War Declared on Caps Lock Key

pieterh writes "I've launched a campaign to rid the world of the caps lock key. Sure, there are more serious problems to solve but please, think of the children! How am I going to explain to my kids why some of the most valuable keyboard real estate is squatted by a large, useless key that above all you must not press! Our campaign mission is simple: to send a message to the computer industry to force it (by any means necessary) to retire the CAPS key. It's going to be a hard, long, and possibly very embarassing war on uppercase, but some things just need to be done. "

Comments

Helpful image to pass along

[crazyjeremy]

This instructional image has helped some people through the years...
http://users.mtrx.net/image.php?user=funnypics&ima geurl=2005%2F2005-08-23-0002%2FCAPSLOCK.GIF&showfo lder=0
Maybe you should post it in forums for the tards instead of declaring war on Uppercase.

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[flosofl]

bUT hOW wILL pEOPLE KNOW wHEN I aM BEING sUPER CEREAL? cEREALOUSLY! (fucking lameness filter)

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[rockytriton]

Some of us still use programming languages that require us to use all caps, it would be a pain to hold down the shift key constantly.

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[Anonymous Coward]

That's one of the worst attempts to pump your own website I've ever seen for sheer crappiness.

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[sk8dork]

in my job the poeple doing medical billing use software that requires all letter keypresses must be in caps also. perhaps the person starting this crap knows nothing of these worlds and is only concerned about all the all-caps emails and IMs and forum posts he sees.

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[twistedsymphony]

Same here, I work for a very large aerospace manufacturer and all the notes on the engineering documents are required to be in all caps.

Aparently the "War on Caps Lock" is spearheaded by someones who's entire computer world revolves around chatting with immature pre-teens online.

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[LWATCDR]

Okay... If the task requires a field to be in all caps why didn't the programmer just convert what every was entered in that field in all caps???
It isn't that hard to convert a string in to all up case. In most programing languages it is a built in function.
I would say who ever wrote your billing software needs to be replaced.
BTW why would you want to enter data in all caps anyway? It is harder to read than even all lower case and any good software would convert index strings into all one case so it isn't a problem with searching. If it is just because that is the way it has always been done I can understand. But then the software should deal setting the case and not the users hitting the caps lock key.
Sounds like bad software and or practices to me.

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[suffe]

Then how about the four of you keep your old keyboards?

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[BooRolla]

I think you might want to tell that to the programmer who wrote that cobol in the 70's.

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[Dun Malg]

My beef with it is that when we mail things out, our mailing addresses are in all caps and it looks like we're sending out mail from the 1980s

The Post Office actually wants all caps. From the USPS address formatting instructions:

"Addresses should be typewritten or machine printed in dark ink on a light background using uppercase letters."

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[nostriluu]

Sounds like, as discussed below, your software is to blame. Sure, it's important medical / rocket lauching software, but its still squirrly.

There are other solutions, how about making control-shift a standard for caps-lock? Or how about software that uppercases text entered in a particular field.

Surely some people remember SCROLL LOCK, which disappeared some years ago despite being carried forward for years.

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[Siward]

Dammit, I re-typed part of the last sentence in my opening paragraph and forgot to change "use" to "that". Submitting without proofreading strikes agian!

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[Agelmar]

I've never understood why people carry on all-caps requirements that probably originated in the days of teletypes. I admit that at one point in time, it might have been useful to restrict people to a small number of characters to save a few bits, but nowadays it's not worth it. I have no idea of what company you work for and I'm not going to ask, but I will say that I have worked in places with old systems that still require all caps for text, even though the original systems have since been discarded and re-written any number of times. ("But we want to maintain the look and feel of the old system so that people are comfortable using the new system" - forgetting that anybody new they hire looks at it and says "WTF is this POS?"... but I digress)

Anyhow, I always felt sorry for anyone who actually had to read the all-caps mess. I occasionally read some stuff, and after a sentence or two the all caps text gave me the worst headache ever. Proper grammar and capitalization is meant to make language easier to parse. Purposefully leaving out capitalization just makes things hard to read.

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[Anonymous Coward]

Surely some people remember SCROLL LOCK, which disappeared some years ago despite being carried forward for years.

I remember it particularly well as it is on the brand new keyboard right in front of me (Dell).

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[fbjon]

It depends entirely on the font, whether it is difficult to read or not. Also, there's a reason why sentences start with a capital letter: it makes it easier to find.

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[Anonymous Coward]

I work for a very large aerospace manufacturer (maybe the same one). Yes, the notes on many items are required to be in all caps.

But most of these notes are entered into the system via an engineering design tool. It's 2006, and you know, it's really not that hard to say "notes = notes.upper()".

I know, the tool you're using was written as a master's thesis in 1986 on Sun boxes when they thought "usability" meant "let's make the widgets *blue*", and nobody has released an upgrade since the first Bush administration, and the app is about as pleasant to use as drinking shards of glass.

It probably doesn't help you, but I'm on a team writing a new such tool, and we're going to great efforts to do this sort of stuff. But even if you're stuck in something like MS Word, surely you can type normally and select the text and say "Make this uppercase". If it doesn't have that as a native command, you've got to be able to write a VisualBasic++# macro to do it -- they can't have included that mess *just* for viruses, huh?

Anyway, you have my sympathy, but "my app sucks" isn't a good enough reason to make crappy hardware; it's a reason to fix your software.

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[nostriluu]

d'oh.. that's what too many years of laptop use does.

Do have to wonder why this rant is against caps and not scroll lock.

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[fbjon]

That paragraph, right there, is TDWTF material.

Re:Helpful image to pass along

[dcam]

Clearly you have never worked in any environment that involves drafting or technical drawing.

It is the standard for all architectural drawings to use caps only. I believe it is also the cost for most engineering drawings (or it certainly was when I went through University).

