The Insert Key

[Michael Wallace]

Who uses it? Have you ever used it? I've never used it? What's it there for? There must be a conspiracy?

Seriously though, who uses their insert key (on purpose), and why?

[Charlie Reams]

i would vote off the insert key?

[Ben Hunter]

When I first got a computer I always used to brush the insert key by accident and not know what's going on. It was great when I finally found out it was The Insert Key that was making me overwrite test, I didn't have to reset my computer ever again.

My favourite key is scroll lock. What does he do?

[Howard Somerset]

I don't recall the last time that I used it.

[JimBentley]

I've sometimes used Insert for overtyping but not lately, and to be honest I can't really remember why it was necessary to use it even then. And I've only ever noticed Scroll Lock do anything in stuff like Excel, where it makes the arrow keys scroll the window rather than move between cells, but I can't say I've ever used it on purpose.

[Lesley Hines]

Meh, it used to be quite useful in early Wordstar (omg I'm old ). Nowadays the only time I hit it deliberately is just after I've hit it accidentally, although very occasionally to do things like change numbers in documents when I'm too lazy to highlight them with the mouse.

[Jon O'Neill]

Surely Pause|Break is even more pointless?

[Ian Volante]

I prise the insert key off my keyboard. Or I do on keyboards that my girlfriend doesn't use.

[Kirk Bevins]

When I first got a computer I always used to brush the insert key by accident and not know what's going on. It was great when I finally found out it was The Insert Key that was making me overwrite test, I didn't have to reset my computer ever again.

My favourite key is scroll lock. What does he do?

This. I used to hit it so many times by accident and then as I'd type it'd eat up the following words. I got so angry when I was younger and had no idea why my stupid computer did that. Then I just mashed loads of keys and it was fixed....and eventually found out that all I had to do was press this "insert" key and my problems would be solved. It causes more problems than it solves so I say get rid of it.

[Matt Morrison]

Surely Pause|Break is even more pointless?

COOL NEW TRICK ALERT!
On modern keyboards, the break key is usually labeled Pause/Break. In most Windows environments, the key combination Windows key+Pause brings up the system properties.

[Howard Somerset]

Surely Pause|Break is even more pointless?

Never even seen that one. Until now.

[Ryan Taylor]

Surely Pause|Break is even more pointless?

Never even seen that one. Until now.

Likewise. This got me looking at my keyboard and thinking just how many keys I've never actually used. There are a lot!

[Jon O'Neill]

¬`¬¬````````¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦

POINTLESS!

[Michael Wallace]

¬`¬¬````````¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦

POINTLESS!

I use ` in programming quite a lot, and the others are good for smilies:

¬_¬

and

¦)

etc.

[Jon O'Neill]

¬_¬

Pretty cool.

¦)

This one's shit.

[Michael Wallace]

¬_¬

Pretty cool.

¦)

This one's shit.

Yeah, I don't think I've ever actually used the second one non-ironically.

[Matt Morrison]

You can make a fence to keep Jon Gaunt out with it.

¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦

¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦-¦

[Jon Corby]

¦)

This one's shit.

Racist.

[Michael Wallace]

¦)

This one's shit.

Racist.

This reminds me of how East Asians tend to use smilies that focus on eyes (^_^), compared to Western ones that focus on the mouth

(wiki for more examples if you are somehow unfamiliar with international emoticons)

(edited to fix some tags 'n' shit)

[Ian Volante]

ctrl-` is useful in Excel to show forumlae.

[Ben Hunter]

This reminds me of how East Asians tend to use smilies that focus on eyes (^_^), compared to Western ones that focus on the mouth

^_^ just looks like a smug person to me.

[Lesley Hines]

You use the | loads in UNIX to throughput commands
eg
ls -il | grep file

[Michael Wallace]

This reminds me of how East Asians tend to use smilies that focus on eyes (^_^), compared to Western ones that focus on the mouth

^_^ just looks like a smug person to me.

