Kris Struble

Chapter VI · Tools / Automation

Accent Picker

My office-mate Jasper felt bad about misspelling a client’s name — there was no easy way to type the accents. That one small problem turned into two pieces of software.

  • Clear writing
  • Technical curiosity
  • Tools for the team
Accent Picker app icon: a purple speckled letter ñ on a gold background
App icon, also mine.
Screen recording of the Accent Picker: typing a caret before a letter opens a small menu of its accented versions, and the chosen one replaces it
The Accent Picker in use.

How it works

^e→ éèêëē

I like a challenge, and I think in automation, so I wrote an AutoHotkey tool: type a caret before a letter — ^e — and a small menu opens with every accented version of it. Pick one with the keyboard and keep typing. Your hands never leave the keys.

The second program

An installer creator

It worked — but installing it was the hard part for Jasper. Homebrew software only helps if the person who needs it can get it running. So I built a second program that packages a project, adds it to start-up, and gives it a clean uninstall. Now anything I make can be handed to a coworker in one step.

The accent picker fixed one person’s problem. The installer made every tool after it shareable.