Caps is used because:
- For reasons of clarity, it is preferred to use either just lower or just upper case.
- for shorter text (and most text on drawings is short), it is easier to read upper case only

gOOD lUCK

[h890231398021]

bEST oF lUCK wITH yOUR fIGHT

Re:gOOD lUCK

[rwven]

LOL, while it is annoying when people type in all caps and things like that, I use the caps lock key for legitimate reasons all the time. I'm in a data-mining job working on a UniData database and all UniQuery must be written in all caps. This would be a supreme pain to do sans a Caps-Lock key. This is just one of MANY things that falls under that umbrella. I also use the caps lock key as my "walk" key while playing CS. :-D

Frankly...I find the idea of getting rid of the caps lock key...slightly appalling. :)

Re:gOOD lUCK

[LiquidCoooled]

I don't mind it existing, it just pisses me off where it actually is.
Its one thing to have an accidental character in your text, its another to completely mess up the rest of the line.

Re:gOOD lUCK

[Smidge204]

That's hard to do when you're transcribing something off of paper, unless you like looking back and forth a lot.

=Smidge=

Re:gOOD lUCK

[1u3hr]

I don't mind it existing, it just pisses me off where it actually is.

There is any number of utilities to remap it. I swap its function with the left control key, so I can still use ALL CAPS if I actually need to.

Re:gOOD lUCK

[Snarfangel]

I don't know, my password shows "******" whether or not I look at the screen. Unless you mean I should look at the screen, the light on the keyboard, my fingers, and the paper I might be transcribing simultaneously.

Better to put it out of range of the accidental finger.

Next on Slashdot

[zubernerd]

Must be a slow news day, again!
Stories to be seen soon on Slashdot:
"Jihad declared on SysRq key" and "Crusade declared on 'Scroll Lock' Key"

Re:Next on Slashdot

[mrchaotica]

Hey, come on now -- SysRq is cool!

Re:Next on Slashdot

[daivzhavue]

Don't you DARE touch my Scroll Lock key. I will not retrain my KVM-switching response.

Re:Next on Slashdot

[gardyloo]

No please get rid of Insert, I would give blood, sweat and tears for that!

      Spoken like a true Slashdotter! ;)

What About INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY?

[eldavojohn]

IN HONOR OF THE SUBJECT MATERIAL, I HAVE CHOSEN TO USE THE CAPS LOCK FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE FOR THIS POST.

On second thought, that's far too annoying.

If the proposed abolishment of caps lock keys is successful, I grow concerned about what myself and my predecessors will celebrate on INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY which happens to be October 22. And don't tell me it's not a real holiday because that is one convincing website. It has a news flash with a picture of a potato, uses the word "bitches" and has a countdown for the days remaining to INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY. And look at this other reputable site, Out House Rag that also backs INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY. That's more than Adults Day in Japan has to say! Please, if I have to put up with one more Nevada Day (October 31) the least you can do is let me have my INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY. Please don't remove your caps lock key because they're not evil!

You know, there's this horrible site that actually encourages you to remap your caps lock to a more suitable function ... but of course that would just be sacrilegious and a very dangerous process (don't try it at home!).

hurrah!

[tolan-b]

Personally I often remove the caps-lock key so as to not accidentally turn it on.

Couldn't agree more!

[Pope]

What a toally useless key to have in such a prominent keying position. The old school 'boards had it right: big-ass Control key next to the A, tiny Caps Lock in the bottom left corner. It made even more sense when Windows starting adopting the Mac's Command-letter keyboard shortcut as Control-letter, like Cut/Copy/Paste.

DOWN WITH CAPS LOCK!

Re:Couldn't agree more!

[DragonWriter]

I think maybe they switched them to be more like traditional mechanical typewriters.

They definitely switched them to be more like typewriters (though electric more than "mechanical"); which made sense—computers were being more used by non-technical people who also used typewriters and having the layouts as similar as possible was a good thing for most business users. Apparently, the difference in layouts particularly the location of the Caps Lock key was a frequent gripe of pre-PS/2 IBM customers.

Of course, now that computers have almost completely displaced typewriters, there's a lot less reason to be bound by what typewriter users are used to. OTOH, most computer users are now used to the existing dominant layout and there's not a big incentive to switch for most users.

And, for those who like the old Control location, there's always the Happy Hacking Keyboard.

Re:Couldn't agree more!

[pthisis]

I don't understand how a control key to the left of A would be _easier_ to do keyboardless operation with. Try hitting Ctrl-X without moving the fingers of your left hand off of their home locations--pinkie on Ctrl (modern caps lock), ring finger on x. It's quite uncomfortable. Alternatively, you can move your whole hand and then deal with returning to the home row.

With ctrl in the lower-left, you just hold it down with the edge of your palm and have all your fingers in their natural locations. Even Ctrl-A is easy.

not enough

[Anonymous Coward]

taking down the caps lock key isn't enough, we must go for the head of the dragon - the windows key.

Slashdot and CapsLock

[jonv]

Slashdot seems to have a solution. Tried to post a funny message in all Caps and Slashdot responded:
Reason: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.

Data entry issues

[sirstar]

What about the Data entry people that have to type things in all caps? Holding down the shift button to type in a whole line will be more of a pain then someone learning how to turn their caps lock off.....

Re:Data entry issues

[dens]

I've seen data entry done like this, and every time I wonder "why on earth are they doing this?" Can you tell me a real reason that a data entry person would have to type in all caps? The only times I have seen this is on old data entry systems that MADE THEM type in all caps (meaning the program controlled this behavior, not the typist, which, if you want this behavior, is actually how it should be done).

THINK OF THE DATA ENTRY PEOPLE!!!

[Korgan]

WHAT ABOUT THOSE OF US THAT HAVE TO USE CAPSLOCK TO ENTER DATA INTO A BUSINESS SYSTEM? WHERE WILL YOU LEAVE US???????

Ooops. Sorry, caps. :-P

Seriously though, I know lots of people who's business requires them to enter data into their company's systems using caps. I don't know about you, but my little pinky would get extremely disfigured having to swap to and hold the shift button all the time. You'd slow typists down immeasurably.

Re:THINK OF THE DATA ENTRY PEOPLE!!!

