Title Keyboard:Allspecialkeys:Enter,Del,Shift,Backspace,Tab

Contributors Dhanya.PStdII
Reviewers
Submission ApprovalDate
Date RefNo:

Thistopicdescribesthespecialkeysonthekeyboardofacomputer
BriefDescription
andtheirfunctionalities.

Goal Tofamiliarizethespecialkeysonthekeyboardofacomputer.

Prerequisites Familiaritywithcomputer.

Learning Conceptsthatspecialkeysonakeyboardhasspecialfunctionalities.
Outcome
OnePeriod
Duration

http://www.ckls.org/~crippel/computerlab/tutorials/keyboard/
References http://computer.howstuffworks.com/

PageNos:2,3,4,5,6
Detailed
Description PageNo:7
LessonPlan
PageNo:7

Worksheet PageNo:8

Evaluation PageNo:8

OtherNotes

DetailedDescription

Acomputerkeyboardisaperipheral,partiallymodeledafterthetypewriterkeyboard.
Keyboardsaredesignedfortheinputoftextandcharacters.

SpecialKeys
FunctionKeys
CursorControlKeys

EscKey
ControlKey
ShiftKey
EnterKey
TabKey
InsertKey
DeleteKey
ScrollLockKey
NumLockKey
CapsLockKey
Pasue/BreakKey
PrtScrKey

FunctionKeys
F1throughF12arethefunctionkeys.Theyhavespecialpurposes.Thefollowingaremainlythepurpose
ofthefunctionkeys.Butitmayvaryaccordingtothesoftwarecurrentlyrunning.

#F1Help
#F2Renamesselectedfile
#F3Opensthefilesearchbox
#F4OpenstheaddressbarinWindowsExplorer
#F5RefreshesthescreeninWindowsExplorer
#F6NavigatesbetweendifferentsectionsofaWindowsExplorerwindow
 #F11OpensfullscreenmodeinExplorer

CursorControlKeys

TheseareSpecialkeysoncomputerkeyboardsthatmovethecursor.Theyare

UpArrowKeyMovesthecursoronelineup.
DownArrowKeyMovesthecursoronelinedown.
LeftArrowKeyMovesthecursoronecolumnleft.
RightArrowKeyMovesthecursoronecolumnright.
HomeKeyMovesthecursortothestartingofthecurrentrowinadocument.
EndKeyMovesthecursortotheendofthecurrentrowinadocument
PageUpKeyScrollsthedocumentuponescreenful.
PageDownKeyScrollsthedocumentdownonescreenful.
BackspaceKeyMovesthecursoronecolumnbackbydeletingthecontentsonthepreviouscolumn.

EscKey

Akeyoncomputerkeyboards,usuallylabeledEsc.PressingtheEscapekeyusuallycancelsoraborts
thecurrentoperation.

ControlKey

AControlkeyisakeywhich,whenpressedinconjunctionwithanotherkey,willperformaspecial
operation.Theresultofkeepingthecontrolkeypresseddownwhilepressinganothercharacter,isacontrol
keycombination,whichcanhavedifferentmeaningsdependingonwhichprogramisrunning.

Forexample,holdingdowncontrolandpressingU,turnsonunderlineinsomewordprocessors.Thecaret
(shift6)symbolrepresentsthecontrolkey:^YmeanscontrolY.

ShiftKey

Theshiftkeyisamodifierkeyonakeyboard,usedtotypecapitallettersandotheralternate"upper"
characters.Therearetypicallytwoshiftkeys,ontheleftandrightsidesoftherowbelowthehomerow.
OnanEnglishkeyboard,charactersthattypicallyrequiretheuseoftheshiftkeyincludetheparentheses,the
questionmark,theexclamationpoint,andthecolon.
Oncomputerkeyboards,,theshiftkeycanhavemanymoreuses:

*Itissometimesusedtomodifythefunctionkeys.ModernWindowskeyboardstypicallyhaveonly12
functionkeys;Shift+F1mustbeusedtotypeF13,Shift+F2forF14,etc.
*Itcanmodifyvariouscontrolandaltkeys.Forexample,ifAlttabisusedtocyclethroughopen
windows,ShiftAlttabcyclesinthereverseorder.
*Holdingshiftwhilemovingthecursorinawordprocessorgenerallyselectsarangeoftext.
*Theshiftkeycanalsobeusedtomodifythemouseonacomputer.Forexample,holdingshiftwhile
clickingonalinkinawebbrowsermightcausethepagetoopeninanewwindow,ortobedownloaded.
*HoldingshiftwhileinsertingacompactdiscinaMicrosoftWindowscomputerwilldisabletheautorun
feature.ThisabilityhasbeenusedtocircumventtheMediaMaxCD3CDcopyprotectionsystem.
*Holdingshiftwhileclickingon"Restart"inWindowswillrestartWindowsandnottheentiresystem.
*InWindowsExplorerandsomeotherfilemanagers,holdingshiftwhiledeletingafilewillpermanently
deletethatfileratherthanmovingittotherecyclebin.
*Holdingshiftwhilescrollingwillscanthroughpreviouslyviewedwebpages.

