I've been reading a few blogs (here and here) about useless keys on the keyboard. Heck, they even have a campaign dedicated to removing the CAPS LOCK key from the keyboard:
http://capsoff.org/ (Main Site)
http://capsoff.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
http://anticapslock.com/ (Early campaign against CAPS LOCK)
To all of this I say: "What's the Point?" Well, the point is that the modern keyboard is an outdated, and is desperate need of a total overhaul.
To bring the keyboard up to speed, it needs a fresh new design that takes modern and future uses into consideration. Did you know that the QWERTY keyboard is based off of earlier typewriters? Surely you do. But did you know that the QWERTY layout was introduced in the 1860s? But do you also know the reason why the keys are arranged in this fashion that can still be found in keyboards today was arrange keys in a way to alternate keystrokes to avoid jams?
And we still use this design today! Can we not do better?
A few years ago, I started playing around with the Dvorak Keyboard Layout and what I found was that I experienced less fatigue and straining.
In this generation of innovation and technology, don't we owe it to ourselves to explore better designs for one of our main input devices?
I think we should stop complaining about useless keys and step back and look at the broader picture. Why waste time and effort in moving a key or two when the entire keyboard needs an overhaul?
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