[technos]

It's for consistancy. Say you're entering a string into billing.

You could get

'Cisco model X12R1234-J router with cabling.'
'CISCO MODEL X12R1234-J ROUTER WITH CABLING'
'cisco model X12R1234-J router with cabling'
'Cisco Model X12R1234-J Router With Cabling.'

or any variation therof. Mixed capitilizations and (and inconsistant punctuation) make you look like an idiot, and training people to not look like idiots is harder than it sounds.

Re:THINK OF THE DATA ENTRY PEOPLE!!!

[hcdejong]

Still the wrong way to solve the problem. Have the computer sort out dumb issues like capitalisation, instead of forcing the humans to adapt to some arcane and unreadable convention. While you're at it, get the computer to do something to prevent people from entering the same information twice.

Re:THINK OF THE DATA ENTRY PEOPLE!!!

[Agthorr]

The business should fix their software to automatically capitalize text that must be in all-caps.

While you are at it.

[ErroneousBee]

Sort the rest of the keyboard out.

Insert and Caps lock need to be moved out of the way, so that you can use them, but you dont accidentally change a mode while going for another key. The Windows button can be moved too. I keep hitting it when using windows and defocusing the window Im working in. They have no effect in KDE so its not a bother there.

Backspace and delete need to be side by side.

Minus and plus need to be given the same level, as shifting to get a plus is not logical compared to minus.

Useful for Vi users

[suso]

Put this in your .Xmodmap

remove Lock = Caps_Lock
keycode 66 = Escape

I find that the Capslock key makes a nice Escape key so I don't have to reach up high for it.

Re:Useful for Vi users

[wilper]

And we that prefer the superior editor can replace it with Ctrl, to ease the strain on the wrist.

I did this six years ago and have never looked back, I even do it on Windows-machines these days. There is a nice little util called ctrl2caps (or possibly caps2ctrl) that does this for you.

Re:Useful for Vi users

[Chris Burke]

Exactly. Getting rid of caps lock is retarded. It's current location is retarded. War on Caps Lock? War on stupid keyboard layouts!

Re:Useful for Vi users

[yukonbob]

I'm seeing so many of these, assuming everybody is using X... if you're not, and you're using NetBSD (or OpenBSD?), you can set the console to read Capslock as Control (or Esc) via:

wsconsctl -w map+="keysym Caps_Lock = Control_L" (to map capslock to control), or
wsconsctl -w map+="keysym Caps_Lock = Escape" (to map to escape, as parent did)

This will take effect immediately, but not survive a reboot... if you like it and want to enable it all the time, you can add a line to /etc/wscons.conf like this:
mapfile /usr/share/wscons/keymaps/pckbd.c2c

which turns Capslock into a Control key... or you can make your own mappings...

Full list of keysyms (on NetBSD) at /usr/include/dev/wscons/wsksymdef.h

-yb

btw: NetBSD 4 is now in Beta... check The NetBSD site for an announcement coming soon...

And Num-Lock too!

[Adhemar]

While we're at it, can we get rid of NUM LOCK too? At least on normal 100+ key keyboards.

It should be on, not only by default, but all the time. We have arrow keys, Page up and down, Home and End, Insert and Delete between the letters and the right-side number pad. There's no need to duplicate those keys just beside it.

Only negative point: it was up to now a cool hack to make flash the LEDs indicating CAPS and NUM LOCK, like the Knight Rider car, or make it send messages in Morse.

maybe just a new placement?

[rayde]

i propose that keyboards should place caps lock up in no-man's land with Print Screen, Scroll Lock, and Pause/Break, rather than doing away with it completely. For the few times you actually would WANT to activate caps lock, it shouldn't be a problem for people to reach up there. And those who need caps lock a lot for their old programming language or somthing can use a legacy keyboard.

Useless? Not at all!

[Lars Clausen]

My Caps Lock key is gainfully in use to change the keyboard layout between English and Danish. It's wonderful as it lights up an LED, so I can easily see the state I'm in, and it's very handily placed. Please don't take my Caps^H^H^H^HLayout Lock key away!

This can be fixed in about five minutes

[mschaef]

On Windows, Caps Lock and Control can be swepped. A similar technique can be used to make caps lock a redundant control key:

http://www.manicai.net/comp/swap-caps-ctrl.html

There are also ways to do this on Unix, but I don't remember what they are.

Re:This can be fixed in about five minutes

[Red_Winestain]

I can fix this in less than a minute:

In MacOS X 10.4:

System Preferences --> Keyboard & Mouse --> Keyboard --> Modifier Keys...

Set Caps Lock to Control.

I need it

[mombodog]

What? Get rid of it? How will I make posts on EBay and Craigslist? ;-)

Re:Yes, read my CAPSoff blog entry

[JustOK]

Hopefully, with only one button left. It should be big and blue and convey a sense of well being and security, and provide the user with a sense of accomplisment and success when pushed.

I actually use CAPS LOCK.

[Valdrax]

So, what use is this CAPS key?

I actually use CAPS LOCK regularly when writing macros in C. It's much easier on the finger to not have to chord full words with the shift key pressed. Try it sometime. Once you get in the habit of using it on long stretches of capitalized letters (like CAPS LOCK), you'll never go back.

My biggest gripe is that I have to press shift to use the underscore key.

Re:Best Real Estate?

[$RANDOMLUSER]

That's absolutely right. If God hadn't meant for the Control key to be next to the "A" key, he wouldn't have put it there on the ADM3A.

put control there instead

[jjeffries]

The old-timers in the crowd probably already know about this one:

Replacing CapsLock with Left-Control on X
Create the file ~/.Xmodmap with these contents:

            remove mod4 = Meta_L
            remove mod1 = Alt_L
            remove lock = Caps_Lock
            keysym Meta_L = Alt_L
            keysym Alt_L = Meta_L
            add mod4 = Meta_L
            add mod1 = Alt_L
            add control = Caps_Lock

If you are running something like XFree86, add

            xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap

to your ~/.xinitrc file or ~/.xsession file. If neither of those exist, you can always do it from the command line.

text stolen from http://bmrc.berkeley.edu/people/chaffee/swapx.html

Re:put control there instead

[kfg]

And remember, whatever you do, do not use what you have just learned here to remap your collegue's keyboard when goes out for lunch. It would cause him a certain amount of consternation, especially if he isn't the sort that would know about these things.

