keyboard trends

[jarod-ajLrJawYSntWk0Htik3J/w at public.gmane.org (Jarod Wilson)]

On Jan 18, 2011, at 10:08 PM, Tom Metro wrote:

...
> Bill Horne wrote:
>> Cntl-X|C|V is universal AFAIK...
> 
> I believe the Shift-Delete/Ctrl-Insert/Shift-Insert shortcuts for
> cut/copy/paste were introduced to Windows back in the 2.0/3.0 era, and
> considered part of IBM Common User Access (CUA)[1] standard, or at least
> Microsoft's interpretation of it. (Yeah, according to Wikipedia, those
> are the CUA shortcuts for cut/copy/paste.)
> 
> 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_User_Access
> 
> I think the Ctrl-X/C/V combo was the windowized version of Apple's
> Option-X/C/V

Command, not option. Which, to my hands, is in a *far* better spot to
pull off most key combos than the control key is. (That being next to
the space bar, next to where your thumbs should already naturally be
sitting).


> Jarod Wilson wrote:
>> Mine is without number keys, and I haven't missed them...it makes for
>> a lot of spare room on my desk with such a tiny keyboard (which sits
>> alongside an Apple Magic Trackpad, which I also really like).
> 
> I've always preferred a keyboard without a number pad, both for the
> space savings and that it allows you to place the mouse closer to where
> your hands are on the keyboard.
> 
> I wonder why no one has made a keyboard with a track ball in place of
> the number pad. I remember seeing a few keyboards with track balls on
> them back in the early 90's, but I'm pretty sure they still had number
> pads. They were huge.

Here's one beauty of the trackpad. Its the exact same depth and pitch
as the keyboard, so you can put them side by side as if it were a single
continuous unit, or you can split them apart. I tend to go with mine
split apart and at a slight angle from perfectly aligned with the
keyboard.


> Dan Ritter wrote:
>> The actual advantage of an island key arrangement is that
>> instead of having a huge hole in your laptops's case, you have 
>> a nice panel with small holes cut out of it. Stiffness goes up
>> considerably.
> 
> Ah, good point. Not unlike the way a convertible car tends to have a lot
> more body twist.
> 
> Myself, I haven't observed keyboard flexing issues on laptops...at least
> not with my Acer.

I have minor flexing issues with the keyboard on my ThinkPad T61 that are
non-existent with my MacBook Pro.


-- 
Jarod Wilson
jarod-ajLrJawYSntWk0Htik3J/w at public.gmane.org