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Accessories (Keyboards, etc.) Comments | Accessories (Keyboards, etc.) Ideas
-20

Make a dedicated '@' key on keyboards.

-20 points posted to Accessories (Keyboards, etc.) by badblood 10/09/07

Most keyboards I've worked on have the '@' symbol merged with the number 2 key. We all use @ a lot these days and I kind of think it's time that it was given its own key, or at least was in a more convenient location - closer to the shift key. The keyboard I am typing on now has two ridiculous 'windows' keys. What a waste. Why not make one of them an '@' key. At least then I'd press it now and again.

I also think the brackets should be swapped with the parenthesis, which are used a lot more....

Anywho.........

cosh
10/09/07		 On UK keyboards it is much closer to the shift key - it's just above and to the left of the right shift, where the double quote is on US ones. To press it with the right shift is actually harder because the distance is too close and you have to look to hit it, but combined with the left shift instead it's easy.

It's hard to change established designs though. Keyboards are very personal things. People use them for hours and hours every day and everybody has a preference on layout. Change the smallest thing and you could upset a thousand people, like you know those keyboards that stick 3 power management keys in above Delete, Home, Page Up, so you have to get used to hitting a row down from where you expect. Now THAT'S annoying design.
badblood
10/09/07		 the delete key should be much more prominent....
cosh
10/09/07		 Where would you put it?
phubert
10/09/07		 Aren't there ways to -map- keys?
badblood
10/09/07		 Good question cosh. One thing I would do is color it - maybe red.

Maybe where the windows key is now or under the right hand shift key?
phubert
10/09/07		 The delete key???? I have one of my (8) mouse buttons set to "shift-delete" VERY useful!
cosh
10/09/07		 I have an addiction to shift-delete. So nothing I delete ever goes to the Recycle Bin - and so the only things in it are things I want to keep but looked too untidy on the desktop! I know one day I'll shift-delete an important file by mistake and be kicking myself for it.
phubert
10/09/07		 yep... I've done it, but it's pretty rare
The last really -important- file I deleted was on a Tandem in the late 90's... ouch!
aikiwolfie
10/09/07		 On a UK keyboard @ is the secondary function of ' . " is the secondary function of 2. I don't see the need for that to change. Pressing shift to access @ isn't that big a deal.
phubert
10/10/07		 ...and just how often does one use the "@", anyway? Isn't most email already in address books???
aikiwolfie
10/10/07		 I don't use an address book. I just remember the addresses.
mkmaster78
10/11/07		 just my two bits, but the title on this is a bit confusing, how about changing it to something like "Make a dedicated '@' key on keyboards"? I'm done with my two cents, you can ignore me again. :)
badblood
10/12/07		 OK mkmaster78 thanks for your two cents.
rotthund
10/15/07		 VIM can remap the Escape key to the cap-lock. Can Windoze remap keys on the keyboard, besides changing layout?
cosh
10/15/07		 I saw a program once which did that. I think it acted as an intermediary between the keyboard driver and the User32 subsystem.
winoffice
Jan 13		 DEMOTED as I prefer the keyboards to stay as they are now.
phubert
Jan 14		 Well, in general writing parenthesis are, indeed, used more than brackets. In writing HTML, <> are used frequently.

It _might_ be nice to have a keyboard with, perhaps an additional four keys the user could assign as -anything-

"speed keys"

There's actually room on many desktop keyboards -around- the four arrow keys and below the 6-key 'pad' with the Insert-Home-Page Up
and Delete-End-Page Down rows.

Just a thought...
phubert
Jan 14		 But, WO, what about an OPTIONAL keyboard design????
winoffice
Jan 14		 I do not think that that would be necessary phubert, as there exist keyboards which have a number of programmable "hot keys", IN ADDITION to the standard 101-104 keys.
phubert
Jan 14		 seems I've heard of such... do you have any references I could look at? I like my idea... since the space is presently _empty_ on standard desktop KBDs... I like the small Dell desktop keyboard... looks like the Model # is RT7D50... add the keys to that one in the blank space I described in my suggestion! :-)
aikiwolfie
Jan 17		 I personally think this entire idea is a total waste of time. All of the standard keys are fine where they are. And lets not forget UK keyboard layouts are different from the US which is different from Australian layout which is different from the french and so on etc etc etc.

So are we going to produce a special keyboard for the Americans and ignore the rest of the world. Force everybody to use the American layout?

Perhaps the problem with the @ key isn't that Americans need a special @ key. Perhaps it's just badly positioned on the American keyboard layout?
phubert
Jan 18		 But, aikiwolfie, is ANY suggestion supposed to meet the needs of EVERYONE?

I DO get by well enough with the standard keyboard. But, we've also been banging our heads with QWERTY all these years SOLELY due to the MECHANICS of the original TYPEWRITERS.

I could make use of the five additional keys I mention (though I seem to screw-up often enough with those we already HAVE ( :-D ).

And, yes, I agree with you about 'ignoring the rest of the world' ... of course it's not just "Americans", isn't it largely all who natively speak English (Canadians, REAL English, Aussies, etc.)?
phubert
Jan 18		 By the way, the keyboard creator available from Microsoft, as far as I can tell, only maps the standard and character keys... not the insert-home-etc., the arrow keys, function keys, et al... so, for the purposes here, it's pretty much useless...
aikiwolfie
Jan 18		 The standard keyboard is already fairly crowded. Where are we going to put five extra keys without making the keyboard bigger? There are already at least 3 or four function multipliers being used on the keyboard to allow keys to double up and perform other functions.
phubert
Jan 22		 Yes, but those amount to multiple keystrokes... not as convenient or as fast...

OTOH, *I'D* like a keyboard with the same physical spacing as the old IBM Selectric typewriter!

Although I like the simple Dell-supplied default keyboards, I think the wider spacing and key size of the old IBM Selectric typewriter would result in FAR fewer 'fat finger' errors.
aikiwolfie
Jan 23		 I tell people at work who make constant typos they have fat-finger syndrome. But I actually prefer smaller keyboards. I don't have huge hands so I don't need a huge keyboard. :op
phubert
Jan 23		 My hands are fairly small as well, but I think they retain some 'memory' of traditional typewriters... the old RCA computer consoles were not (of course) based on the IBM Selectric! And, I don't think THEY were that large, either. As an old console operator (etc.), I was blazingly fast for 2-3 key sequence bursts... like many operators, of course.
 
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