[Macworld.com]

Those who've vainly searched their Mac OS X 10.3 volume for something equivalent to the old Key Caps utility found in earlier versions of Mac OS X and Mac OS 9 -- a utility that displays a map of the characters on your keyboard -- can be assured that Panther does indeed offer a similar feature. But it's darned hard to find. Allow me to show you the way. [more]

[earthsaver]

But the menu clutters the menu bar and there's a simple AppleScript that will display the Keyboard Viewer. Call it up with LaunchBar or the like for access just as fast as via the menu, but without the mouse clicks.
MacParc is the source of this script and another that will similarly call up the Character Palette, also accessible from the Input menu.

[rockinphotog]

How can a nice little US Flag clutter the Menu Bar?
I actually discovered this feature a few days ago. An easier way to enable it (the way I found it) is to go to Finder/Edit/Special Characters. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[Chris Breen]

RP: The Special Characters window is a different beast (though it too is available from the Input menu).
Chris

[Grant_G]

Gee, I should have posted this months ago I guess. When I upgraded to Panther, I found that I had to reinstall Spell Catcher, which also works through the Input Menu. I found Keyboard Viewer then and activated it and have just merrily used it since with nary a thought that others mightn't have been so fortunate to find it as quickly as I had.
Sorry, y'all!
G

[rockinphotog]

I should have clarified that just hitting "Special Characters" enabled the input menu permanently. Of course then from that menu, you still have to choose Character palette, keyboard viewer, or whatever others you enable from the international preferences. In other words, it will take one trip to the International prefs to enable everything you want.

[earthsaver]

Well, maybe clutter was a bit intense. However, I keep nine other menu extras on my menu bar and after I discovered the AppleScript alternatives to this one, I decided the menu wasn't necessary. Only if I was working with multiple keyboard layouts would it be useful, particularly since LaunchBar and BuddyPop take up the CommandSpace and CommandOption+Space shortcuts normally assigned to switching layouts.

[Chris Breen]

I'm with you on the menubar clutter. On my 17" flat panel monitor I'm constantly having to choose among menu items to dispose of. Currently I'm down to uControl's calendar/clock, my fast user-switching name, StuffIt Magic Menu, Sound pref, AppleScript menu, Spell Check, Bluetooth, WeatherPop, Salling Clicker, and uControl iTunes menu.
Chris

[rockinphotog]

OK, I see. I always have 4 inches of space in the menubar on my 22" lacie, even with iKey, Monitorcontrols,sound,input,time/day and battery

[d00d]

I thought uControl was only a simple keyboard remapper.

Chris, have you seen WinSwitch? It's a nice way of keeping Fast User Switching quickly available without taking up a lot of room.

[Chris Breen]

Whoops, sorry, I meant You Control -- the Now Utilities kind of thing for OS X.
I'll check out WinSwitch. Currently my switching name is Christopher Breen, which takes up a mean mess o' room.
Edited to add: Just installed it. Works a treat! Thanks for the tip.
Chris

[earthsaver]

If you find that your FUS menu takes up a lot of space, I recommend you pick up the freeware WinSwitch from Wincent Colaiuta.
Also, I recently removed my Bluetooth menu. It was only serving the ability to turn off Bluetooth, a rare occasion. (An Apple Wireless Mouse is my only Bluetooth device.) I wonder if you need it there at all, unless you're power-cycling Bluetooth often. And, a while back I removed the Stuffit Magic menu because most of my archives are Finder-created zips with CommandOptionZ assigned. (Stuffit Expander is generally fast enough for me otherwise.)
Curious: You've got Sound up there? No volume keys on your keyboard?

[Marissa]

Put the Keyboard Viewer in your Dock!
The KeyboadViewerServer.app resides at this path:
System/Library/Components/KeyboardViewer component/Contents/SharedSupport
Drag it into your dock and you have your KeyCaps back.
No extra menu. No clutter or bother to launch it.
QED.

[Dan Frakes]

WinSwitch is great; appropriately enough, it's in an upcoming Mac Gems column /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
And Marissa, that's a great tip; thanks!