The Degree Symbol

[BuckSkin]

For ages, I have been typing the Degree symbol = hold Alt and, on the number pad, type 0 1 7 6 and I get the little Degree symbol.

Just very recently, Chrome has done something silly and it no longer works for me --- only when using Chrome browser.

Instead, in some instances (and I think it matters which site), instead of my Degree symbol appearing, I get a pop-up "Are you sure you want to exit this page"

Just now, here on this site, I got no such pop-up; instead, it opened a new Chrome window in place of my PSE&More window and had a search for the Degree symbol typed and ready in the search bar.

On some sites, immediately after I type the command for a Degree symbol, all subsequent typing shows up in the address bar in front of the address.

It still works in Pale Moon and also anywhere else I have occasion to type a Degree symbol, such as Notepad, and also in various Metadata, Captions, jpeg Comments, embedded comments, and the like --- it just does not work in Chrome.

I haven't yet tried any of the other special symbols that one can type using the Alt key plus the number pad, such as the cents sign and others.

Has anyone else noticed this new problem ?

[Chris]

Hello Buckskin. I am not surprised. Chrome has some funny ways of dealing with fonts on some websites. A problem I have found is font substitution where some websites appear for me in the Sinhala language and I can't read them. All the English fonts are substituted with Sinhala fonts from my computer. So for those websites I need to use Firefox which is not a Chromium based browser. But I digress...

Have you checked to see if your problem occurs with other browsers like Chrome Canary, Microsoft Edge or Firefox? It will be interesting to see if the problem is browser specific or website specific. My guess is that the problem is website specific because of the way it is coded. As a work around, you can try to copy and paste the degree symbol into the webpage and see if it works.

Here, I have typed the degree symbol ° using ALT + 0176 as you have suggested and it appears for me just fine. ° On Windows I need to use the left side ALT button on my keyboard. and not the ALT button on the right of the spacebar.

I hope you can find a solution.

Kind regards
Chris

[Andy]

I can't replicate the problem, but I found this discussion:
superuser.com/questions/325718/typing-degree-symbol-in-chrome-goes-back-instead

[pontiac1940]

Good luck BuckSkin
<alt><2><4><8> has always worked for me going back many years in assorted versions of Windows and also MS Explorer and Chrome.   
Has always worked for me in Chrome, Notepad and Word. 
° ° These two were with both left and right <alt> keys 
I refer to this page in occasion.
www.tedmontgomery.com/tutorial/ALTchrc.html 

[BuckSkin]

Jan 21, 2024 16:35:27 GMT Andy said:

I can't replicate the problem, but I found this discussion:
superuser.com/questions/325718/typing-degree-symbol-in-chrome-goes-back-instead

12345° 12345° 98765°

Thank You !

That link from 2011 did the trick !

I had never before used the NumLock button, in fact I still have no idea what it actually does, or how to tell whether it is On or Off.

I pressed that NumLock key once and made a little test run = there was my degree symbol and no more foolishness.

I guess me or a mouse or something must have inadvertently pressed that NumLock key and activated or deactivated whatever.

Such a key as that should have some sort of safety feature or child-proof lock or such such that it can't be inadvertently pressed; why....., that could have caused me to have had a nervous breakdown and wind up in the crazy house...


I closely watched the screen for some indication when I switched the NumLock back and forth; I also watched the keyboard to see if a light came on or something to indicate what had been done..; but, no, no indication whatsoever.

[cats4jan]

For the Mac users out there:


I have a Mac with Ventura 13.6.3 - my hardware/wireless keyboard is at least 5 years old.  I do not have the numeric keypad extension on my keyboard


Here's what happens when I hold down the option key while hitting the numbers at the top of my keyboard.  


¡  ™  £  ¢  ∞  §  ¶  •  ª  º


Until I saw this discussion, I hadn't recently thought about how to get the above symbols - glad to find it is so easy on my keyboard
I'm guessing it's all how you have the language set up for your keyboard.  I'm guessing I've got regular English set up.  


I'm no longer savvy about these things or I might have more input to share.  

[xairbusdriver]

For the non-Mac users:
1. In the Word ribbon.
2. Windows/Word keyboard shortcut.
3. Various Windows Ways
4. Chrome Book.

Remember, Google can give you 10,000 answers. A Librarian can give you the correct one.

[mart44]

I find the Windows Character Map useful for inserting the ° symbol. Useful for others too such as, ¼ - ½ - ¾. One site I visit discusses the daily weather and the temperature is mentioned regularly. Since I need to use °C daily, it is copied and pasted into a text file so I can quickly open the file, copy the °C and paste it into a post.