The position of Caps Lock is because on mechanical typewriters, the shift lock key physically held down Shift using a push-to-toggle mechanism. (Windows’ default German layout still does that! “German extended (E1)” and “German (IBM)”, aka DIN T1, don’t.)
This 1930s US Army typewriter has a Shift Lock, but it’s up where 1 is today, not adjacent to Shift. I don’t think that it’s essential, even with a mechanical coupling, to have them adjacent.
thinks
I mean, I’d think that unless maybe you have one of those electric typewriters with an LCD display, there isn’t a Control key at all, so I totally get giving the slot to Caps Lock on a typewriter then.
This Shift Lock is still directly above the Shift key. But nevertheless, we needn’t worry about that. We also put 6 symbols on one type, and decide whether a key is dead based on modifiers. (e.g. AltGr+J is the cedille)
The position of Caps Lock is because on mechanical typewriters, the shift lock key physically held down Shift using a push-to-toggle mechanism. (Windows’ default German layout still does that! “German extended (E1)” and “German (IBM)”, aka DIN T1, don’t.)
Hmm. Left Control is still adjacent to Shift, though.
searches
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Corona
This 1930s US Army typewriter has a Shift Lock, but it’s up where 1 is today, not adjacent to Shift. I don’t think that it’s essential, even with a mechanical coupling, to have them adjacent.
thinks
I mean, I’d think that unless maybe you have one of those electric typewriters with an LCD display, there isn’t a Control key at all, so I totally get giving the slot to Caps Lock on a typewriter then.
This Shift Lock is still directly above the Shift key. But nevertheless, we needn’t worry about that. We also put 6 symbols on one type, and decide whether a key is dead based on modifiers. (e.g. AltGr+J is the cedille)