This is an interesting question, beyond the rhetoric of the OP wording...
Actually, I tend to write this way because I'm a retired professional multi-disciplinary creative type, stuck in the 'burbs (where my wife works), surrounded by fervid conformists, and getting artsy-craftsy on message forums is often the only outlet I have for my
annoyingly rhetorical inventive ideas.
Also, like, GH is a keeb forum, right? Can you see the irony in insisting a keeb forum be limited to discussion
of keebs, and not afford the occasional chance to enjoy just
using keebs? (Again, I realize some of you are to non-technical stuff like I'm to feminine hygiene products. You're off the hook, and please enjoy the precision of keebs's many small, precisely organized objects.)
I use ANSI layout on a Sixty board for writing in English and Spanish with US International and Graph-Alt and most of the special characters that I need can be easily produce with some AltGr combo...
Ah, the fabled AltGr key... As Wikipedia (whom I assume I can screenshot with impugnity) explains:
In other words, it's like having a numpad (or "tenkey", to those of you under 20) Alt in place of one of your regular Alts. And
that's the modifier you need to type ASCII codes. Which is what I was on about in my OP.
But AltGr is found only on non-ANSI layouts, right? Could one map something like that to an ANSI keeb? Is it just a code? Maybe that's the answer!
Were you previously doing this with software or firmware?
As I mentioned in my OP (I love quoting myself, BTW):
I'm used to using the number pad to type extended characters (e.g. Alt+0151 for an "em dash"—like that one I just did there)...
...This might be a good time to throw together a standalone numpad (or just generic keypad if you're like me and don't care much for numpads).
Yes, I suppose that's the ultimate solution. But really, for me, we're talking, like, maybe three characters total:
—
–
•
...so it seems like overkill to add a whole sub-board. I just find it hard to believe that people can be so crazy about being 2" closer to their mouses, they're willing to sacrifice everything only a numpad/tenkey can do.
Or maybe they don't even
know what it can do. Lots of people don't even bother using apostrophes anymore. (Coffee at Starbucks, anyone?)