The keyboard is one of the earliest and most important hardware components of a computer. The range of models and design solutions is quite wide. There are completely original products. Here is a very interesting concept on which the computer keyboard is made (photo below).
However, despite the large number of design decisions in the keyboard market, the functions and the purpose of the keys on almost all modifications of products of this type are organized according to one principle. Which one?
Keyboard structure
Modern computer keyboards contain 101 or 102 buttons, which are divided into several groups. These are function keys, alphabetic, numeric, service, control, as well as the so-called modifiers. Consider the purpose of each type of keyboard key .
Function keys
There are 12 buttons in total. These include a computer keyboard for a very long time . The purpose of the keys, their description is found in many textbooks on information technology, published even before the invention of the PC in its current form. Function keys are arranged in one row (usually), at the very top of the keyboard. We study their features.
The purpose of the function keys is largely determined by traditions in the environment of computer and software manufacturers, and not by any strict standards. There are a kind of generally accepted principles for associating buttons of a given group with certain actions. But it cannot be ruled out that individual software manufacturers will prefer to assign the function keys the purpose they want. Let's take a scenario in which we have to press these buttons, working in Windows, for example, version 7.
In this case, the F1 key will be responsible for calling the OS help system. Most programs running on Windows also involve invoking help by pressing F1.
The F2 key is usually responsible for renaming files and folders in Windows. A similar function is assigned to it when working in some file managers.
The F3 button in Windows brings up the OS search engine, a separate folder, or a similar interface in most programs. For example, if the text is open in the editor, then by pressing F3, you can search for the desired word or phrase.
The F4 key, as a rule, is associated with two functions in Windows: switching to the address bar in the integrated file manager of the OS, as well as displaying the history.
The F5 button allows you to refresh the display of objects in a folder, on the desktop, or, for example, a page in a browser window.
The F6 key has some similarities in purpose with F4. It allows you to translate the text cursor into the address bar of the built-in Windows file manager, but does not display the history.
The purpose of the computer keyboard keys in the F7-F9 series, as well as the F12 button in Windows, is not strictly defined. It all depends on the specific application in which the user is working. In this case, a specialized program for assigning keys can be used.
The F10 button is responsible for calling up the leftmost menu item in the program interface. For example, if the Word window is open, then the user, pressing F10, will open the File menu.
The F11 key allows you to quickly switch the window to full screen mode (or vice versa).
Control keys
These, as a rule, include arrow keys - right, left, up and down. They are designed to perform operations on moving objects on the screen, to control characters in computer games, etc. They can also be used to position the cursor in the text.
Letter keys
They occupy the central space of the keyboard. In the numerical measurement of such buttons the most, the standard standard is 47 pieces. The English keyboard of a computer, as a rule, includes letter buttons in a pure form. That is, apart from them, nothing is usually depicted on the keys. Russian usually allows the simultaneous use of certain letter buttons and as "carriers" of punctuation marks. If you press them without combining them with others (for example, modifiers), then the main letters will be entered. With the appropriate combination, punctuation marks.
Also, in some cases, letter keys allow you to control the object on the screen, if it is provided by a program or a computer game (the second option is more common). In this sense, letter keys can sometimes be “control keys”.
Number keys
They, depending on the configuration of a particular keyboard model, can be located on top of the letter block, and in some cases can be supplemented with buttons on the right side of the device (as a rule, they often do not fit on “large” keyboards for PCs and laptops).
In the second case, this block of keys is especially convenient for use in calculations. There are various auxiliary buttons for operations of multiplication, division, subtraction, addition, there is the Enter key.
Modifiers
The purpose of the keyboard keys that are considered to be “modifiers” is to change the essence of the entered commands using the functional, alphanumeric or numeric buttons by pressing simultaneously. These are CTRL, ALT, and also SHIFT. Some experts also refer to the modifiers buttons CAPS LOCK, INSERT, SCROLL LOCK and NUM LOCK. Other experts distinguish these four keys in a separate group - the so-called "mode" buttons.
Consider the most common actions for which you can use these keys. The computer keyboard is designed so that the user can enter data not only with a single button press, but also in combination. The functions of many "modifiers" are performed precisely because of this possibility.
Users often combine keyboard buttons with the ALT key. For example, if you press the combination of ALT and TAB, you can switch windows of different programs - from one to another. Using the combination of ALT and F4, the user closes the active application.
Keyboard shortcuts with CTRL are equally popular. For example, a combination of this key and "C" allows you to quickly copy an object or data area - file, folder, text, image, etc. to the clipboard. You can quickly insert a “copy” by pressing CTRL + V. If you substitute "X" instead of "C", then the selected data will be "cut" from the original location, and after pressing CTRL + V it will be moved to a new one.
One of the most commonly used modifier buttons is SHIFT. It is in combination with it that most users type uppercase letters in the text.
Hotkeys
Some experts call modifier buttons hotkeys. This is because the latter give the user the opportunity to very quickly perform an action that, if applied, say, a mouse, would take longer. We have already given some examples that reflect the purpose of hot keys: for example, copying text using a combination of CTRL, C, X, and V, as a rule, is faster than in the case of invoking the context menu with the mouse.