?_?

[James Doohan]

You use the | loads in UNIX to throughput commands
eg
ls -il | grep file

I use it a bit in Java as the OR operator

eg. if (i % 3 == 0 || i % 5 == 0)
{
...........
}

[Brian Moore]

You use the | loads in UNIX to throughput commands

It's also very useful for doing barlines when you're typing up chords for songs, e.g.

| C C/B | C/A C/G | F F/E | Dmi Dmi/C | G G/F | Emi G7/D | C F | G F/A G7/B |

(Can anyone recognise the song, the intro to which these chords represent, without actually playing them? It's a famous one.)

[Lesley Hines]

You use the | loads in UNIX to throughput commands

It's also very useful for doing barlines when you're typing up chords for songs, e.g.

| C C/B | C/A C/G | F F/E | Dmi Dmi/C | G G/F | Emi G7/D | C F | G F/A G7/B |

(Can anyone recognise the song, the intro to which these chords represent, without actually playing them? It's a famous one.)

Whiter shade of pale?

[Gavin Chipper]

The second shift button is pretty pointless. Why not have two of everything? I've got two dollars on my keyboard as well.

[Michael Wallace]

The second shift button is pretty pointless.

lolwot - you (should) use the left shift to capitalise a letter you're typing with your right hand, and the right shift to capitalise a letter you're typing with your left hand.

[Brian Moore]

You use the | loads in UNIX to throughput commands

It's also very useful for doing barlines when you're typing up chords for songs, e.g.

| C C/B | C/A C/G | F F/E | Dmi Dmi/C | G G/F | Emi G7/D | C F | G F/A G7/B |

(Can anyone recognise the song, the intro to which these chords represent, without actually playing them? It's a famous one.)

Whiter shade of pale?

Yup ... I'm impressed.

[Gavin Chipper]

The second shift button is pretty pointless.

lolwot - you (should) use the left shift to capitalise a letter you're typing with your right hand, and the right shift to capitalise a letter you're typing with your left hand.

Or just type the letter with your right hand if you also have to press shift.

[Michael Wallace]

The second shift button is pretty pointless.

lolwot - you (should) use the left shift to capitalise a letter you're typing with your right hand, and the right shift to capitalise a letter you're typing with your left hand.

Or just type the letter with your right hand if you also have to press shift.

Which is hilariously inefficient?

[Gavin Chipper]

Which is hilariously inefficient?

Actually, I've just watched myself do some typing, and if a letter is towards the left of the keyboard I will just use a different finger on the same hand. Easy!

I know I'm not some uber geek touch typist, but presumably touch typing evolved around the layout of thr keyboard rather than the other way round (I've heard numerous times that the QWERTY keyboard was supposed to makes things harder, not easier) so it seems funny to grant this one concession.

[Michael Wallace]

Which is hilariously inefficient?

Actually, I've just watched myself do some typing, and if a letter is towards the left of the keyboard I will just use a different finger on the same hand. Easy!

I know I'm not some uber geek touch typist, but presumably touch typing evolved around the layout of thr keyboard rather than the other way round (I've heard numerous times that the QWERTY keyboard was supposed to makes things harder, not easier) so it seems funny to grant this one concession.

QWERTY isn't supposed to make things harder, it's designed to make typewriters less likely to jam (thikipedia).

The thing about touch typing is it just makes things way easier (as evidenced by the fact you're having to use different fingers when you want to use shift), and being able to use two shift keys is part of that - to claim it's 'pointless' is a bit much.

[Jon O'Neill]

Who uses the shift key to type capitals anyway?

[Michael Wallace]

Who uses the shift key to type capitals anyway?

I use my penis.

[Matt Morrison]

Who uses the shift key to type capitals anyway?

You would have earned yourself one like if you hadn't capitalised W in that message.

[Lesley Hines]

Who uses the shift key to type capitals anyway?

I use my penis.

