Dead keys are a powerful part of any keyboard layout, but with power comes complexity. The idea of a dead key is quite simple. It is a key that produces no output on its own, but it affects the output of the next key that is typed. The classic example of the use of a dead key is to add an accent mark, such as an acute or umlaut, to another letter. So, on the US keyboard layout, typing option-u followed by o gives ö. Creating dead keys is fairly straightforward in Ukelele. However, the real work comes before you get to Ukelele, in designing how your keyboard layout should work. For more on this, see the manual. The different parts of a dead key are the dead key itself, the dead key state, and the terminator. You don’t have to know the dead key state name, or define a terminator, but all of these are accessible with Ukelele. Terminator Dead key Dead key state Editing dead keys Creating a dead key Importing a dead key Previous page Next chapter Up to "Editing a keyboard layout"