Keyboard problem with language other than english in Microsoft Expression Web 3.0

I’m writing HTML pages in french with Microsoft Expression Web 3.0 (xWeb) and I can’t type certain characters like è, ê, or î. For example to produce an è you have to first hit the dead-key ` and than hit the e letter. This works everywhere except in xWeb.

A search in the Expression Web Forum showed me that I’m not the only one :

• Problem Dead Key Characters in Expression 3
• Can't use è, ê, ô and ç characters
• "Written accent " problems in Expression Web 3

I was really disappointed to read :

The good news is that we have fixed the bug.  The bad news is that the fix is not in the service pack and will not be available until the next release.

I can’t say that I think this is really professional. Come on guys you could have done better than that. I guess we just have to hope and wait for version 4.0

In the mean time I’ve used the ‘Code snippets’ to help paste the lost characters.

Here’s how to configure and use your codes snippets for french characters :

Close Microsoft Expression Web

Open the the file C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Expression\Web 3\Legacy\Expression\Web 3\Snippets\SnippetsCustom.xml

Copy the following XML, paste it in the SnippetsCustom.xml file and save it.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- Fichier de configuration des extraits de code -->
<snippets><snippet keyword="é">
		<description>é</description>
		<text>é</text>
	</snippet>
	<snippet keyword="à">
		<description>à</description>
		<text>&amp;agrave;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="â">
		<description>â</description>
		<text>&amp;acirc;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="Â">
		<description>Â</description>
		<text>&amp;Acirc;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="À">
		<description>À</description>
		<text>&amp;Agrave;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="ç">
		<description>ç</description>
		<text>&amp;ccedil;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="Ç">
		<description>Ç</description>
		<text>&amp;Ccedil;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="é">
		<description>é</description>
		<text>&amp;Eacute;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="É">
		<description>É</description>
		<text>&amp;Eacute;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="ê">
		<description>ê</description>
		<text>&amp;ecirc;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="Ê">
		<description>Ê</description>
		<text>&amp;Ecirc;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="Ê">
		<description>Ê</description>
		<text>&amp;Ecirc;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="è">
		<description>è</description>
		<text>&amp;egrave;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="È">
		<description>È</description>
		<text>&amp;Egrave;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="ë">
		<description>ë</description>
		<text>&amp;euml;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="Ë">
		<description>Ë</description>
		<text>&amp;Euml;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="î">
		<description>î</description>
		<text>&amp;icirc;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="Î">
		<description>Î</description>
		<text>&amp;Icirc;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="ô">
		<description>ô</description>
		<text>&amp;ocirc;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="Ô">
		<description>Ô</description>
		<text>&amp;Ocirc;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="û">
		<description>û</description>
		<text>&amp;ucirc;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="Û">
		<description>Û</description>
		<text>&amp;Ucirc;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="ù">
		<description>ù</description>
		<text>&amp;ugrave;</text>
	</snippet>
<snippet keyword="Ù">
		<description>Ù</description>
		<text>&amp;Ugrave;</text>
	</snippet>
</snippets>

Open Expression Web

In the code view hit CTRL + ENTER and choose one of your new snippets.