KEYS OF TYPEWRITER

INTRODUCTION

The typewriter was invented in 1867 by Christopher Latham Sholes and bought a break from handwriting.

A typewriter is a machine used to produce printed characters on a piece of paper. There are 44 keys of the typewriter and 26 alphabets along with backspace, shift keys, tab set, margin set, error key, and colour selector. The division between three rows of keys of the typewriter is called character keys. 

The first row has ten alphabetic keys, the second row has eight keys, and the third row has seven keys of a typewriter. QWERTY is the first alphabetic layout of the typewriter, and it consists of guide and home keys. 

What are the guide keys of a typewriter?

The basic meaning is to direct a path to the destination. Guide keys’ main purpose is to allocate the cursor with keys of a typewriter. There are four types of guide keys of typewriter such as space bar, shift key, arrow key and enter key. The guide key mainly moves the cursor up, down, right, and left. The alphabets responsible for moving left and right are F and J.

The keys of F are lined up above in rows from F1 to F12. The function of typewriter keys is to perform shortcuts like saving, copying, refreshing, and printing a document. Every key has a set of functions to perform and take action using a typewriter’s keys.

The space bar is located at the bottom of the typewriter and involves space between the words. The four keys of the typewriter located at the below shift key act to move up and down directly. Two keys are used at once for one character on the document. Eventually, the keys of typewriting made moving with the cursor easier.

What are the advantages of typewriter keys?

The typewriter gave independence and relief from handwriting. The unique style and connectivity to the machine make it simple to create, save and print a document with the keys of a typewriter. The typewriter’s guide keys, home keys, tabs, number pad, and bars are designed to minimise the efforts. The founder pulled out the simplest way to access anything by tapping a typewriter.

A document can be typed in several fonts, styles, sizes, bold, italics, simple and heading styles. Once saved, documents can be reviewed and edited with certain tabs, and the option of find and replace saves time. 

The creation of documents on white paper with the help of technology has saved the environment from forest degradation. Impact on society was huge as keys of typewriters help save time and are cost-intensive. It developed the sense of management and revolutionised the working population.

The rapid growth in the industrial and business sector contributed indirectly to the economy and enhanced development. The keys of a typewriter may seem normal, but they benefit in different ways and make learning and teaching methods easier.

 Modern ways of education included typed books and material for better & diverse learning. The function of guide keys and home keys of typewriters allowed the learners to standardise solutions. A new subject based on learning typewriters and computers is introduced for better understanding and knowledge.

The keys of typewriters are becoming more effective with modification to perform multiple actions by pressing just on the key. The typewriter world is catching speed with the motive to deliver ease and comfort to writers irrespective of their sector of the profession.

What are the home keys of the typewriter?

The home keys of the typewriter are also known as the second row. There are nine keys, A, S, D, F, and J, K, L; are the home keys of the middle row. The alphabetic standardisation on a typewriter was accumulated back in eighteen hundred. Two keys that rest and hands didn’t access are G and H. They can be rested and used according to need.

The trick to learning the keys of typewriters is to place both your hands on the typewriter. First hand’s four fingers on A, S, D, F and second hand’s four fingers on J, K, L and the semicolon and the thumbs will go on the space bar. That’s how an individual can remember the keys without looking at the keys of a typewriter.

The benefit of learning the home keys of the typewriter is that it increases typing speed and leads to fewer errors while typing. . It enhances the grip on a particular language or subject and incorporates additional knowledge. There are 13 home keys such as semicolon, caps lock key and quote keys. 

Numeric pad keys also work as the home key, 4, 5 and 6. . To use the number pad as home keys, keep the number lock key off. The signs on the number also act as the keys. 

Altogether, these keys help make typing simple and memorise the keys of typewriters.

CONCLUSION

In the above article, the typewriter’s keys, such as guiding and home keys of the typewriter, are defined. A brief description of the functions of typewriter keys is discussed, and the advantages of the typewriter are also mentioned.

The impact of a typewriter on society is positive and makes writing easy and widely adopted. Currently, there are plenty of options available to compare and choose the best typewriter. 

The unique style of typewriter developed the work-efficiency and management. Some tricks to learn typing fast and set documents free from errors are also explained.