\ddot{a} character for strings

Question

I'm looking for the \ddot{a} character which doesn't require me to put it into a formula or between $ characters. Can anyone help me, please?

Thanks

Answer 1

To typeset a letter with an Umlaut in text mode, you should never use the math-mode macro \ddot:

• the dots will not be placed properly according to text-mode conventions
• the argument of the \ddot command (if writing in German, likely a, o, or u) will be typeset in math-italics rather than the (probably desired) upright or "roman" text mode. (Incidentally, even if you do want the text in question to be set in italics, you should know that there are some subtle but noticeable differences when these vowels are set in text-italics or math-italics -- at least when using Computer Modern fonts. E.g., in math-italics the three vowels are slightly wider and the "lower-right tails" of the a and u are spaced a bit more widely.)

To typeset letters with an Umlaut (dieresis), you could

• Use the "standard TeX/LaTeX" method, viz., \"a, \"o, etc.

• If using babel, use the applicable shorthand command (e.g., with german, type "a, ...

• If using a minimally competent editor, you can probably enter the characters directly. (Be sure to also provide a statement such as \usepackage[utf8]{fontenc}.)

Any of these methods will automatically switch between roman and italics letters depending on which font shape is in effect when the commands are processed by LaTeX.

In addition, consider using a font family (such as Latin Modern) that contains optimized glyphs for characters with umlauts, adding also \usepackage[T1]{fontenc}