Why Computers Aren't As Helpful As I'd Like Them To Be

Diacritics have always been a problem on computers, because some fonts just don't want to render them in the right spot. I was trying to add breathy voice marks to some data I was typing up. Most of the time it put the diacritic half under the letter it is supposed to be under, and half under the following. A couple of times it was in its own space (or as one of those mystery boxes).

m̤

It looks pretty good in the window for typing (it's slightly offset), but I think my default font for this site doesn't do it so well. It shouldn't be so hard to generate m̤ when I need it.

My other related problem is not so much with rendering the symbols properly, but with typing them. IPA-fonts aren't really that helpful because even if you could match every symbol to it's own key, or simple key command (say, shift+k), I'd never be able to able to remember which one went with which key command. Also, there's probably thirty thousand different characters if you include diacritics and all that other fun stuff I need to type out regularly. It's inconvenient when I need to type out something like xɬpʼχʷɬtʰɬpʰɬːskʷʰʦʼ and I need to search through several sections of several tables on the character map. I wrote up an Input Method file for key commands to generate all of the necessary characters, by having a combination of basic characters, plus ways to modify them. So, simply put, h, ʜ, ɦ, ħ, ʰ, ɧ, and ʱ, would all be generated by pressing "h" and then another key that normally doesn't generate a letter. I was very content with my setup, but my computer froze when I installed it (and I followed the instructions to a t, and double checked and retested), and wouldn't work until I managed to delete the file. Apparently, it's a common problem, but the solution I cannot find. If there are any ways that people know of to generate Input Methods, I certainly am in need of one.