Computer keyboard: key assignment, description. English computer keyboard

The keyboard is one of the earliest and most important hardware components of the computer. The range of models and design solutions is quite wide. There are absolutely original products. Here is a very interesting concept, on which the computer keyboard is executed (photo below).

However, despite a large number of design solutions in the keyboard market, the functions and purpose of the keys on virtually all modifications of products of this type are organized according to one principle. Which one?

Keyboard structure

Modern computer keyboards contain 101 or 102 buttons, which are divided into several groups. These are function keys, alphabetic, digital, service, control, and also so-called modifiers. Consider the purpose of the keyboard keys of each type.

Function keys

Total buttons of this type 12. They are very long ago includes a computer keyboard. The purpose of the keys, their description is found in many textbooks on information technology, published even before the invention of the PC in its present form. Function keys are arranged in one row (usually), at the very top of the keyboard. Let us study their features.

The purpose of function keys is largely due to the traditions in the environment of computer and software manufacturers, and not by any rigid standards. There are some kind of generally accepted principles of associating buttons of this group with certain actions. But it can not be ruled out that individual software vendors would prefer to assign function keys to the function keys as they want. Let's take the scenario in which we have to press these buttons, working in Windows, say, the 7th version.

In this case, the F1 key will be responsible for calling the OS help system. Most programs running on Windows also imply the activation of help by pressing F1.

The F2 key is usually responsible for renaming files and folders in Windows. A similar function behind it is fixed when working in some file managers.

The F3 button on Windows calls the OS search engine, a separate folder, or the same interface in most programs. For example, if you open text in the editor, then pressing F3, you can search for the desired word or phrase.

The F4 key is usually associated in Windows with two functions: go to the address bar in the integrated file manager of the OS, and display history.

The F5 button allows you to update the display of objects in a folder, on the desktop or, for example, a page in a browser window.

The F6 key has some similarity in the assignment with F4. It allows you to translate a text cursor into the address bar of the built-in Windows file manager, but does not display the history.

The assignment of the computer keyboard keys in the F7-F9 series, as well as the F12 button in Windows, is not strictly defined. It all depends on the specific application in which the user is running. In this case, a specialized program for assigning keys can be used.

The F10 button is responsible for calling the leftmost menu item in the program interface. For example, if the Word window is open, the user, by pressing F10, opens the "File" menu.

The F11 key allows a quick transition of the window to full-screen mode (or vice versa).

Control Keys

To those, as a rule, carry the arrow keys - to the right, to the left, up and down. They are designed to perform operations to move objects on the screen, to control characters in computer games, etc. Also they can be used to position the cursor in the text.

Alphabet keys

Occupy the central space of the keyboard. In the numerical dimension of such buttons is the most, the standard standard is 47 pieces. The English computer keyboard, as a rule, includes letter buttons in its pure form. That is, except for them, nothing is usually shown on the keys. Russian usually allows the simultaneous use of certain letter buttons and as "carriers" of punctuation marks. If you press them without combining them with others (for example, modifiers), then the main letters will be entered. With the appropriate combination, punctuation marks.

Also, in some cases, the letter keys allow you to control the object on the screen, if this is provided by the program or computer game (the second variant is more common). In this sense, the letter keys can sometimes be "controllers".

Number keys

They, depending on the configuration of a particular keyboard model, can be placed on top of the alphabetic block, and in some cases - supplemented with buttons on the right side of the device (usually on "large" keyboards for PCs and laptops they often do not fit).

In the second case, this key block is especially useful for calculations. There are also various auxiliary buttons for operations of multiplication, division, subtraction, addition, there is an Enter key.

Modifiers

The purpose of the keyboard keys assigned to the "modifiers" is to change the essence of the input commands using the function keys, letter keys or the numeric buttons by simultaneously pressing. This is CTRL, ALT, and also SHIFT. Some experts also refer to the modifiers buttons CAPS LOCK, INSERT, SCROLL LOCK and NUM LOCK. Other experts distinguish these four keys in a separate group - the so-called "mode" buttons.

Consider the most common actions for which you can use these keys. The keyboard of the computer is arranged so that the user can enter data not only with the help of single button presses, but also in combination. The functions of many "modifiers" are performed precisely because of this possibility.

Users often combine buttons on the keyboard with the ALT key. For example, if you press the combination ALT and TAB, you can switch the windows of different programs - from one to another. Using the combination of ALT and F4, the user closes the active application.

No less popular are keyboard combinations with CTRL. For example, the combination of this key and "C" allows you to quickly copy an object or data area - a file, folder, text, picture, etc., to the clipboard. You can quickly insert a "copy" by pressing CTRL + V. If you substitute "X" for "C", then the selected data will be "cut" from the original location, and after pressing CTRL + V it is moved to the new one.

One of the most frequently pressed modifier buttons is SHIFT. It is in combination with it that most users type uppercase letters in the text.

Hotkeys

Some experts call the modifier buttons hotkeys. This is because the latter give the user the ability to perform some kind of action very quickly, which would take more time when using, say, a mouse. Some examples that reflect the purpose of hotkeys, we have already cited: say, copying text using the combination CTRL, C, X and V, is usually faster than in the version with a call to the context menu with the mouse.

