DEATH TO caps lock: the new frontline in online manners

[muriel_volestrangler]

For its ability to turn a simple e-mail into a shrieked command, this single key has become the subject of a fierce online campaign.

It seems an unlikely target for vitriol, but the "caps lock" key has caused a brouhaha in the online community. It started a week ago, when a Brussels-based programmer named Pieter Hintjens pondered the drawbacks of the seemingly innocuous button, and decided to launch a blog (capsoff.blogspot.com) and a website (capsoff.org) to kick-start a movement that might persuade manufacturers to banish the superfluous plastic lump forthwith.
...
The same applies to blogging, as those unfamiliar with "netiquette" unwittingly take to "shouting" their messages. But caps lock causes other problems. Engaged by accident, it can lead us to type line upon line of upper-case text without noticing, or incorrectly enter case-sensitive passwords. Most significantly, Hintjens feels that its prominence on the keyboard is totally out of proportion to its value.

The response from the online community has been immediate and overwhelming. "I always rip caps lock off all my keyboards," comments one user, leading Hintjens to ponder: "Maybe it's time to encourage people to remove their caps lock keys and send them to us. How many would we collect? Would anyone care?" Some clearly would; those resistant to change began firing off expletives at Hintjens to show their devotion to the generic Qwerty lay-out - including programmers who need it to tap out upper-case code. But Hintjens is unrepentant. "Caps lock is like a small pebble in your shoe... it's so annoying that there's a whole sub-industry in software programs to remap the thing (assign a different function to it)."
...
Hintjens has shown a willingness to compromise; he's happy to have caps lock moved, rather than obliterated altogether, and perhaps replaced with a key that's more commonly used these days, such as a volume control or a button to eject CDs - or any of the other controls that are appearing on the latest extended multimedia keyboards, which are steadily getting bigger to accommodate all the required keys.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article1221012.ece

I'd definitely be in favour of moving it - my little finger often hits it by mistake in combination with, or instead of, 'a'. And unlike other typos, it screws up the subsequent letters, so it's not until you glance at what you're typing and it gets through to your brain that you stop. I have to correct a bunch of all caps letters more often than I purposely use the Caps Lock key.

Touch typists don't rely on it, do they? Couldn't it be moved to a top row, and replaced with some innocuous key? At the moment, I could do with a key with the function "convert the highlighted text from upper to lower case" ...

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Personally, I like caps lock...

...it's usually a sure sign of a newbie.;)

[ps1074]

2. ...

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. You know your typing is bad when ...

you remove the wrong key by mistake ...

[ps1074]

6. Doh

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

I just did a google search for caps lock. Didn't even notice it's the wrong button

[Kolesar]

3. Do "Scroll Lock" and "Pause/Break" on my keyboard have any function today?

I know I can save a screen shot with "Prt Scr". I don't think I ever knew what "SysRq" used to do.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Pause/Break will pause the output of programs in a Windows Command Prompt

window - occasionally useful to a few users but not vital to most. I can't remember what Scroll Lock does, it's so long since I used it.

[annabanana]

5. Your suggestion is a good one...

".......a key with the function "convert the highlighted text from upper to lower case" (and vice-versa)....
People DO use CapsLock for emphasis on occasion, as it is hard to hold the shift key down WHILE typing.
But I also find myself looking up to see that I have "emphasised" a whole lot more than I meant to.

[Solly Mack]

7. I punish my caps lock key by ignoring it

I suppose I could remove it though...but then I'd have to pick another key to punish.

Just being silly :)

[patricia92243]

8. I only know that in my own work situation, we would have had a lot of tro

trouble if we could not have had capital locks. I can see moving it to an inconspicuous place - but not actually doing away with it.

[tanyev]

10. YOU'LL HAVE TO PRY MY CAPS LOCK OUT OF MY COLD, DEAD HANDS!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ps1074]

12. ...

:spank:

[Elidor]

17. !

:rofl:

[marmar]

11. I hit it from time to time by accident...

but as someone who types by touch based on memorized keys, changing it would f..k up my typing chi. Leave it alone!

[panader0]

13. I don't have that problem 'cause I can't type with my little finger

[Benhurst]

14. I HATE PEOPLE WHO USE ALL CAPS. AS FAR AS I AM

CONCERNED THEY ARE NOTHING BUT

[ixion]

15. oh geez... it's not the key that's the problem... it's the noobs

who don't know the etiquette.

:rofl:

[acmejack]

16. When CAPLOCKS are outlawed only outlaws will have CAPLOCKS!

Or something like that...

[mcscajun]

18. Screenwriters would be very upset.

The accepted format for writing screenplays involves fairly extensive use of the caps lock.

Scene headings, locations, time of day, introduction of character in a scene, dialogue cues, transitions from one scene to another; all are done with all caps. There's a pretty large "sprinkling" of all caps text in any screenplay. There'd be a whole new category of carpal tunnel syndrome just for screenwriters and those who edit screenplays if the Caps Lock key was gone.

Of course, these days there are many specialized software packages for the screenwriter that automate what I described above; but I'd imagine there are still many clinging to MS-Word. Hell, there are some out there still clinging to typewriters, but that's a whole other discussion. :)

[brokensymmetry]

19. Just remap your keyboard.

Google the terms: remap keyboard xp

(Assuming you use XP)

[intaglio]

20. It is useful in letting you know who the errrr

.... "mentally challenged" are. You know, the ones you see in cities shouting "MILLENIUM HAND AND SHRIMP" (© Terry Pratchett) and all the idiot preachers defending their GAWD. Treat it like an early warning system for trolls. That said it would be better elsewhere

[Arkansas Granny]

21. For business use, the caps lock key is sometimes necessary.

I would be in favor of trading places with the tab key, however. I use the tab key much more often than caps lock and it is kind of a stretch for someone with short fingers.

[DarbyUSMC]

22. I've hit it by accident instead of tab. Arrrgh. It could be put to the

left of the number 1. Or, get rid of the escape key and put it there. I've never escaped from anything with that key. Not frozen screens, not web pages where you are trapped and can't go back to previous page ---- esc ---- maybe it doesn't mean escape. Hmmmm.