Writing script and accented characters when creating content

In this article, we’ll explore how you can use script and accented characters on EP, and how to ensure students can access them too!

This article refers to creating content in the Content Library. For information on how students can use these characters, check out the following article: How do I write Script and Accented Characters?

Ensuring students have access

When creating Smart Lessons or Assessments on EP, some question types allow you to choose an input language for students to answer the question(s) in.

This applies to nearly all available languages on EP, not just our actively supported subjects (listed here). 

For Long Answer or Textbox components (which allow free text answers), click into settings and toggle the input language between English and the language in which you are working.

This toggle controls which options students see when typing their answers. For example, if the input language is set to French, students will be presented with accent options as they type. 

If students are unable to access script and accented characters, check that the input language is set correctly!

List based content will know automatically which input language students need to use and will offer this as appropriate. No need to worry!

Writing script and accented characters in your custom content

Script and accented characters are available for all of our fully-supported languages when creating lists, and when editing titles in the Content Library. 

When editing content that falls outside of that scope, you may need to rely on built in support within your browser for writing these characters. Here are some options:

MacOS

MacOS has some useful built-in features that allow you to type using accented and script characters. You can find more details on writing scripted characters on Apple's Support website.

Windows

When you're writing in Languages that use accented Latin script characters, we recommend using the English (US-International) keyboard, as the key layout can be different on other keyboards (like the French keyboard).

Although Māori uses the Latin script, the Māori keyboard follows the same layout as the standard US version, so we recommend using the Māori keyboard when you're working on content for this language.

With Languages that use other scripts, such as Arabic or Japanese, we recommend using a keyboard native to those scripts.

• For instructions on how to add keyboards on a Windows computer, see Microsoft's article. 
• For information on how to use these characters, they have a separate article. 

Our student-facing article contains additional tips for writing script or accented characters in EP. Check it out here!