diff --git a/src/pages/index.jsx b/src/pages/index.jsx
index ac03afe3c..59a2ad128 100644
--- a/src/pages/index.jsx
+++ b/src/pages/index.jsx
@@ -224,7 +224,10 @@ function Home({ initialSettings }) {
     function handleKeyDown(e) {
       if (e.target.tagName === "BODY" || e.target.id === "inner_wrapper") {
         if (
-          (e.key.length === 1 && e.key.match(/(\w|\s)/g) && !(e.altKey || e.ctrlKey || e.metaKey || e.shiftKey)) ||
+          (e.key.length === 1 &&
+            e.key.match(/(\w|\s|[à-ü]|[À-Ü])/g) &&
+            !(e.altKey || e.ctrlKey || e.metaKey || e.shiftKey)) ||
+          e.key.match(/([à-ü]|[À-Ü])/g) || // accented characters may require modifier keys
           (e.key === "v" && (e.ctrlKey || e.metaKey))
         ) {
           setSearching(true);
diff --git a/src/utils/proxy/cached-fetch.js b/src/utils/proxy/cached-fetch.js
index 0ed39562f..30b00f77e 100644
--- a/src/utils/proxy/cached-fetch.js
+++ b/src/utils/proxy/cached-fetch.js
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ export default async function cachedFetch(url, duration) {
     return cached;
   }
 
-  const data = await fetch(url).then((res) => res.json());
+  // wrapping text in JSON.parse to handle utf-8 issues
+  const data = JSON.parse(await fetch(url).then((res) => res.text()));
   cache.put(url, data, duration * 1000 * 60);
   return data;
 }