EnterKey

Akeythatmovesthecursor(orinsertionpoint)tothebeginningofthenextline,orreturnscontrolto
whateverprogramiscurrentlyrunning.Afteraprogramrequestsinformationfromyou(bydisplayinga
prompt),itwillusuallynotrespondtoyourinputuntilyouhavepressedtheEnterorReturnkey.This
allowsyoutocorrecttypingmistakesortoreconsideryourentrybeforeitistoolate.Inmanyapplications,
pressingtheEnterkeymovesthecursortothenextfield.Ingraphicaluserinterfaces,pressingEnter
activatesthecurrentlyselectedbuttonoroption.

TabKey

Akeyoncomputerkeyboardsthatinsertsatabcharacterormovestheinsertionpointtothenexttab
stop.Someapplicationsrespondtothetabkeybyinsertingspacesuptothenexttabstop.Thisisoften
calledasofttab,whereasarealtabcharacteriscalledahardtab.

SpreadsheetanddatabasemanagementapplicationsusuallyrespondtotheTabkeybymovingthecursor
tothenextfieldorcell.Indialogboxesandmenus,pressingtheTabkeyhighlightsthenextbuttonor
option.

InsertKey
 programs,butmostwordprocessorsandtexteditorssupportit.Itisprimarilyusedtoswitchbetweenthe
twotextenteringmodesonapersonalcomputerorwordprocessor.Thefirstisovertypemode,inwhich
thecursor,whentyping,overwritesanytextthatispresentonandafteritscurrentlocation.Theotheris
insertmode,wherethecursorinsertsacharacteratitscurrentposition,forcingallcharacterspastitone
positionfurther.

DeleteKey

Oncomputerkeyboards,thedeletekey(sometimesshortened"Del"),should,duringnormaltext
editing,discardthecharacteratthecursor'sposition,movingallfollowingcharactersoneposition
"back"towardsthefreedplace.

ScrollLockKey
Thebehaviorofthistogglekeydependsontheparticularsoftwareinuse.Thescrolllockkeyisintendedto
temporarilystopthescrollingoftextorhalttheoperationofaprogram.Therearenotmanysoftware
programstodaythattakeadvantageorhaveauseforthiskey.

MicrosoftExcelisagoodexampleofasoftwareprogramthatusesthiskey.Ifscrolllockisenabledonthe
keyboardwhenyoupressanyofthearrowkeyssuchasthedownoruparrowkeysthescreenwillmove,
howevertheselectedcellwillnotmove.However,ifscrolllockisnotenabledyouwillbeabletonavigate
througheachofthecellsusingthearrowkeys.

NumLockKey

Akeythatswitchesthenumerickeypadfromnumericmodetocursorcontrolmode,andviceversa.In
numericmode,thekeysrepresentnumbersevenwhentheyarecombinedwiththeShiftkey,Functionkey,or
Controlkey.Otherwisethesecombinationsmayhavedifferentmeanings.

TheNumLockkeyisatogglekey,meaningthatitchangesthecurrentmode.Ifthenumerickeypadisalready
lockedinnumericmode,pressingtheNumLockkeyreleasesit.

CapsLockKey
PressingtheCapsLockkeywillsetakeyboardmodeinwhichtypedlettersarecapitalizedbydefaultand
inlowercasewhentheshiftkeyispressed;thekeyboardremainsinthismodeuntilcapslockispressed
again.Thisisalsoatogglekey.
 Akeyboardkeythatispressedtostoptheexecutionofthecurrentprogramortransmission.

PrtScrKey
(PronouncedPRINTscreen.)Akeyboardkey(onmoststandardkeyboards)that,whenpressed,
sendstheinformationdisplayedonscreentotheprinterortotheClipboard.Theimagethencanbe
printedorpastedfromtheClipboardintoagraphicsprogramformanipulationandprintinglater.

LessonPlanOutline

1.Takethecomputertotheclass.
2.Engagethestudentsbyaskingsomequestionsbasedonthekeysonthekeyboard.
3.Openaworddocumentandletthestudentsexperiencetheeffectofpressingspecialkeysondifferent
applications.
4.Openabrowserwindowandrepeatthesameprocess.
5.Askthestudentsthedifferenceintheimplementationofthefunctionalitiesofspecialkeysondifferent
applications.

Worksheets

Fillintheblankswiththefollowingwords.Useeachwordonlyonce.

||
|F1F4DeleteBackSpaceEnd|
|StartUpArrowShiftPasuePause|
||

1.Usuallybypressing________key,the'help'menuassociatedwithanapplicationwillbedisplayed,
2.Toeraseacharacteratthecursorposition,weneedtopress_______key.
3.Inordertostoparunningprogram,weneedtopress________key.
4.Inordertoprintthecharactersdisplayedonthetopofakey,weneedtopress_____keyalongwith
thatkey.
5.Inordertomovethecursoronerowupinadocument,weneedtopress_____key.
6.The_____keyispressedtomovethecursortotheendofthecurrentrow.
7.____keyispressedtomovethecursortothestartofthecurrentrow.
8._______keyisusedtoerasethecharacterontheleftofcursorposition.
9._______togglekeyisusedtotoggletheinsertmodeonoroff.
10.Foropeningtheaddressbarinthebrowser,pressthefunctionalkey_____.
Evaluation

InClass
1.Createachartcontainingallthespecialkeysinakeyboardandtheirnormalfunctionalities.
InLab
1.Experiencetheeffectofspecialkeysondifferentapplications.

OtherNotes

ThislessonisindependentoftheOperatingSystem.Exercisecanbedonewithanyapplicationinany
OperatingSystem.

SitesforReference
http://www.ckls.org/~crippel/computerlab/tutorials/keyboard/
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/