Maximum effect is actually obtained by only changing a few keys, not just messing everything up.

But remember, if anyone should ask where you got the idea, I specifically said "do not."

KFG

Re:put control there instead

[AmishMoshr]

It's also useful for switching keyboard layouts - though to be honest I use the "weenie method" and set all of this up using the available Gnome tools. It is nice to have at least a subset of extended characters just an extra keystroke away.

Re:put control there instead

[bagawk]

It is even a little easier than that
Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps" in xorg.conf

Why the CAPS lock key?

[thoriphes]

I find myself using it pretty often as I'm coding. Sure, there are two Shift keys but I can't afford that kind of temporary efficiency drop. If there's any key that they should nix, it should be the Insert key, or maybe the Scroll Lock key (do any of you even know what it's used for?). I've noticed some of the Microsoft keyboards have gotten rid of Insert key, which is a good start. I've never had a reason to use that damned key other than to hit it again to toggle it off. Keep the Caps lock key, get rid of these two mentioned above. F11 key, you're next...

Re:Yes, read my CAPSoff blog entry

[Flibz]

W shld gt rd f thm psky vwls fr strtrs!

Is this a joke?

[master_p]

Excuse me, but the world has more serious problems than this. I really can not explain how this made it on /., while more serious topics like a petition for adding garbage collection to C++ were rejected.

Re:Is this a joke?

[O2dude]

Actually on the topic of C++... I think a petition for banning C++ forever is a much better idea.

Re:Is this a joke?

[mrsbrisby]

Actually on the topic of C++... I think a petition for banning C++ forever is a much better idea.

I'll agree, unless someone can give me an example of what C++ is best suited for. I've tried every language that I can find at least twice, and I can't find anything that C++ is the best at, or even a reasonable middle-ground.

C is much easier to read, and if I want objects, Objective-C allows me to reuse my C code. At least then, I get an object oriented language. C++ is some weird class and template based language, that requires I either taxonimize everything, or degenerate into a slower and hard to read C.

I'm still unclear why we need four different casts, and I'm still unclear why it's a good idea to have two functions with the same name and data types (save the const or signed keywords, which aren't really supposed to modify the data type)- lest the evil C++ genies make my code call the wrong one.

I'm completely lost as to why it's a good idea making: if (a << 1) mean anything but to check if anything but the highest bit is set, or a[0] mean anything different than *a.

I can't figure out exactly how to control deallocation order when calling destructors during stack unwinds, and I can't figure out how to control allocation order before main().

I don't know why C++ insisted on being completely forwards and backwards incompatible with C, and adopt its name. It isn't a better C, it isn't even a logical extension of C.

I might be able to wrap my head around C++ better if I didn't know C, and expect C semantics, but damnit, that's awful hard to do when it's called C++.

So right now, I'll sign your petition, but if anyone comes up with an example of what C++ is best at, I'll have to retract my signature and simply sign the petition that demands C++ be called (!C)<C.

Re:Is this a joke?

[diodeus]

"Excuse me, but the world has more serious problems than this. I really can not explain how this made it on /., while more serious topics like a petition for adding garbage collection to C++ were rejected."

Why, because it's BORING.

Re:Is this a joke?

[utnapistim]

I'll agree, unless someone can give me an example of what C++ is best suited for. I've tried every language that I can find at least twice, and I can't find anything that C++ is the best at, or even a reasonable middle-ground.

Let me try my hand at an answer for you, altwough we're "a bit" offtopic here :).

C is much easier to read, and if I want objects, Objective-C allows me to reuse my C code. At least then, I get an object oriented language. C++ is some weird class and template based language, that requires I either taxonimize everything, or degenerate into a slower and hard to read C.

When properly written C++ can be very easy to read (but then again, one can write unreadable code in any language).

Also, you can write C++ code completly without either classes or templates.

C++ also fixes (or offers alternatives to) a lot of problems unresolved in C like namespaces, extensible IO library, a typesafe alternative to C macros, extensible type system etc. All of these can be easily abused (so one could argue that it only adds complications) but that's more of a matter of writing good code than a C++ problem.

I'm still unclear why we need four different casts, and I'm still unclear why it's a good idea to have two functions with the same name and data types (save the const or signed keywords, which aren't really supposed to modify the data type)- lest the evil C++ genies make my code call the wrong one.

The four casts state intent much better than the C cast; It's also easier to grep/search through the code to locate casts.

I'm completely lost as to why it's a good idea making: if (a << 1) mean anything but to check if anything but the highest bit is set, or a[0] mean anything different than *a.

iostreams are a decent answer for the first example (B. Stroustrup explained in his book why the shift operator was chosen and it seemed like a good enough reason for me).

The iostreams design is among the most powerfull and flexible input/output interfaces I've ever seen.

Regarding your second example, how about accessing custom container elements by key, like for example:

std::map<int,string> m;
m[-1] = "invalid";

I think the only reason not to see these is coming to C++ with a C/other language mind-frame and saying "I can progam C just fine in C; why would I do it in C++"?

I can't figure out exactly how to control deallocation order when calling destructors during stack unwinds, and I can't figure out how to control allocation order before main().

Static functions allowing access to global resources? Used like this, the pointers are allocated upon first access and deallocated in reverse order.

I don't know why C++ insisted on being completely forwards and backwards incompatible with C, and adopt its name. It isn't a better C, it isn't even a logical extension of C.

Actually I think C++ bent over backwards to remain (mostly) compatible with C (this is why the macros-as-functions were not completely eliminated for example).

I think it is a better C in the sense that it can do what C does (and much more), using safer code and avoiding C's pitfalls (although unfortunately C++ comes with pitfalls of it's own).

