Yellow box surrounding my quotation mark... How do I remove this?

Question

Hello there, when I press the key combination of shift and ; , I should get the " symbol... After pressing shift and ; I'm getting the " symbol, but it is surrounded by a yellow box... I made a youtube video for demonstration. I'm sure this is a simple setting which can be adjusted somewhere... but I've looked everywhere in my preferences and no luck.
Here's the youtube video to demonstrate my problem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQpm85dgH_U
Thanks!

Answer 1

Hello Chuck,
What keyboard layout have you got set?
This behaviour is typical of many input methods; the yellow box shows that this is a "dead key", in this case generating a German umlaut, French tréma, or English dieresis. Only when another character is typed does the entry point move on, and if it is a legal combination (i.e. a vowel) the double dot symbol will sit above the vowel.
You should see the "input method" shown in the Status Menus (just to the left of the clock display). But f you don't, go to System Preferences and click on the Language & Text icon, then on the Input Sources tab. The keyboard layouts ("input methods") active are indicated by checkboxes, and if you click on the "Show input menu in menu bar" checkbox, you can switch between layouts easily. Unfortunately, your YouTube video only shows the top left-hand corner of your screen…
In any case, you can clear the checkboxes for all keyboard layouts you don't use, and the problem should go away. While you're there, try ticking the "Keyboard & Character Viewer" checkbox; this is a very useful facility!
HTH
Archie
(BTW: OS X should be pronounced Oh Ess Ten…)