Euro symbol key assignment (ISO 9995)

From: Markus Kuhn (mskuhn@cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de)
Date: Sun Sep 28 1997 - 05:06:07 EDT


Alain LaBonté - SCT wrote:

> It is recommended that level 3 of key E03 of national keyboard
> layouts be used to harmonize the entry of this character [Euro symbol]
> in different countries.

Thanks for the info.

I can report the first problem with this proposal in German language
countries:

Level 3 of E03 (also known as AltGR-3) is already used on the German
standard keyboard for SUPERSCRIPT THREE and frequently used to write
the abbreviation for qubic meters (m³) or qubic centimeters (cm³).

On the German DIN keyboard that is sold with every PC, the following
keys have already assigned level 3 meanings:

AltGR-2 E02 SUPERSCRIPT TWO ²
AltGR-3 E03 SUPERSCRIPT THREE ³
AltGr-7 E07 LEFT CURLY BRACKET {
AltGr-8 E08 LEFT SQUARE BRACKET [
AltGr-9 E09 RIGHT SQUARE BRACKET ]
AltGr-0 E10 RIGHT CURLY BRACKET }
AltGr-ß E11 REVERSE SOLIDUS \
AltGr-Q D01 COMMERCIAL AT @
AltGr-+ D12 TILDE ~
AltGr-< B00 VERTICAL LINE |
AltGr-M B07 MICRO SIGN µ

Better keys for the Euro sign from a German point of view seem to be
E04 (AltGR-4), because this key has already in level 2 (Shift-4) the
dollar currency sign. Also appropriate would be D03 (AltGr-E) in my
humble opinion, because the Euro symbol is related to the letter E,
just as the micro sign is related to the letter M.

Markus

-- 
Dipl.-Inf. Markus Kuhn, Schlehenweg 9, D-91080 Uttenreuth, Germany
mkuhn at acm.org, http://wwwcip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de/~mskuhn



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