If you could remove any single key from your computer keyboard, which one would you choose?
Tough question? Not for Pieter Hintjens. He has started a campaign called “CAPSoff,” designed to promote the removal of the “Caps Lock” key on computer keyboards. Why? He says:
“The CAPS key is an abomination. We all know that. It’s a huge key, stuck right there where the Ctrl used to be, and as far as I know, it’s only used by 419 scammers and Fortran programmers.”
Over at his new blog, CAPSoff, he is looking for people to join his grassroots effort to make computer manufacturers remove the “unnecessary” key from beneath the fingertips of computer users everywhere.
Typing in all-capital letters is generally considered rude when it comes to emails, blogs, message forums and the like. But there are times when that caps-lock key does come in handy. It all depends on your individual application and the project you’re working on.
For myself, I think I’ll keep my Caps Lock key right where it is. I first learned to type on an old manual Royal typewriter and it had one. I’m used to it. And it’s not like you have to go through a complicated series of keystrokes to deactivate it: one little press and you go from THIS to this instantly.
What’s so difficult about that?
Geez. This guy really has no life if he is starting a “CAPS off” campaign, does he. I’m with you. How difficult is THAT? I personally have no use for the “F” buttons. Can’t say that I’ve ever used them, ever. Really, what good are they? :~ De
There are plenty of keys I could probably live without. ~ for one. But I really would love to see the caps lock go.
See, at work, we all share the reference desk computers and some of my staff love to use the Caps Lock key. And if I don’t notice it’s on, and it’s my turn at that desk, I can’t log into databases because they require lowercase logins. And some, including our own, will lock you out after 3 bad tries. I’ve gone at least 4 times sometimes, trying to log into a database only to get an error message, before realizing the person before me left the caps lock key on.
I hate it. I really do.
–Shelly, posting anonymously because of a little problem with beta.