Shift on the keyboard

Contrary to popular belief, Shift first appeared not on computer keyboards, but on typewriters, back in 1878. Then Christopher Scholes and Carlos Glidden developed and released their second typewriter, the Remington 2, its innovation was the ability to put capital letters. This mechanism was implemented by pressing the already well-known and familiar shift key.

What does Shift mean on the keyboard?

It received this name because of the way it worked: it physically moved the carriage, which made it possible to hit the paper not with capital letters, but with capital letters. Literally, “Shift” means “shift,” hence the designation of this key, which is so incomprehensible today.

But it is also worth mentioning that it took root precisely because of the great popularity of Remnington typewriters. This is the first commercially successful model that was mass-produced for the general population. And, perhaps, if a machine with a different mechanism had won on the market, then even now the familiar “Shift” would have a completely different name.

Where is the Shift button on the keyboard?

On almost all modern input devices, such as:

• Personal Computer;
• Laptop;
• Netbook;
• Tablet.

Shift is located in two places, in the lower left and right corners of the keyboard. The only exceptions are specialized input devices for specific tasks; such devices may not have “Shift” at all.

The left shift is located between “Caps Lock” and “Ctrl”. And the right one is between “Enter” and “Ctrl” near the control arrows. Both keys are in the second row, if you count from a person.

On laptop keyboards they usually do not write “Shift”, but only use a large hollow arrow pointing up. It is by this that you can identify this button on laptops or their younger brothers, netbooks.

IMPORTANT. If you don’t find the usual button labeled Shift, then you need to look for it by its graphic designation: a hollow arrow pointing up. This is usually due to the small dimensions of the input device, which does not allow placing a full-fledged key.

Why is Shift on a laptop keyboard located in this particular place?

To fully understand the reason for the location of the shift in these places, it is necessary to delve into history again. It all started with Remington typewriters. This button was located there due to the design features of the mechanism. It was easier and more reliable to place it on the side to make it easier to move the carriage to activate capital letters on the typewriter.

But at the beginning of development, only one shift button was added. But during testing, it became clear that it was very inconvenient to combine some letters and shift. This happened due to the fact that the hand was already busy pressing the button with the letter, and to press Shift it was necessary to tear off the hand and interrupt the typing of the text, which noticeably reduced the typing speed. And it was decided to add another shift on the other side.

Then everything went along the path of optimization, and, moving to laptops, it became clear that the usual keyboard would be too large. The buttons were made a little smaller, the shift was removed, and the shift found its usual place.