Just to type capitals, or for all your typing? Is that why the majority of typists are female? (Scandalously sexist comment with no data to back it up)

[Michael Wallace]

Who uses the shift key to type capitals anyway?

I use my penis.

Just to type capitals, or for all your typing? Is that why the majority of typists are female? (Scandalously sexist comment with no data to back it up)

You misunderstand, my penis is my shift key.

(you press it and things get bigger?)
(if you hold it down it looks like I'm shouting?)
(if you press it it turns a forward slash into a question mark?)

[Lesley Hines]

You misunderstand, my penis is my shift key.

(you press it and things get bigger?)
(if you hold it down it looks like I'm shouting?)
(if you press it it turns a forward slash into a question mark?)

Is this what inspired your helpful advice about 'one for the left hand, and one for the right'?

[Brian Moore]

Who uses the shift key to type capitals anyway?

I do, but it doesn't work very well when a stray toenail clipping gets stuck under it.

[Jon Corby]

I'm stunned about the right-shift key thing, Raccoon. I'm a pretty fast typist and I don't think I've ever used it.

As for the 'Insert' key, I write a lot of code in fixed pitch fonts and I like to do big pretty comment boxes with borders, so it's kinda slightly useful for doing that sort of thing, but it would hardly be a hardship if it didn't exist and I probably don't even use it most of the time anyway.

I remember back in the days of my ZX81 and BBC Micro that 'Overtype' was the default mode so having an 'Insert' key made sense, so the real issue surely is that the key should be renamed 'Overtype' now (if it is to be kept at all).

[Ben Hunter]

I'm stunned about the right-shift key thing, Raccoon. I'm a pretty fast typist and I don't think I've ever used it.

I've never thought about which shift key I use so I just did a test type and found I use both left and right shift keys interchangeably. This is probably why I'm the fastest typist in my house.

[Jon Corby]

I'm stunned about the right-shift key thing, Raccoon. I'm a pretty fast typist and I don't think I've ever used it.

I've never thought about which shift key I use so I just did a test type and found I use both left and right shift keys interchangeably. This is probably why I'm the fastest typist in my house.

It's weird. Concentrating on it now, it doesn't seem unnatural to press the right shift key with my right hand. But I really don't think I ever do it normally.

[Marc Meakin]

Who uses the shift key to type capitals anyway?

You would have earned yourself one like if you hadn't capitalised W in that message.

scott gilles?

[Liam Tiernan]

Who uses the shift key to type capitals anyway?

cf. CF

[Gavin Chipper]

Has anyone ever pressed shift five times in a row? It's a whole new level of excitment.

[Marc Meakin]

Has anyone ever pressed shift five times in a row? It's a whole new level of excitment.

Sticky keys ooer must be Ryan and his magic sock again.

[Jon Corby]

While we're ridding the keyboard of seldom/never used keys, what about ones that should be there? It's an absolute joke that in the age of Facebook farming and 40 year old married men showing their erections on webcam to 13 year old girls, I still have to press CTRL when I want to cut/copy/paste. These should have their own keys.

[Jon O'Neill]

I was going to suggest Smiley keys instead of Function keys, but I think James Robinson might get overexcited.

[James Robinson]

I was going to suggest Smiley keys instead of Function keys, but I think James Robinson might get overexcited.

Too late, Jon.

[Charlie Reams]

While we're ridding the keyboard of seldom/never used keys, what about ones that should be there? It's an absolute joke that in the age of Facebook farming and 40 year old married men showing their erections on webcam to 13 year old girls, I still have to press CTRL when I want to cut/copy/paste. These should have their own keys.

My keyboard gives them their own keys where the function keys usually are, so your dream can become a reality. However it's still easier to use ctrl+c than reach over to the top row, especially because there's a good chance that you miss and hit copy instead of paste or whatever. So that's probably why it hasn't caught on.

