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The Compose key is magic
(crescentro.se)
Jeebus.. I can believe I've used Linux so long and didn't know this.
Eh, keymapping is magic (in the psychological empowerment meaning), whatever form, currently look to QMK (and ZMK). Control your environment.
I love the compose key, but are people that unfamiliar with the English (International) layout? Alt Gr (right alt) + 5 gives €.
It also makes it a lot easier to do accents and umlauts.
Eh I just use alt + character code to grab any symbol I want.
For me "+o for ö or /+u for µ is easier to remember than numeric codes, that's why I like the compose key. I can look up a char and after typing it 2-3 times I usually remember it.
The compose key combinations are great because they're easier to remember, because the codes are grounded in some kind of relationship between the character and the keys used.
Alt codes are just memorized combinations of numbers, and that's not as easy.
this post was submitted on 03 May 2026
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