Contrary to popular belief, the first shift appeared not on computer keyboards, but on typewriters, back in 1878. Then Christopher Scholes and Carlos Glidden developed and released their second typewriter, Remington 2, and its innovation was the ability to capitalize letters. This mechanism was implemented by clicking on the already known and familiar shift.
What does Shift mean on the keyboard?
The content of the article
- What does Shift mean on the keyboard?
- Where is the Shift button on the keyboard
- Why Shift on the laptop keyboard is in this place
She got such a name because of the way she worked, she physically shifted the carriage, which made it possible to hit on paper not in capital letters, but in capital letters. Literally, “Shift” means “shift”, hence the notorious designation of this key has appeared so far.
But it is also worth mentioning that she took root precisely because of the great popularity of Remnington typewriters. This is the first commercially successful model that has been mass-produced for the general public. And, perhaps, if a machine with a different mechanism would win on the market, then even now so familiar to all “Shift” would have a completely different name.
Where is the Shift button on the keyboard
Almost all modern input devices, such as:
- Personal Computer;
- A laptop;
- Netbook;
- The tablet.
The shift is located in two places, in the lower left and right corner of the keyboard. Exceptions are only specialized input devices, for specific tasks, such devices may not have “Shift” at all.
The left shift is located between “Caps Lock” and “Ctrl”. And the right one is between “Enter” and “Ctrl” near the control arrows. Both keys are in the second row, if you count from the person.
On the keyboards for laptops usually do not write the inscription "Shift", but cost only a large hollow arrow pointing up. It is from her that you can recognize this button on laptops or their younger brothers netbooks.
IMPORTANT. If you did not find the familiar button with the inscription Shift, then you need to look for it by its graphic designation: a hollow arrow pointing up. Usually this is due to the small size of the input device, which does not allow you to place a full-fledged key.
Why Shift on the laptop keyboard is in this place
In order to fully understand the reason for finding the shift in these places, it is necessary to delve deeper into history. It all started with Remington typewriters. There, this button was located due to the structural features of the mechanism. It was easier and more reliable to place it on the side so that it was easier to move the carriage to activate capital letters on a typewriter.
But at the beginning of the development, only one shift button was added. But during the testing process, it became clear that it is very inconvenient to combine some letters and a shift. This happened due to the fact that the hand was already busy pressing the button with the letter, and to press the cipher it was necessary to tear off the hand and interrupt the printing of the text, which significantly reduced the printing speed. And it was decided to add another crypt from the other side.
Then everything went along the path of optimization, and, moving to laptops, it became clear that the usual keyboard would be too large. The buttons were slightly reduced, the shift was removed, and the shift found its usual place.
