What this modification does is replace the binding of your Caps Lock Key and turn it into the Compose Key using xmodmap, a utility for modifying keymaps and pointer but mappings in X. The Compose key is a key that allowed you to press it and then two other keys to produce another character in the Unicode Character Set. For instance you could press <Compose> followed by  “-L” (dont type the quotes) , and then get £. The combinations are fairly simple and most of the time you can guess, or reference this page.

The Mod – Linux Only

This is extremely painless and doesnt even require being root, all you need to do is open your favourite terminal emulator and type the following commands:

$ xmodmap -e "remove Lock = Caps_Lock"
$ xmodmap -e "keysym Caps_Lock = Multi_key"
$ xmodmap -e "add Lock = Caps_Lock"

Quite simply we remove the Caps_Lock function from the Caps Lock Key on the keyboard map, then have the Caps_Lock keysym produce the Multi_key keysym, and then reassign Caps_Lock back to Caps Lock on the map except with the Multi_key function replacing Caps_Lock thus giving us a Compose Key.

For those not on Linux

As for those of you on Mac OS or Windows, we can’t exactly do this but there are other options.

For Mac users your Option key serves a purpose similar to the Compose Key except you have a more limited range of characters you may create. A reference for that may be found here.

And as for you sinners Windows users, you may either be stuck with holding in ALT+4 digits to produce corresponding Unicode characters, or you may utilize the open source application known as AllChars.

For those who produce keyboards

Please get rid of the Caps Lock key, it is for an era long gone where all commands were required to be in Uppercase. All it does now is serve a nuisance and give people a way to shout on the internet easier. I suggest that the Compose Key be brought back to the standard keyboard layout. Why? It makes more sense, is more useful than Caps Lock, and would also extend the range of characters a user could input as a password increasing security.

Currently there is no code to be viewed online, but just bear with me please. If you feel like keeping up to date on this work-in-progress, go to the Google Code page or follow me on Twitter.

Edit: The original name of MonsterLab conflicts with a bigger side project underway, so I am reverting it back to it’s original code name of MonsterGrid.