I might be able to wrap my head around C++ better if I didn't know C, and expect C semantics, but damnit, that's awful hard to do when it's called C++.

Then you're not really evaluating C++, but (again), writing C code in C++ (which is a different matter alltogether); It's not really the best frame of mind for evaluating the strengths of a language, as it ignores all advantages C++ would provide that are not there in C.

For some examples of C++ advantages over C (out of the top of my head):

Used Extensively in Construction Industry

[SFBwian]

While I hardly use it outside of my employment, those of us in the construction industry use it all the time. If you've ever seen a Architectural, Structural, Civil, etc. drawing, it would be hard for you to find lowercase letters.

What will we have to do if caps lock goes away, press shift 5 times?

Is this a fucking joke?

[phlegmofdiscontent]

I mean, seriously, I know some people really hate the caps lock key (despite its usefulness to other people), but this is one guy who started a group on Google and acts like it's some massive grassroots campaign. I think Slashdot got punk'd on this one.

And really, if you don't like a key, remap it or remove it. I myself have removed the "Windows" key (it always interfered with my Doom playing) and the letter Q (because who the hell needs to use that one?).

Re:First post?

[Spliffster]

in some languages you cannot type special characters without the caps lock keye (ÖÄÜÀÉÈ for german and french) come to mind. on a us keyboard you might not need it however.

Re:First post?

[Intron]

"I have a great fondness for IBM buckling spring keyboards as that's where I cut my teeth"

frozen lima beans work well, too.

Discriminatory

[LittleGuy]

If we get rid of the Caps Lock key, how will the Hard-Of-Hearing be able to read messages?

CapsUnlock

[dargaud]

Download and install CapsUnlock. Problem solved. And you can still use it if you really want.

I need my CAPSLOCK

[Jaysyn]

I use CAPSLOCK everyday at work, where nearly all of my AutoCAD text input has to be in capital letters. I don't want to have to press the shift key down everytime I type. Seriously, don't people have better things to do with their energy?

Jaysyn

Get rid of Shift Instead?

[GoRK]

I knew a guy once who for a period of many months did not realize that the shift key in conjunction with alphabetic key on the keyboard made capital letters. He knew how to use the shift key - but he only used it for symbols and the like when a key was labelled for it. To type capital letters, he pressed CapsLock, typed the letter, then pressed CapsLock again. He never complained, and he had become very proficient with the technique by the time I showed him the alternative. I'm not sure I ever looked to see if he had changed his ways.

Re:Yes, read my CAPSoff blog entry

[Embedded2004]

I use home/end/pgup/pgdn all the time. Are there any replaces for them?

It's time for a change of the whole layout!

[jimmoores]

I've never understood why people are willing to put up with such a crazy layout as modern 102/103/105 key keyboards anyway. Why doesn't anybody offer a keyboard that has a normal layout in terms of the main keys but with some sensible changes:

* Function keys are rarely used - you need them (I use Eclipse too!), but they can be de-emphasised.
* The numeric keypad is stupid. There should be space, tab and comma keys on it so that it might actually be useful for one-handed data entry!
* Get rid of the stupid windows keys. Most people don't even know what they do anyway.
* Why are there no keys for multiplication, division symbol, bullet point, and a ton of other common symbols? It's like we're still being limited by baudot code or something.
* PrtScn/SysRq, Scroll-lock, Pause/Break and Num-lock are virtually never touched. What is the point of num-lock now that there's an inverted T cursor cluster and related keys.
* Alt Gr - don't even get me started...
* What the hell is that back-tick key doing up in the top left anyway? And why does it look so odd paired with a normal quote?
* As for putting control back where it belongs (I think this one depends on what you first used), the best argument I've heard for not putting it where caps-lock is now is that it belomes very easy to in one stroke hit CTRL-A (often 'Select All') with the following keystroke replacing your entire document with that character. I know Linux doesn't have this problem so much, but since most of the world is using Windows at the moment, it is a consideration.

reply.c

[Keith Russell]

#define HEY_SOME_OF_US_HAVE_A_USE_FOR_THAT_KEY 1

Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!
Reason: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.

It's a post about the Caps Lock key!!! Of course, I'm yelling!!! God, this lameness filter is so bloody stupid!!!

The Solution

[synesis]

1. Remove Caps key.
2. Add drop of super glue.
3. QUICKLY REPLACE KEY.
4. OH CRAP!

Disable Caps Lock Easily

[CritterNYC]

I have some simple registry files up that allow you to easily disable caps lock, turn it into a control key or swap it with the left control key (for some old school keyboarding goodness). Just head to Disable Caps Lock.

How to do it on Windows

[pilkul]

Copy the following into a .reg file (not including the --- lines) and run it to replace Caps Lock with Left-Ctrl:

------------

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\K eyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,1d,00 ,3a,00,00,00,00,00

------------

If you want to replace it with Escape instead, use this:

------------

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\K eyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,01,00 ,3a,00,00,00,00,00

------------

You'll need to remove some spurious spaces added by Slashcode (in "Keyboard" and before "3a"). Note that this works on the scancode level and will affect all users and applications, including DirectX ones. It's as close as you can get to physically rewiring the key. You need to reboot for it to take effect. (Stolen from here and here.)

cat ~/.xmodmap

[Laxitive]

remove Lock = Caps_Lock
keysym Caps_Lock = Escape

Happy vimming :)

I use CAPS LOCK everyday.

[JesusQuintana]

I use it on business systems that only accept capital letters. It will not convert lower case to capital and if you type in lowercase letters into the system, you get nothing but errors. I would have to tape down my Shift key or suffer a stiff pinky finger. In some applications it has unique properties. For example, in After Effects, it toggles between preview on or off. I use it when I am entering serial numbers that contain numbers and letters. I tap it a couple of times when a system is unresponsive to see if it is still alive. Sometimes I pound on it when I am frustrated. Why? Because it is there and it won't hurt anything.

