Re: caps lock keys

["Fredric Gross" fredric.gross@xxxxxxxx]

Yes, the location of the CAPS LOCK key on standard keyboards is dysergonomic
in the extreme. But we need not suffer in silence.

Many years ago, I tweeked my Xy3+ .KBD file so that the CAPS LOCK key is
Ctrl; the Ctrl key is Alt, and the Alt key is Caps Lock. It takes a little
getting used to, and mistakes happen when I forget what my 10th grade typing
teacher said and look at the keyboard. (I tend to respond primarily to
visual cues, and so the labels on the keys get me confused.) I continue to
use 3+ with my .KBD arrangement. And when I accidently hit Alt, I have
tweeked my .KBD file so that Ctrl-C changes the case of what I typed.

Fred



----- Original Message -----
From: "Leslie Bialler" 
To: 
Sent: Friday, June 11, 2004 11:02 AM
Subject: Re: Re File-specific display mode


> Patrica wails:
>
> >Harry is so right about keyboard layout. Caps Lock next to A and right
> >under Tab has to be the DUMBEST design decision ever made.
> >
> If you look at the design of a traditional typewriter keyboard, you will
> not fail to notice the same array of keys. If you want to talk about
> dumb design decisions, I would dial back 120 years or so to the design
> of the first typewriters. Far more vexatious than the position of the
> caps lock key is the position of the "a" key itself, which is, of
> course, struck with, typically, the weakest of the fingers.
>
> Anyhow, if you log into brainsystems.com, you will find freeware that
> disables the caps lock key, which of course, so many touch typists hit
> when they think they're hitting the tab key.
>
> Notes and asides: The Royal Standard typewriter of ca. 1955 had a tab
> key that was to the right of the spacebar. It was elongated vertically
> and could be struck with the right palm. (They had brown spackle
> finishes and the keys were green plastic, slightly indented to fit the
> fingers--an innovation then.) That has always struck me as the exemplar
> of "Good Design."
>
>
>
> --
> Leslie Bialler, Columbia University Press
> lb136@xxxxxxxx
> 61 W. 62 St, NYC 10023
> 212-459-0600 X7109 (phone) 212-459-3677 (fax)
> > http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup
>
>