- Alphanumeric keyboard
Alphanumeric keyboards include
typewriter s andcomputer keyboards. An alphanumeric keyboard is a device with many keys (usually marked with the letters of thealphabet , thenumerical digit s, and various extra keys.)Computer Keyboards
After
punch cards andpaper tape ,interaction viateletype -style keyboards became the maininput device forcomputers . During the 1980s and 1990s almost all computers came equipped with them as the main form of interaction, and most users are familiar with using them.There are different types of keyboard technologies.
The most popular layout of keys on the
modern-day English keyboard is called theQWERTY design, based on the most populartypewriter keyboard layout. This has been further extended to the standard 104-key PC keyboard layout, with the addition of cursor keys, acalculator -stylenumeric keypad, two groups of special function keys, a key for the WindowsStart menu (onIBM and clones), and other modifier keys. Some computer manufacturers have added keys specifically related to theInternet ande-mail , but these have not become standard.The fastest
typist s (as of 2007) use astenograph , a kind ofchorded keyboard used by mostcourt reporters andclosed caption reporter s.Despite the development of alternative input devices such as the mouse, touch sensitive
screen s,pen devices, character recognition,voice recognition , and improvements in computerspeed andmemory size, the keyboard remains the most commonly used and most versatiledevice used for directhuman input intocomputers .Mechanical Keyboards
Typewriter Electric Keyboards
Stenotype Key punch See also
*
Keyboard (computing)
*British and American keyboards
*Mouse (computing)
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