home row hassle

November 14, 2011 2:52 AM

Every keyboard I've ever used has had those little ridges on F and J (or D and K) to facilitate finding home row without looking at the keys. So why does my work keyboard have the ridges on G and K? Google is failing me. Is there a legit explanation for this or did I just get a factory defect with the ridges shifted one key to the right?
posted by makonan to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

Is the space between the 'H' and 'J' centered over the space bar? If so, it may just be that the manufacturer considered making the ridged keys sit in the middle to be more important that consistency with other keyboards.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 3:05 AM on November 14, 2011

Next time you're at that keyboard, flip it over and grab the manufacturer and model no. That'll help narrow it down a bit.
posted by samsara at 6:00 AM on November 14, 2011

This keyboard for example has the same bump "misplacement." One of the reviews considers it a manufacturing flaw.
posted by samsara at 6:02 AM on November 14, 2011

Unless there is a typing school somewhere that advocates G and K as home keys, and that school has enough money and clout to produce their own line of keyboards, it's probably error.

Perhaps it was made in a different country with a different alphabet by a designer who copied the key ridges without fully understanding their purpose.
posted by TheRedArmy at 8:30 AM on November 14, 2011

I was going to suggest that perhaps your 'bumpy' keys were made for a different layout of keyboard, where they would be correctly positioned under the middle or first fingers in the home row. But in looking over the common QWERTY/QWERTZ/AZERTY layouts, it doesn't look like any of them should have bumps under G and K.

I'm guessing manufacturing flaw.
posted by Kadin2048 at 8:31 AM on November 14, 2011

Maybe it's part of some misguided gaming keyboard marketing pitch.
posted by ceribus peribus at 11:36 AM on November 14, 2011

Mine only has it on J, and it is a perfectly ordinary apple keyboard. Just a note.
posted by davejay at 4:30 PM on November 14, 2011