Comments on: Where are the bumps on _your_ keyboard?

Question: Where are the bumps on _your_ keyboard?

woodblock100 — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:26:40 -0800

What's with the little bumps on the F and J keys on my computer keyboard? Yes yes ... I know they are guides for touch-typing, but I'm sure that when I was learning to type back in high school on electric typewriters (pre-computer days) the bumps were on D and K. Am I mis-remembering this? Did they change, and if so, when? And did every typist go crazy when it happened?

By: acoutu

acoutu — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:30:21 -0800

AFAIK. the bumps have always been on f and j, the home keys.

By: Ironmouth

Ironmouth — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:35:19 -0800

Yeah it always has been f and j.

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:40:08 -0800

I have seen keyboards where D and K were different. Most others either had no indication at all, or marked F and J.

And different ways are used. Sometimes there's a ridge at the bottom of the key. On some typewriters, the two special keys had deeper indents than normal.

There's no formal specification. There never has been one. There's a convention, but keyboard manufacturers have been playing fast and loose with it for decades. This is but one example of many.

By: flod logic

flod logic — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:42:20 -0800

I don't know about pre-computer days, but I'm pretty sure I remember the bumps being on D and K on some of the Macs we used in middle and high school.

By: MaxK

MaxK — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:42:42 -0800

Yes, they used to be on D and K consistently. It changed somewhere between 8 and 11 years ago. I don't know why, but it drove me crazy too.

By: goingonit

goingonit — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:57:19 -0800

From the Jargon File:
"Usually on the 5 of a numeric keypad, and on the F and J of a QWERTY keyboard; but older Macs (like pre-PC electric typewriters) had them on the D and K keys (this changed in 1999)."

By: null terminated

null terminated — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:59:03 -0800

Apple on D/K vs. F/J

By: Mikey-San

Mikey-San — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 22:44:40 -0800

From null terminated's link:

Note: Prying off the keycaps voids the keyboard's warranty.

That is some bullshit right there. How else do you clean a keyboard?

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 23:24:59 -0800

My Apple Extended Keyboard II (the best keyboard ever made save the IBM Model K, IMO) has the bumps on D and K. And yes, using ones that have the bumps on F and J drive me insane.

I'm pretty sure that Apple keyboards dating back to the Apple II series have the bumps on D and K. I have no idea where the unholy business about putting them on F and J originated, but sadly it seems to be winning now.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 23:58:49 -0800

As a data point my 27 year old Model M has them on F/J. Whether placement there is because of IBM or whether it was already following a perceived convention I don't know.

By: flabdablet

flabdablet — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 01:08:51 -0800

My Apple //e has small round bumps on D and K. My ][+ has no bumps at all.

By: rhizome

rhizome — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 01:17:50 -0800

As above, I know D & K as the Macintosh home bumps.

By: katillathehun

katillathehun — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 01:29:00 -0800

The keyboards we used in my high school typing class had bumps on the D and K. I don't really recall which particular computers these were, but I know they were Macs, and I very clearly remember Mr. M's shrill voice as he began each class with "Good morrrrning everybody TIME TESSSSSST!!! MIDDLE FINGERS ON THE DEEEEEEE AND KAAAAAAAAY!" You just don't forget something like that. He also called all the slow typists "Leroy" for some reason. But that's another story for another time.

By: woodblock100

woodblock100 — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 01:41:07 -0800

Lots of people here recalling older Apple keyboards with the D and K, but can anybody chime in with information about pre-computer keyboard layouts? Anybody got an IBM Selectric handy to check?

I can no longer remember such details about the electric typewriters we learned on in high school - they had tall cylindrical 'keys' that plunged up and down - but I'd be willing to bet that the IBM typewriters in the office where I went to work had them on D and K.

But how on earth would such a shift take place? With the change from typewriters to computer keyboards? And if Apple kept the D and K for as long as it could, is this then a PC thing? Maybe it happened with the early IBM personal computers?

By: Rabarberofficer

Rabarberofficer — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 02:14:09 -0800

As far as I remember old typewriters they all had bumps or elevations on the D and K. At least here in Sweden. Both manual and electric. And in my opionion it was a better solution: The indexfinger moves around a lot and can get lost, while the middlefingers are more sedatary and keeps in place. Just my 0,5 Euro.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 04:27:03 -0800

The really early Selectrics didn't have any bumps that I can tell, nor did the later models, nor did this early Olympia, nor this early Royal.

The later Smith Corona had them on the D and K. The typewriters I used to learn typing in school had them on the D and K as well, if memory serves.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 06:19:52 -0800

I have a few typewriters at home, I'll check them tonight. (Heck, if you can wait a few days I can even check a Smith Corona Word Processor).

By: TedW

TedW — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 08:04:52 -0800

Anybody got an IBM Selectric handy to check?

No Selectrics, but our office has an IBM WheelWriter 3 and Canon AP810, both of which are bump-free. If you like bumps, though, you can always add aftermarket ones.

By: Lucinda

Lucinda — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 08:09:34 -0800

Lots of people here recalling older Apple keyboards with the D and K, but can anybody chime in with information about pre-computer keyboard layouts? Anybody got an IBM Selectric handy to check?

Just checked the Selectric II in the cube next to mine....no bumps at all.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 09:40:05 -0800

tits on a keyboard: n.

Small bumps on certain keycaps to keep touch-typists registered. Usually on the 5 of a numeric keypad, and on the F and J of a QWERTY keyboard; but older Macs (like pre-PC electric typewriters) had them on the D and K keys (this changed in 1999).

By: shelleycat

shelleycat — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:44:14 -0800

When I first learned to type in 1989 both the electric keyboards (IBM I think) and the manual ones (Olivetti) had bumps on the F and J.

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:38:06 -0800

The IBM Selectric did not have bumps on any keys. (I personally verified this on my Correcting Selectric II, and I'm pretty sure that none of the earlier models did either.)

At least when I position my fingers on the Selectric, I always use my right little-finger to find the Return key and position myself from there. The keyboard layout is distinctive enough (the keys are banked steeply, compared to a computer keyboard, for starters) that once I've found that, I've never had much of a problem finding the home position.

I don't know where the "key nipples" got started, but it wasn't on 'ol Blue.