I thought we needed a post for MacUsers of ChinesePod so I'm throwing this one out: how to type in Pinyin with tone marks on a Mac.

Typing Pinyin with tone marks (using any Unicode font)

1. select U.S. Extended keyboard
   

• 1st tone: option A + vowel ā, ē, ī, ō, ū
  
• 2nd tone: option E + vowel á, é, í, ó, ú
  
• 3rd tone: option V + vowel ǎ, ě, ǐ, ǒ, ǔ
  
• 4th tone: option  `+ vowel à, è, ì, ò, ù
  

special cases

• Capital letters: simply use the shift key while striking the vowel key: Ā, Á, Ǎ, À, Ē, É, Ě, È, etc.
  
• Umlaut (ü): use the V key instead of the U ǖ, ǘ, ǚ, ǜ
  

installing the U.S. Extended keyboard

1. open International (in system preferences)
   
2. select Input Menu
   
3. select U.S. Extended (a Unicode keyboard)
   

There's a new group called Mac users of ChinesePod; come and sign up if you're interested, and I'll try to remember to admit new members! (Note to ChinesePod: could you make admitting new members require less than, oh, the 20 or 30 clicks it now seems to take?).

I hope the group can provide an easy-to-search resource for Mac users. As an example, I seem to post details about how to type pinyin every six months or so, and now maybe things can be less confusing for new users.

Minor question: my subscription expires again in a couple of weeks, and I won't renew for a few weeks because I'll be traveling. Can non-subscribers still serve as gatekeepers? Can I give someone else the ability to do that?