It is shortsighted to declare a key useless. And arrogant. My suggestion for people who want to eliminate the key:

LEARN TO TYPE.

Then you won't go around accidentally hitting keys whose value you are too ignorant to appreciate.

Re:First post?

[Spliffster]

you really need to have a look at a swiss german (sg-latin1) keyboard which has both; german umlauts and french accents on it. as long as you want to use the uppercase accents or umlauts you can access them only with caps-lock enabled (and in some casese caps-lock + shift + key).

so long ...

Actual use for the Caps Lock key

[DrBdan]

Just a little anecdote on how the Caps Lock can actually be useful. When I was in University I tutored younger students in Comp-Sci. One of the students that I tutored was physically disabled and couldn't use his left hand to type. This made it rather difficult to hold down shift and type keys at the same time. His solution was to hit caps, type the letters and then hits caps again. I'm pretty sure if you asked him he would say that the caps lock key is incredibly useful.

I don't really take this article seriously but at the same time the caps lock key does serve a purpose for some users. You'd think they could make a better use of their time.

B

Put control back where it should be!

[ALecs]

No! Don't get rid of that key. It's a nice, large, pinky-accessible key that should be used....for CONTROL! Bring back control to its rightful place on the keyboard. Don't get rid of the key just make it do something more useful. .Xmodmaprc:

remove Lock = Caps_Lock
keysym Caps_Lock = Control_L
add Control = Control_L

Or, /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "InputDevice"
           
            Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"
EndSection

-Josh

what about other languages

[Patrick13]

In Spanish, it is very common to type in all caps - somehow it is considered acceptable to type words without accent marks if they are in all caps.

Only point being is that just because the caps lock is not useful in your language/culture, it doesn't mean that other languages/cultures don't find it useful.

Re:what about other languages

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm Spanish and I don't know why you're saying it's common to type words in caps in my language. I think we use them as frecuently as you do in English (just sometimes for titles or ads), maybe you've visited webpages written by teens or something like that. However, it's true we often don't use accent marks in caps (but we should do it).

And of course, excuse me for my bad English ;)

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

The reason why CAPS LOCK is where it is.

[Comboman]

That's certainly a better option than getting rid of it altogether. The reason for the current location of the caps lock key actually has nothing to do with usability but rather was for compatibility with old typewriters. The caps lock key on typewriteers (actually a 'shift lock' key which affected the numbers and punctuation as well) had to be directly above the shift key since it was a mechanical latch that physically kept the shift key held down.

Re:Valid points... but it still remains an issue

[Psykechan]

For most people, the caps lock key is useless. Even for someone who uses it, you should at least agree that it certainly doesn't need to be right in home row. A lot of manufacturers will actually change the shape of it to prevent accidental pressings of it.

There are several useless keys that could be removed; print screen, and pause and the other two "lock" keys: scroll lock and num lock. I hate the num lock key as I usually use it immediately after keying in what I thought were numbers only to move the cursor around. I can't fathom why someone would chose to use the number keys as arrow keys when there are actual arrow keys sitting right there. Once those arrow keys were added back in the PC-XT days, they should've removed the num lock key.

No, the reason we still have useless keys is that something will break if we remove them. Scroll lock hasn't had a use that pertained to scrolling in years but some people still use the key for changing displays on a KVM. Your UniQuery work would be torture without that precious caps lock. It's called legacy.

We have shloads of function keys that people rarely use. We have recent additions like the "Windows" keys and the application key because we apparently need more modifier keys. Eventually these become useless legacy keys that continue to propagate to the next generation of computer keyboards.

Sure, get rid of the caps lock key but why stop there? Get rid of the other useless keys too. Change the letter layout to something that makes a bit more sense like Dvorak. People will complain because it does not have legacy support.

Best of luck to you though, you'll be heading down a long and painful road.

The One-Point-Five Inches that Destroyed the World

[sirrobert]

yeah, that extra 1.5" is an unbearable distance to reach..

Hold on. Take a step back and look at the big picture:

Doing some basic, preliminary research while reading the article (and extrapolating the data), I've found that I use the escape key an average of 2983742 times per day. Now, that inch-and-a-half may not seem like much, but do some conversion: that's around seventy extra miles I'm moving my arm per day. Now, I'm an above average escapist, so I figure that if I'm moving my arm an extra 70 miles, the average user is probably moving only about 68 miles per day. I'm not an expert, but from what I gather from 60 Minutes, I'm probably burning calories equivalent to those I would take in consuming an entire cow. We know that forfty percent of cows are fed on the burning corpses of amazon rainforest trees. I saw a movie once (starring Sean Connery and someone else) in which they found the cure for cancer in the Amazon! And think of all the heat emitted from those trees, coupled with the MEGAJOULES of energy being emitted in the form of heat from the burning of the cows (for food) each day, per person. Now, INSFBCL (I'm Not Some Fancy Big City Lawyer), but you don't have to be teh inventor of the intarweb to know that that much heat escaping into the atmosphere is at least quintupling the effects of Global Warning every year.

Move the escape key to the caps-lock slot? Is there really any question? Is there really any choice?

Think of the children. And their melty ice-cream cones.

And cancer.

The end of 419's?

[angusmci]

Could this mean the end of Nigerian spam?

"Olubi - this keyboard has no caps lock key! How can I send my emails?"

Re:The One-Point-Five Inches that Destroyed the Wo

[Anonymous Coward]

STOP using vi and you won't have to hit escape 2983742 times per day.

Why bother?

[rickb928]

According to my calculations, you died about 7.4 years ago, from inadequate nutrition. You just couldn't get enough calories in between using vi and backing up to see the gallery so you could pick the *next* Cindy Margolis pic.

RIP, my friend, RIP.

rick

Look at the stupider picture...

[azav]

What is really wrong with caps lock is that IF you hold down shift while caps is on, it lowercases everything - on windows.

While the first solution here is not to use Windows, the real problem is "why would a button named 'Caps Lock' perform a task against its very nature?"

The button should be called "Maybe Caps Lock. Maybe Not." But that would require an even larger button.

