** is a PITA

Jim

Anyone else found that typing ** in IOS is a pain. Too many keystrokes. I changed it to ;p So much quicker

jimbo

Jim Using ** also interferes with markdown since that’s the code for bold type. I changed it to xx. Easier to type and compatible in markdown apps.

tvillemw

Jim A lot depends on your device. Double asterisk is easy to enter on a keyboard when you can use the shift key but difficult with a touch-only setup where uppercase is harder to achieve with fat fingers. Because my Mac is old and can't be updated, I use an iPad for most purposes. My shortcut is 'xas', as being short for asterisk. My shortcut for double greater-than sign is 'xgt'.

tangible_life

I’m taking the following approach:

I have *** and ß both set (separately) to expand to ✱. Triple asterisk is efficient on macOS and triple vs double avoids issues conflicting with Markdown syntax. The ß symbol isn’t one I ever use in regular typing, but it’s a long press of the s key away. Long press and then slight slide to the right seems like an elegant option if I don’t want to hit Shift and the Symbols to get to asterisk on iOS. I chose ß because it doesn’t look like the letter of that key (vs. à, ò, etc.). Plus my left thumb easily long presses the s key.

tvillemw

Brilliant solution! Unless you need German characters. An alternative could be ğ which is Turkic. It has the advantage of being the key used for the light asterisk.