Text characters are important elements of text electronic documents. Without them, it is impossible to imagine a single post or message on a computer. Consider what the characters are, how to print them, what to use in this or that case. Such information can be useful for both novice PC users and advanced users.
Alphabet
Text characters and symbols may be different. The basic elements of printing are the alphabet. You can usually find the corresponding characters on the keyboard panel. By default, it has 2 languages. For example, English and Russian. This is the keyboard we will consider further.
To print the letters of the Russian alphabet, you must switch the keyboard layout to "Russian". If you need English characters, you will have to activate the Eng layout.
Important: by default, the layout is switched by Shift + Alt or Shift + Ctrl.
Figures
Text characters and signs also include numbers. On the classic keyboard, you can find 2 digit panels. One is located at the top of the keyboard panel, above the alphabet. Another is considered optional. It is located on the right side of the keyboard and works when Num Lock is on.
A total of 10 characters on the numeric panels. With their help, you can specify any number. To insert the corresponding character in the text, you just need to click on the appropriate button.
Special items
Text characters are not just the alphabet and numbers. These include special characters. This category of signs is the largest. These are Latin letters, punctuation marks, symbols of mathematical actions, and emoticons.
Special characters are printed and unprintable. The first category is characters that can be found on the keyboard and typed using it. Typically, this category includes quotation marks, punctuation marks, elementary mathematical symbols, and several "computer" elements (for example, the @ sign).
Unprintable text characters are unique characters that can be typed on a computer, but they are not located on the keyboard. For example, some elements of mathematical formulas, emoticons, arrows, the mark "trademark" and so on.
Insert special characters
Beautiful text characters can be found on the computer at any time. For example, in Word there is a function "Insert a character." With its help, the user will be able to print any existing character in a text document.
In order to cope with the task, it is necessary:
- Open Word and expand the menu item Insert.
- Select the line "Symbol" or "Special symbol".
- Pick up a font set. The style of writing the text and the available characters will depend on it.
- Double-click on the window with the image of the selected character for printing.
Fast, easy and very convenient. If you want to insert special mathematical signs into formulas, you can use the Word option "Insert" - then "Object" - Microsoft Equation.
Windows table
Text characters can be found on Windows in a few seconds. You can use a character table for this. This is a kind of collection of printed and non-printed characters in "Windows" with their miniatures and codes in several programming languages.
To find the symbol table, you will need:
- Click the "Start" button.
- Go to the "All Programs" - Standard "section.
- Go to the "Utilities" folder.
- Click on the "Symbol Table" button.
Next, you can select a character set, and then select the desired character in the service window. At the bottom of the dialog box, the code for the corresponding item appears.
Emoticons
When communicating in the virtual world, users often use emoticons. They can be typed using the keyboard without any problems.
There are various emoticons from text characters. For example, you can insert the eyes "faces" in the form ":" or ";" (without quotes), and then use numbers, letters, and special characters to display emotions.
Here are a few emoticons:
- O_o - surprise;
- :-) - a smile;
- :-( - sadness;
- ;-) - wink;
- ;-( - crying;
- T_T - strong tears from hopelessness (in a comic sense).
Emoticons from text characters are different. If desired, in the "Word" you can find special characters - emoji. These are unique emoticons. For example, the combination of Alt + 1 and Alt + 2 put the characters "☺" and "☻", respectively.
Important: on social networks, emoticons from characters can be converted into graphic thumbnails. This is a fairly common occurrence. Text characters with the right combination are perceived as codes.