Often used combinations of "modifiers" among themselves. For example, if a user has a "Russian" keyboard on the computer - the layout can be changed to "English" if you press ALT and SHIFT. And vice versa.

Service keys

There are quite a few of them on the keyboards. Specialists usually refer to them the ESC, PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN, PRTSC, PAUSE, DEL, BACKSPACE, HOME, END, WIN, ENTER, TAB, and SPACE buttons, or, in Russian, a space. There is an opinion that, in a broad sense, "control keys" and "modifiers" are also "service keys", and therefore it would be more appropriate to classify buttons in a different way. But there are no uniform standards, at the same time, there is no such thing in this issue.

Most Popular

The most, perhaps, frequently used utility key is SPACE. It puts a blank when typing. In combination with INSERT (when the associated mode is activated), this key erases the typed letters.

Probably, the second most popular key from among the service keys is ENTER. She has a lot of functions. The main highlight is difficult, we can say that there is a group of key: it is opening a file, a folder, launching a program (or some action in an already started one), and also translating the text to a new line. On keyboards that have a separate area of numeric buttons (on the right side), there is usually an additional ENTER key.

The ESC button is often used. Usually responsible for the cancellation of any action. For example, if the picture viewer is open, then pressing ESC will close it. If, of course, the corresponding button association is embedded in the application: in many cases the programs do not respond to pressing ESC.

It is interesting to assign the PRTSC key. With it you can do so-called "screenshots" - graphical screenshots of the screen at a particular moment in time. To save the image in a separate file, you need to run some program for processing pictures, for example, Paint or Photoshop, then "paste" it into the editable area (alternatively, using the combination of CTRL and V), then save to a file in a convenient format .

Rare, but necessary

We will now study the rarely used, but very useful in some cases service buttons. These include SCROLL LOCK and PAUSE. The first key is designed to change the mode of using the control arrows. So, for example, if you press the "right" or "left" buttons, the active window moves to the corresponding side. The PAUSE key can be useful if a program or process is running on the PC that has a suspend function. For example, before loading Windows, various system information is displayed on the PC screen. If the user is interested in reading it, but he does not have time to do it because of fast switching of the computer to Windows loading, he can "slow down" the process by pressing the PAUSE key. If, of course, this allows you to make a software interface - its algorithms are laid by the computer manufacturer or motherboard manufacturer. To continue the course of the program, it is usually enough to press any button on the keyboard.

New and useful

Over time, in the course of technological progress, the computer keyboard is constantly being improved and modernized. The purpose of the keys, their description may vary. But this is not the only aspect of technological evolution. New keys can also be added and subsequently become, de facto, part of generally accepted standards.

Among the newest buttons are WIN, and also the "menu". They are indicated on the keyboards, as a rule, by drawings. WIN - in the form of a proprietary flag of Microsoft, the second key - in the form, in fact, the context menu with items, sometimes - with the mouse cursor.

The WIN key contains almost any modern computer keyboard adapted for Windows. Photo - below.

Actually, the appearance of both buttons considered, it was believed, was due to the release on the world market of the Windows operating system.

The WIN key

The WIN key, in principle, can be referred to as "hot", because in many cases the actions associated with it are performed, firstly, in combination with other buttons, and secondly, they duplicate (with a relatively faster execution) operations, Produced by the mouse. Note that if you press WIN separately, the "Start" menu is usually opened.

Consider useful "hot" combinations using the WIN key.

The combination WIN + D allows you to minimize all open application windows (or, conversely, deploy).

The combination of WIN and R keys is useful from the point of view of calling the quick launch window (in which you can enter the name of the main file, after which the application will start).

The combination of WIN and PAUSE (in this, incidentally, another useful property of the second key) opens the "My Computer" property menu.

What is useful in the "Menu" key? It is, in principle, associated with the same action that the user performs by clicking the right mouse button when the cursor is pointing to a file or folder. That is, a context menu is opened , consisting of various options. Many users find it convenient to use this function with the help of a keyboard, not a mouse.

Nuances of standardization

The purpose of the keyboard keys of the computer, as we have already noted above, is rather a set of rules dictated by traditions rather than international standards. However, manufacturers of computers and software, one way or another, try not to experiment strongly with the association of buttons with new, unsuitable for other market solutions, functions.

Many users may not like the unusual keyboard of the computer, the purpose of the keys, a description of its functions. Many PC owners prefer that the familiar "hot", functional or service buttons work just like in most applications. Therefore, the above-described patterns relating to the assignment of various kinds of keys, in general, are valid for almost all keypad models. In turn, software vendors try to associate application functions in more or less familiar algorithms to the market.

Windows standards in other systems

Moreover, even on operating systems other than Windows (for example, Linux), the range of key assignments in general is very similar to that described above. In many competing operating systems, the initially oriented Windows keyboard of the computer - the assignment of keys, the description of it - reflect the same features that are present in the OS from Microsoft. It even touches the WIN key. Despite the fact that it is typical for Windows, its functions in other OS are in some cases very similar to the original range of assignments. Not to mention the "modifiers" that the computer's keyboard contains. The layout between languages with the combination of ALT and SHIFT varies not only in Windows.