Caps lock

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Caps Lock is a button on the computer keyboard which, when pressed, causes all letters to be generated in the capital until it is disabled. This is located in a similar Shift key position (and sometimes Ctrl key) found in some other keyboard layouts. Usually the toggle button: every press reverses its action.

What Caps Lock does depends on the operating system and drivers, and the keyboard layout is implemented. On a computer that is not compatible with an IBM PC, it may also depend on the keyboard hardware. Usually the effect is limited to letter keys; letters capitalized, and non-letter characters generated normally. In other cases, the key can affect all keys, for example the "5" button generates "%" when caps-lock is pressed.

Video Caps lock

User interface

Typical Caps Lock behavior is that pressing the set of input mode keys where all typed letters are capitalized by default (ie in All uppercase letters). The keyboard stays in Caps Lock mode until the button is pressed again.

Some variants of this behavior exist:

In most keyboard layouts, the Caps Lock key status only changes the meaning of the alphabet key (word for word according to the modal shift key ), not on the numeric line, which then still needs the Shift key to press to reach the definition alternate key.

Depending on the keyboard layout used, pressing the shift key while Caps Lock is actively ignored (because all keys are shifted) will also shift the key that Caps Lock does not transfer (see above) or effectively reverse the status of each key shift, so that where Caps Lock shifts all keys, pressing Shift will temporarily switch to lower case again, whereas on the keyboard where Caps Lock just shifts the alphabet button, pressing Shift will temporarily change the alpha key to lowercase while shifting the numeric lines as usual. Some keyboard layout implements a fourth variant, in which Shift will temporarily call two different sets of alternate key definitions depending on whether Caps Lock is currently active or not. Shift inverting behavior is the most common variant on English-language keyboard.

While the typical locking behavior on the keyboard with the Caps Lock key is toggle, each press reverses the shift state, some keyboard layout implements combi mode, where pressing the Shift key in Caps Lock mode will also release Caps Lock mode, just as it usually happens in the Shift key mode.

The keyboard often includes a small LED to indicate that Caps Lock is active either on the button itself or in rows with the Scroll key and the Num lock indicator. While on the original IBM PC keyboard the LED is controlled by the keyboard itself, it is under the control of computer software since the introduction of AT IBM. Some new laptops and wireless desktop keyboards do not have LEDs, but provide software that provides an indicator on the screen.

Typing letter-sensitive passwords that are not displayed verbatim on the screen can cause errors when Caps Lock is on. The help guides, technical support materials, and sometimes the interface itself may include suggestions for checking Caps Lock before typing a password. On the Windows login screen, a warning that Caps Lock is actively displayed in a balloon near the field. In Mac OS X, when Caps Lock is on, the Caps Lock (?) Symbol is displayed in the password field. The operating system can also provide audible notifications when Caps Lock, Num lock, or Scroll lock keys are enabled.

Some keyboard drivers include a configuration option to disable the Caps Lock key. This behavior allows users to decide for themselves whether they want to use a key, or disable it to prevent accidental activation.

Similarly, some keyboard drivers allow to control switching and toggling behavior either by selecting an alternative national keyboard layout, if defined, by providing custom configuration options to change behavior, or even custom hotkeys to quickly change behavior.

In the Unix USSR community, the Caps Lock key is traditionally used as an input language switcher, suitable for touch-typed use. Support for this is present in KDE, GNOME and other desktop environments. Default Russian, Ukrainian layout for FreeBSD sets Caps Lock as an input language switcher. Additional programs can be used for this purpose in Microsoft Windows. The original Caps Lock function is achieved in such a layout with Shift Caps Lock.

Maps Caps lock

History

The Caps Lock key originates as a key Shift key on a mechanical typewriter. The initial innovation in a typewriter is the introduction of a second character on each typebar, thus doubling the number of typed characters, using the same key number. The second character is positioned above the first on the face of each typebar, and the shift key causes the whole type of moving device, physically to shift the position of the typebars relative to the ink ribbon. Just like on modern computer keyboards, shifting positions are used to generate capital letters and secondary characters.

The Shift lock key is introduced so that the shift operation can be maintained indefinitely without continuous effort. It mechanically locks the keystrokes in a shifted position, causing the upper character to be typed when pressing any key. Since two shift keys on the typewriter require more power to operate and are intended to be suppressed by the little finger, it can be difficult to withstand downward shifts for more than two or three times in succession, therefore the introduction of the Shift lock key is also intended to reduce finger muscle pain caused by repeated typing.

Mechanical typing-typewriter typewriter is usually set by pushing both shift and lock at the same time, and released by tapping the shift by itself. The computer's caps-lock is set and released by the same key, and the behavior of Caps Lock in most QWERTY keyboard layouts is different from the Shift key behavior because capital letters are capitalized but do not affect other keys, such as numbers or punctuation. Some early computer keyboards, such as Commodore 64, have a Shift key but no Caps Lock; others, such as BBC Micro, have both, only one that can be activated at a time.

Caps lock generally still functions like traditional Shift keys on certain non-QWERTY keyboard layouts, such as French AZERTY and German QWERTZ. Some operating systems and window managers allow Caps Lock to be used for similar functions.

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Caps Lock versus Control Button

Keyboards of some early computer terminals, including Teletype Model 33 ASR and Lear-Siegler ADM-3A, Apple II, and early models of IBM PCs, as well as some Apple Keyboard models, positioned the Control key on the left. keyboard, where Caps Lock is on most modern keyboards. This layout is maintained for later work systems and is often associated with Unix workstations. The keyboard of Sun Microsystem comes in two layouts; "Unix" and "PC-style", with the Unix layout having traditional placement of Control buttons and other buttons. The Commodore Amiga computer all have a Control button on the left, next to a small Caps Lock key, disabling the rarely used Caps Lock keys of the Amiga Operating System is very common. The keyboard produced for One Laptop Per Child computer also has a Control button in this location. Other vendors produce keyboards for different computer systems with these Control button placements, such as the Exciting Hacking Keyboard. Starting with Google Cr-48, Chromebooks have replaced Caps Lock with a special "Search" button.

Some keyboard users with Caps Lock to the left of the remap buttons to exchange Controls and Caps Lock, find more traditional ergonomic locations to use programs that benefit from the use of Control keys. Layout preferences Special keyboards to address this need are available across multiple operating systems. Some keyboards even provide a button at the bottom to logically swap the two keys in the hardware.

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International Caps Lock Day

June 28 and October 22 are annually observed as INTERNATIONAL DAY RELATIONSHIPS as a parody holiday created in October 2000 by Derek Arnold, a user in Metafilter. A second observation on June 28 was added by Arnold to commemorate the American pitchman Billy Mays.

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References

src: www.wikihow.com

External links

• c2: CapsLockOff - explains how to re-map the Caps Lock key for other purposes.
• CAPS LOCK DAY website.
• I Hate CapsLock keys

Source of the article : Wikipedia