it!!

So, learning to spell, now becomes a matter of memory instead of a matter of pronunciation / rules.

[Polybius]

What did Germans do when using computers that cannot produce the esszet character?

Any modern computer can produce them even if the keyboard is not specifically set up for them.

To type letters with umlauts or accents on Windows, hold down the ALT key and then type the appropriate numbers on the numeric keypad (NOT the numbers across top of keyboard). Let go of the ALT key and the letter will then appear.

(Hold down ALT key) + 225 (Let go of ALT key) = ß

For German:

ä - 132
ë - 137
ö - 148
ü - 129
ß - 225
Ä - 142
Ö - 153
Ü - 154

For Spanish:

á - 160
é - 130
í - 161
ó - 162
ú - 163
Á - 0193
É - 0201
Í - 0205
Ó - 0211
Ú - 0218
ñ - 164
Ñ - 165
¿ -168