Think Retro: Apple's Adjustable Keyboard harks back to the days of touch typing<article>
<section class="page">
<p>
You’ll recognize the picture above if you’re a Mac user of a certain vintage (
does secret Vintage Mac User handshake), but anyone who came to Apple this century is probably looking at it with more questions than answers. Is it broken? What is
with that space bar? And, possibly, oh my gosh, were Macs really ever that
beige?</p><p>
It’s a keyboard of course; the Apple Adjustable Keyboard. And it doesn’t have to look quite so alarming. It’s hinged at the top so you can if you like have it completely straight:</p><figure class="large ">
</figure>
<p>
…or pull it apart so it’s angled. Why? Ergonomics. Formal touch typists—by which I mean typists for whom typing is the major focus of their job, not typists who wear pinstripes and address people by their surnames—were taught that the correct way to type was to always have their fingers resting lightly on the “home keys,” keeping the hands still and stretching and curling the fingers to reach the other keys. That’s why to this day keyboards have little nodules on F and J (though on Apple’s early keyboards such as this one, the bumps are on D and K), so you can feel for them. Rest your left hand’s index finger on F, your middle finger on D, ring finger on S and pinkie on A, then mirror this on J, K, L and semicolon.</p><p class="jumpTag"><a href="/article/2854292/think-retro-apples-adjustable-keyboard-harkens-back-to-the-days-of-touch-typing.html#jump">To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here[/url]</p></section></article>
Source:
Think Retro: Apple's Adjustable Keyboard harks back to the days of touch typing