But then the poor NIGERIAN SCAMMERS will have to hold down the shift key while typing their sob stories in all caps. Hmmmm.

I vote to remove it.

Re:Look at the stupider picture...

[drinkypoo]

What is really wrong with caps lock is that IF you hold down shift while caps is on, it lowercases everything - on windows.

And on many other systems.

In this case, the SHIFT key is doing precisely what it says. If caps lock is off, it shifts to capitals. If it's on, it shifts to lowercase.

Don't complain when systems are logical.

Re:The One-Point-Five Inches that Destroyed the Wo

[shudde]

While I admire your perspicacity and crazed ranting, I'm forced to take exception to one of your claims.

Now, INSFBCL (I'm Not Some Fancy Big City Lawyer), but you don't have to be teh inventor of the intarweb to know that that much heat escaping into the atmosphere is at least quintupling the effects of Global Warning every year.

There have been numerous studies (and at least one graph) that prove that global warming is solely due to the decline of pirates since the 1800's. You've obviously fallen victim to the scurillous propaganda spread by those devil-worshipping heathens from the SubGenius cult.

I look forward to your retraction.

Re:Hardware solution (screwdriver)

[vodhner]

The first thing I do with a new keyboard is to bend a paper clip into a clever shape, so that it fits under the Caps Lock key to hold it up, and runs beneath the keyboard where it is strapped in place with tape. If my finger hits Caps Lock, the key doesn't move. The tactile feedback has a handy "training effect" so I rarely hit that key.

Prompted by a post in this discussion, I'm now going to do that with my front-tier Insert key which bites me repeatedly each day.

some people need Caps Lock

[Bigos]

I KNOW A PARTIALLY SIGHTED WOMAN WHO HAS TO FIGHT WITH EVERYBODY FOR RIGHT TO USE CAPS LOCK. She's got a laptop from some charity so she can use it to enlarge texts and have some contact with outside world. To help her with comfortable access to information on certain website I had to download everything and set text size in CSS to 80px. Usually it can't be done so writing using Caps Lock is the only way others can do to help her communicate. So if Caps Lock is a problem why instead of eliminating it completely why do we use in future some key combination so those who need it might still use it.

Re:The One-Point-Five Inches that Destroyed the Wo

[drinkypoo]

STOP using vi and you won't have to hit escape 2983742 times per day.

One of my ex-bosses got carpal from using escape-meta-alt-control-shift, no lie. He ended up buying one of those kinesis keyboards where the keys are arranged in two divots, one for each hand, so you don't have to move your hands at all to type. He can still only type for like half an hour at a time now.

Re:Legitimate question...

[LWATCDR]

I do understand. I write software for a living.
Your answer isn't an answer to my question as to why they didn't put in that feature. It is a statement that the software you are using is lacking that feature.
You have hit on one of my pet peeves of software development. A disconnect between the people that write the software and those that use and support the software.
The feature I mentioned really is easy to implement. Why was this simple, error preventing , time saving feature left out of this piece of software?
How long have you been using this software? How long since that last update? Is it so perfect and bug free in every other way that no updates have been issued?

You have hit on one of my pet peeves. The idea that it is impossible to fix things. If you are paying for updates and support for a program you should have the option of requesting features that would make every users life easier. Your vendor should love the idea of putting in a 2 minute fix that would save many hours of work for it's users. It would help sell more systems or endear them to their current customers.
I don't think that deleting the caps lock is a requirement. I am all for remapping it to another function. However the idea of keeping a feature that is only helpful to .001% of all users and is harmful or useless to the rest of them seems a bit silly.
"And sorry to pick on you....its just that your post summed up a pet-peeve of mine. Sometimes it's not possible nor cost-effective to fix these things. So we deal with them the best way we can."
I don't feel picked on. But here is an answer to your statement. Why should I have to pay for your problem. Why should I have a useless key on my keyboard just because you don't want to fix a problem? It is right up their with why should I have to live with IE7 not following current standards because a bunch of retards built IE only websites that depend on a broken browser?

Like I said, I don't care if they delete the caps lock or not. I do care about bad software.

Re:The One-Point-Five Inches that Destroyed the Wo

[Chrisje]

These calories that you burn, you will consume anyway. Right now, at least you burn them after you finished stuffing your face with various processed parts of miscellaneous animals and sugar. This means that if you stop burning that energy, you will run a greater risk of overweight, heart / coronary diseases and possibly (I've seen it implied somewhere) cancer if you move that particular key closer.

If you create an escape key that is cordless and which is placed strategically 10 km outside of your office, chances are you'll eat the same amount of food, but burn sufficient amounts of energy getting back and forth to the Key to still be a lean, sexy tech worker with great stamina.

And who wouldn't want to be a sexy Tech Worker? Then there's the effects it will have on taxes. IF noone has any of the beforementioned diseases anymore, we don't need hospitals to the same degree we do now. Or research. We'll all quit paying taxes altogether and live to be 130.... hang on a minute... 130... maybe move that button closer anyway. We can't sustain that population.

Predjudice against those with RSI!

[nessus42]

Dude, are you trying to further make miserable the lives of those with RSI? We need those caps locks keys for typing in variables and the like that are in all caps.

Of course, without some sort of immediate feedback that one has entered caps lock mode, such a key indeed causes despair, but it is that lack of immediate feedback that is the problem, not the key itself. On old fashioned typewriters, you could easily feel when you were pressing caps lock. Computer manufacturers went about trying to drive everybody insane by removing this sensory feedback. (New technology always seems to be two steps forward, one step back -- if that.) Sun Microsystems made issues even worse by swapping the location of Control and CapsLock, so that when moving from one keyboard to another, you never know what you are going to get.

My Kinesis Contour Keyboard solves the problem elegantly by making a distinctive double buzz sound when you enter caps lock mode and a single buzz when you exit caps lock mode. Also, the keyboard is completely remappable, so you can put whatever key wherever you want it, or remove a key from the mapping altogether.

I suggest that this feedback and flexibility is what your movement should aim for, rather than trying to further cripple the rest of us.

