I switch between a keymap with and one without dead keys with a single shortcut depending on whether I'm typing English/programming, or Portuguese/other accented languages.
Isn't the entire point of this popup to give you a visual fallback option if you e.g. aren't a native speaker and don't know how to type it otherwise? For instance, assuming an english keyboard layout, typing á is a matter of "Alt-e a".
I don't think it's meant to be the primary input method for native speakers?
I'm assuming you meant that as an affirmation despite the use of the question mark.
If that's the case, then I agree it makes sense! I find macOS's default to have this enabled pretty bad though. I understand it on iDevices where dead keys would be awkward but not on a computer with a full, physical keyboard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_declarative
The older generations think that this is “wrong”, so they don’t teach you what it means or how to use it.
Just an observation—foreign language education generally teaches a formal version of the language and neglects informal/casual usage. This is normal. The problem is that informal/casual usage today becomes formal usage in the future, as language changes.
Just as an example, if you take a Japanese class, they’ll probably teach you 「おはようございむす」 but not 「おっす」 (good morning), 「ありがとう」 but not 「サンキュー」 (thank you), and teach you to say 「無理」 when you should say 「難しい」 (impossible).
You can select the accented character with number keys (e.g. 1 for the first option), and you can reduce the delay in the panel appearing by reducing the key delay:
defaults write NSGlobalDomain InitialKeyRepeat -int 12
defaults write NSGlobalDomain InitialKeyRepeat -int 25If I have to long-press (however short "long" might be), plus remember which number corresponds to which accent on each letter, that's a lot more than what I have now - accents make sense as you type the actual accent plus the letter. The only "exceptions" to this intuitiveness are 'c for ç (not an issue on PT or BR keyboards which have a dedicated key for that) and arguably " for umlauts like ü (I think only in pt_BR and even then it's not in use since the unification of the orthographies in the 90s).