Keyboard
Studies
Hello Keyboard!
Whether you’re using a PC with Linux or Windows, or an Apple computer, chances are you’re going to utilize one of the most iconic Human-Interface-Devices ever invented, the keyboard!
What may at first seem self explanatory, can be full of surprises with just a few key combinations.
While it’s not necessary to learn all the keyboard tips, tricks and shortcuts to achieve your goals, having a general idea of the basics can make computer life a lot easier!
The wikipedia link below will give you a more detailed description of the keyboard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout
If you're using Linux Mint and need to change your keyboard layout to a different language, there's a guide in the link below.
https://www.technipages.com/linux-mint-change-keyboard-layout
Let Your Fingers do the Typing!
Home Row
The term “Home Row” refers to the eight keyboard keys upon which your fingers are placed, and to which they return while typing. This method is particularly useful for something known as “Touch Typing”, wherein the location of keys on the keyboard are derived from touch and muscle memory rather than sight. This method is particularly useful for typing notes, or when it's necessary to type quickly.
It looks like this:
A S D F J K L ;
The index finger of your left hand is positioned on the “F” key, while the index finger on your right hand is placed on the “J” key. The rest of your fingers rest on the corresponding keys of the same row, while your thumbs are on the Space Bar.
Each finger is responsible for typing specific adjacent keys. Commiting some of this to memory and putting in a little practice will greatly improve your typing proficiency.
The link below will take you to the wikipedia page on touch-typing.
"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
The above sentence is a something known as a pangram, because it uses every letter in the english alphabet at least once. This makes it a very handy typing practice tool. By repeatedly typing "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" , a person can familiarize themselves with the location of all the letter keys on the keyboard.
Here are a few links to websites specifically for typing practice.
https://byteback.org/students-alumni/typing-tutorial/#!/how-to-type
Non-alphanumeric Keys
What’s your Function?
The top row of keys, generally referred to as “Function” or “Media” keys, and on laptops, are assigned to adjust things like audio volume or screen brightness, and have corresponding icons to help identify their use.
On USB keyboards typically used for desktop computers, these keys may not be predefined. The “Fn” key (usually found in the bottom left corner of the keyboard) serves as a momentary toggle for the “Function keys up top.
By holding down the “Fn” and pressing one of the numeric “F” keys on the top row, you trigger its secondary function.
Same Shift, Different key.
The “Shift” key is so useful, most keyboards give you two! One on the left and right, respectively. And they do exactly the same thing. You can even press both simultaneously and the results will be the same!
Holding down this key and pressing any letter will give you a capitalized, or “upper-case” version of that same letter. Holding down a “shift” key and pressing a key that has two characters will give you the character on top.
CAPS LOCK
If you’ve been holding down the shift key for the past 20 minutes, you might be interested in using the caps lock key. This key is your best friend for typing in all capitalized letters. The caps lock key is a toggle key, (as opposed to momentary or gated, like the others) which means that one keystroke turns caps lock on, and pressing it again will turn it back off. Usually there’s some kind of light to indicate that it’s activated. Caps lock only affects alphabetical characters, so if you need an “@” instead of a “2”, you’ll still have to use the trusty shift key. When caps lock is activated and you hold the shift key while typing an alphabetical character, you’ll get a lower-case letter.
Put it on my Tab.
Like many keys on the modern keyboard, the “tab” key has a rich and interesting history that we won’t cover here at all. In its most basic function, pressing “tab” before you start a paragraph will give you a perfect indent.
In modern use, “tab” is probably most famous for its “tab completion” function. This is when you’re typing something and the software or program can guess or deduce what you’re typing based on just the first few characters. To complete the word or phrase, just hit “tab” and you're off to the next line!
Control (Ctrl) and Combos!
The Control key is another modifier key that doesn't do much on it's own, but can do any number of things when combined with another key or keys! (If you're on an Apple computer, see the section below about the command key.) The three most common uses are to cut (control+x), copy (control+c) and paste (control+v) text, but the list of combinations featurning the control key is pretty long. I'd reccomend learning a few at a time as you practice intergrating them into your workflow.
This link will give you a place to practice using the cut, copy and paste keyboard shortcuts!
Below, you'll find a link to an extensive list of Linux keyboard shortcuts!
Hotkeys at your Command!
If you’re on an Apple computer, the command key (on either side of the spacebar) is your gateway to a bunch of useful, (relatively) easy-to-remember shortcuts.
Let’s look at a handful of the most useful command key combos. These seem to be a good place to start, and after you’ve got them committed to memory, it will be easier to add others over time. If you find yourself doing something frequently, take note, there may be a hotkey command for that! (And if there isn’t, you can make your own!)
Command-A: Select All items or text.
Command-Z: Undo the previous command. You can then press Shift-Command-Z to Redo, reversing the undo command. In some apps, you can undo and redo multiple commands.
Command-X: Cut the selected item and copy it to the Clipboard.
Command-C: Copy the selected item to the Clipboard. This also works for files in the Finder.
Command-V: Paste the contents of the Clipboard into the current document or app. This also works for files in the Finder.
Command–Space bar: Show or hide the Spotlight search field. To perform a Spotlight search from a Finder window, press Command–Option–Space bar. (If you use multiple input sources to type in different languages, these shortcuts change input sources instead of showing Spotlight.)
Option-Command-Esc: Force quit an app. (This is particularly useful when an app freezes or becomes unresponsive.)
Here's link to a list of all the Apple keyboard shortcuts.
https://www.shortcutfoo.com is a really cool site for practicing keyboard shortcuts for a variety of programs.