[Jon Corby]

My keyboard gives them their own keys where the function keys usually are, so your dream can become a reality. However it's still easier to use ctrl+c than reach over to the top row, especially because there's a good chance that you miss and hit copy instead of paste or whatever. So that's probably why it hasn't caught on.

I want your keyboard. X, C and V are all next to each other anyway (and I do sometimes get the wrong one) so I don't really understand that concern tbh.

Do you ever find yourself pasting the same thing on several lines? That's when it occurred to me how awkward it is to move the cursor and then have to press CTRL to perform the paste. It makes my fingers hurt, and I always end up pressing a cursor key with CTRL shooting the cursor off, or even worse leaving a stray "V" in there somewhere.

[Matt Morrison]

Do you ever find yourself pasting the same thing on several lines? That's when it occurred to me how awkward it is to move the cursor and then have to press CTRL to perform the paste. It makes my fingers hurt, and I always end up pressing a cursor key with CTRL shooting the cursor off, or even worse leaving a stray "V" in there somewhere.

How long have you been typing for? It's like listening to my gran talk about computers.

[Michael Wallace]

My keyboard gives them their own keys where the function keys usually are, so your dream can become a reality. However it's still easier to use ctrl+c than reach over to the top row, especially because there's a good chance that you miss and hit copy instead of paste or whatever. So that's probably why it hasn't caught on.

I want your keyboard. X, C and V are all next to each other anyway (and I do sometimes get the wrong one) so I don't really understand that concern tbh.

Do you ever find yourself pasting the same thing on several lines? That's when it occurred to me how awkward it is to move the cursor and then have to press CTRL to perform the paste. It makes my fingers hurt, and I always end up pressing a cursor key with CTRL shooting the cursor off, or even worse leaving a stray "V" in there somewhere.

Maybe you should start using the other shift key...

[Charlie Reams]

My keyboard gives them their own keys where the function keys usually are, so your dream can become a reality. However it's still easier to use ctrl+c than reach over to the top row, especially because there's a good chance that you miss and hit copy instead of paste or whatever. So that's probably why it hasn't caught on.

I want your keyboard. X, C and V are all next to each other anyway (and I do sometimes get the wrong one) so I don't really understand that concern tbh.

Because your hand is usually on that part of the keyboard already, so you have a good feel for where the keys are. The further you have to reach, the harder it is to hit the right key (Fitts' law).

[Jon Corby]

Do you ever find yourself pasting the same thing on several lines? That's when it occurred to me how awkward it is to move the cursor and then have to press CTRL to perform the paste. It makes my fingers hurt, and I always end up pressing a cursor key with CTRL shooting the cursor off, or even worse leaving a stray "V" in there somewhere.

How long have you been typing for? It's like listening to my gran talk about computers.

Haha, fuck off.

[Andrew Feist]

While we're ridding the keyboard of seldom/never used keys, what about ones that should be there? It's an absolute joke that in the age of Facebook farming and 40 year old married men showing their erections on webcam to 13 year old girls, I still have to press CTRL when I want to cut/copy/paste. These should have their own keys.

Don't have any laying about the house, but I seem to remember that the old Sun keyboards had cut, copy, and paste in the pile of keys on the left-hand side. Don't know if you can make one of those work with a Windows machine.

[Dmitry Goretsky]

Who uses the shift key to type capitals anyway?

ME

[Lesley Hines]

Who uses the shift key to type capitals anyway?

ME

WTF?

Seriously Dmitry, learn to behave. You can't refuse people permission to quote your posts; it's a public forum. Similarly, much as I'd like to ignore your posts I'm going to tell you this more nicely than other people would: change your fucking signature. It's ridiculous. I don't want to be shouted at by you every time I'm interested in what some of the intelligent people on here have got to say. Also, if people think they need your help they can pm, so you don't need to tell everyone your email address. Amazingly I doubt your inbox is overflowing with anyone from this forum.

Then grow up.

[Lesley Hines]

Quality

Thanks very much whoever did that (Charlie I'd think...).

P=0