Often used a combination of "modifiers" among themselves. For example, if the user has the Russian keyboard on the computer turned on, the layout can be changed to English by pressing the combination of ALT and SHIFT. And vice versa.
Service keys
There are quite a few of them on keyboards. Specialists usually refer to them buttons ESC, PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN, PRTSC, PAUSE, DEL, BACKSPACE, HOME, END, WIN, ENTER, TAB, as well as SPACE, or, in Russian, a space. There is an opinion that, in the broad sense of the word, the control keys and “modifiers” are also “service”, and therefore it would be more expedient to classify the buttons in a different way. But there are no uniform standards at the same time.
Most Popular
Perhaps the most commonly used service key is SPACE. She puts a space when typing. In combination with INSERT (when the associated mode is activated), this key erases the printed letters.
Probably the second most popular service key is ENTER. She has a lot of functions. It’s difficult to single out the main one, we can say that there is a group of key ones: opening a file, a folder, launching a program (or some action in an already launched one), and also translating text to a new line. On keyboards that have a separate area of the number buttons (on the right side), there is usually an extra ENTER key.
Often used the ESC button. Usually responsible for canceling an action. For example, if the image viewer is open, then pressing ESC can close it. Unless, of course, the corresponding button association is embedded in the application: in many cases, programs do not respond to pressing ESC.
The purpose of the PRTSC key is interesting. Using it, you can take so-called "screenshots" - graphic screenshots of the contents of the screen at a particular point in time. To save the image in a separate file, you need to run some program for processing images, for example, Paint or Photoshop, then "paste" it into the editable area (as an option, using the combination of CTRL and V), and then save it to a file of a convenient format .
Rare but necessary
We now study the rarely used, but very necessary in some cases, service buttons. These include SCROLL LOCK and PAUSE. The first key is designed to change the mode of use of the control arrows. So, for example, so that when you press the "right" or "left" buttons, the active window moves in the corresponding direction. The PAUSE key may come in handy if a program or process is running on the PC that has a pause function. For example, before loading Windows, various types of system information are displayed on the PC screen. If the user is interested in reading it, but he doesn’t have time to do it because of the quick switching of the computer to boot Windows, then he can "slow down" the process by pressing the PAUSE key. Unless, of course, this allows you to make a software interface - its algorithms are laid down by the manufacturer of the computer or motherboard. To continue the progress of the program, it is enough, as a rule, to press any button on the keyboard.
New and useful
Over time, in the course of technological progress, the computer keyboard is constantly being improved and modernized. The purpose of the keys, their description may vary. But this is not the only aspect of technological evolution. New keys can also be added and subsequently become, de facto, part of generally accepted standards.
Among the newest buttons - WIN, as well as the "menu". They are indicated on keyboards, usually by drawings. WIN - in the form of a corporate flag of Microsoft, the second key - in the form of, in fact, a context menu with items, sometimes with a mouse arrow.
The WIN key contains almost any modern, Windows-adapted computer keyboard. Photo below.
Actually, the appearance of both buttons in question, as it is believed, was due to the entry of the Windows operating system onto the world market.
WIN key
The WIN key, in principle, can be attributed to “hot”, since in many cases the actions associated with it are carried out, firstly, in combination with other buttons, and secondly, they duplicate (with a relatively faster execution) operations, made with the mouse. Note that if you press WIN separately, then, as a rule, the Start menu opens.
Consider some useful hot key combinations using the WIN key.
The WIN + D combination allows you to minimize all open application windows (or, conversely, maximize them).
The WIN and R key combination is useful from the point of view of invoking the program quick launch window (into which you can enter the name of the main file, after which the application will start).
The combination of WIN and PAUSE (in this, by the way, is another useful property of the second key) opens the properties menu of "My Computer".
What is useful in the menu key? It is, in principle, associated with the same action that the user performs by pressing the right mouse button while hovering over a file or folder. That is, a context menu opens , consisting of various options. It is more convenient for many users to use this function using the keyboard rather than the mouse.
The nuances of standardization
The purpose of the keys of the computer keyboard, as we have already noted above, is more a set of rules dictated by traditions than by international standards. However, computer and software manufacturers, one way or another, are trying hard not to experiment with associating buttons with new functions that are not suitable for other market solutions.
Many users may not like the unusual computer keyboard, the purpose of the keys, a description of its functions. Many PC owners prefer the familiar “hot”, function, or service buttons to work just like in most applications. And therefore, the above-described patterns regarding the assignment of various keys are generally valid for almost all keyboard models. In turn, software manufacturers are trying to associate application functions in more or less familiar to the market algorithms.
Windows Standards on Other Systems
Moreover, even in operating systems other than Windows (for example, Linux), the range of key assignments in general is very similar to the above. In many competing operating systems, the computer keyboard initially oriented to Windows - the purpose of the keys, the description of it - reflect the same capabilities that are present in the Microsoft OS. This even sometimes applies to the WIN key. Despite the fact that it is typical for Windows, its functions in other operating systems in some cases are very similar to the original range of purposes. Not to mention the “modifiers” that a computer keyboard contains. The layout between languages using a combination of ALT and SHIFT is changing not only in Windows.