Re:Hardware solution (screwdriver)

[pmcc]

Maybe as a gamer they're useless to you, but having to work as a sysadmin on many Windows machines, the Windows key is very valuable. Windows-R (to bring up the Run prompt), Windows-D (to hide/show everything - allowing access to the desktop), and Windows-L (to lock the machine) are all especially useful. Windows-Break is also a nice shortcut for getting to computer properties. There are a few others that I once knew but use infrequently and have since forgotten. But those 4 get used multiple times per day.

A real keyboard distribution

[xtracto]

Sort the rest of the keyboard

Yeah! I completley agree with that statement. We should get rid of this OLD keyboard layout intended for mechanical machines of 1868 and use something more in accord with current technology.

Seriously, I *know* it is possible to change the layout in the operating system (in the same way it is possible to remove the CAPSLOCK key from the keyboard) but I believe current typing courses should teach Dvorak, you really wold get impressed on the speed and commodity of typing with that layout.

Thats some fast typing.... 620wpm??

[Tmack]

I've found that I use the escape key an average of 2983742 times per day. Now, that inch-and-a-half may not seem like much, but do some conversion: that's around seventy extra miles I'm moving my arm per day.

Lets do some math together....

2983742 times in 24 hours, or 124322.6 times an hour, or 2072 per minute, or about 34.5 per second. Now, Given your estimate of 1.5" to the key, and another 1.5" back, or 3" of total travel, being traversed 34.5 times every second yields about 103.6"/s, or roughly 8.5 feet per second. This of course assumes you are solely focused on this activity 24hours a day nonstop. Take out 5hours for sleep (yes, even codermonkeys get sleep sometime, and we are going off averages here), another 2 for restroom breaks, coffee intake/refilling and food, and another hour for pr0n (though the velocity and reps might still be obtained over a similar distance, that is a different discussion outside the scope here...), we get only 16 hours for typing. This bumps the speed up to about 13 feet per second, at 52 presses per second. Taking into account that the esc key has to be at most half of the keypresses to allow for the full travel to it and from it such that a letter key is getting pressed at least as fast and often as the esc key, this also means your average typing wpm is (using the avg of 5char/word) is about 620.

tm

Re:The One-Point-Five Inches that Destroyed the Wo

[Austerity Empowers]

Wow. If I'm ever on trial for murder, I'm hiring you as my defense attorney.

Re:The One-Point-Five Inches that Destroyed the Wo

[hotdiggitydawg]

Forget the children - what about poor Miriam Abacha and all those other unfortunate Nigerian statesmen/dignitaries/royalty? How will they find helpful souls to illegally transfer their wealth in exchange for a hefty cut now?

Re:The One-Point-Five Inches that Destroyed the Wo

[Austerity Empowers]

And who exactly do you think lives in those buring trees in the Amazon? Pirates.

CAPSLOCKS IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR AWESOME

[tehtest]

THAT IS ALL

Re:The One-Point-Five Inches that Destroyed the Wo

[SQLGuru]

sexy Tech Worker

See, now I know you're making stuff up.....those three words don't go together.

Layne

Re:The One-Point-Five Inches that Destroyed the Wo

[Anonymous Coward]

[ESC]:%s/STOP/stop

We're talking about giving the CL key the sack and you come here with your fancy all caps punch lines?

The horror!

Re:Valid points... but it still remains an issue

[proxima]

I can't fathom why someone would chose to use the number keys as arrow keys when there are actual arrow keys sitting right there

For me, that reason is Civilization (2, 3, and FreeCiv, haven't played 4). Diagonal directions are very important. Clicking the mouse can be error prone (though goto is useful). I could probably remap the directions nethack-style onto the keyboard, but I've never gotten used to those keybindings.

In fact, this makes playing Civ for me much less convenient on a laptop. I often end up enabling num lock, and switching it off when I need to type a city name.

With num lock on, can the OS distinguish between num pad numbers and normal numbers? If that were the case, that'd work fine.

Re:Hardware solution (screwdriver)

[Ana10g]

Don't forget Windows-E, which brings up the windows explorer (filesystem view, not internet view)

Really?

[adamofgreyskull]

Restricting the use of capitals to important information like drug names, patient names or DISEASED RIGHT KIDNEY, might make more sense? :)
A single capital starting a Proper Noun is simple to pick out if everything else is in lower case...

Re:Valid points... but it still remains an issue

[kaen]

Hey, Print Screen is useful if your are a developer or developing manuals, as you can copy to the clipboard what is currently on the screen, or use ctrl prtsc for the active window and paste it into a graphics program. And Pause is useful for pausing the screen on bootup, so that you can see important info before it disappears, as well as other uses when using the command line. Break is useful with the command line and with debuggers. Scroll lock is handy with Excel. But I agree with Num Lock, I don't think I've every turned it off on purpose.

NO! You know you don't want this!

[Schraegstrichpunkt]

Keyboard manufacturers: DON'T MESS WITH MY KEYBOARD. If you want to differentiate your keyboard, you can start by adding extra keys, which can be mapped to various functions. DON'T screw with existing keys.

Typing on a non-standard keyboard is extremely irritating. The worst keyboard I've used is one where the function keys were, BY DEFAULT, assigned to be those "Internet keys" (Help, Open, Save, Email, Web, etc.). You had to press some "Fn Lock" key in order to make them behave like proper function keys should, and every time you rebooted, the "Fn Lock" status got cleared. The same keyboard also had a double-height Delete key, and rearranged the Insert, Home, End, PageUp and PageDown keys, so I'd always end up pressing the wrong one. Oh, and I think it might have even screwed with the positions of the cursor keys, too, but I don't remember that one for sure.

The position of the CapsLock key is annoying, and I can see the justification for swapping it with the left Control key, but the manufacturers will inevitably screw it up, so it would be best if they just leave the keyboard alone, and let the software guys handle remapping and such.

Providing alternate keycaps would be nice, though, so that the labels printed on the keys could be changed to match the software keymap.