Mavericks supports a wide range
of special characters. A popular type of a special character
is known as "Emoji." Emojis can be used
anywhere you can type text. In the example of the Messages application,
a Special Characters button appears in the right side
of my typing field. I can now pick from the list
of the many different Emojis.
Within an application
where there may be no indication to include special characters,
I can access them
by going into the Edit menu and choosing "Special Characters..."
The bottom row
categorizes the different special characters which are available.
Double-click the character
to include it within your text.
Special characters also include international symbols, mathematical symbols,
and just about anything
you may not ever use.