Hi Ryan
An apple keyboard is very similar to a PC keyboard, the main
differences are the modifier keys. All of your typing keys are
normally layed out.
The bottom row of the keyboard consists of the control key, the
option key, followed by the command key on the left side of the
spacebar. In the middle of that row is the spacebar, with the
modifiers command, option, and control mirrored on the other side of
the spacebar. The command key is right where the alt key would be on
a pc keyboard.
The top row of functionkeys consists of escape, followed by F1
through F16--yes, you read that correctly. The apple keyboard has for
more function keys on the top row than the pc keyboard, though I've
not yet found out what they're for. Apple laptops don't have them, so
I'm assuming they're there strictly for custom keyboard commands. To
the right of the function keys, also on the top row, are four more
keys. In order, they are volume down, volume up, mute, and eject.
You'll be using the eject key quite often, as Apple's optical drives
do not usually have an eject button on them.
Below those four keys is the numeric keypad. It is similar to the one
on a pc keyboard, with a few notable exceptions. Where numlock would
be on the pc keypad, the Apple keypad has the clear key--there is no
need for numlock on the Mac. After clear, you have the equals key,
the slash key, and the asterisk key. The numbers are layed out
exactly the same. To the right of the number 9, you have the dash key
and below that the plus key--note that the plus key is not elongated
as it is on pc keypads.
Returning to the left, you have the arrow keys on the bottom--these
are exactly the same--and what looks like your standard six keys
above that. There is a difference here, though. Where insert would be
on the pc keyboard, you have instead the help key--at least, that's
how voiceover identifies it. I've not yet found out what it's
actually for, as command+? is your help command on the Mac and the
help key appears to do nothing. Other than that, the keyboard is
exactly the same as a pc keyboard, though there are some differences
in functionality I should mention here. The delete key right below
the help key doesn't act exactly like its pc counterpart. This is
because on the Mac the cursor never rests on a letter, but to the
left or right of it depending on whether you are moving left or
right. Thus, delete (known in the Mac world as forward delete)
actually deletes the character to the right of where your cursor is
while backspace deletes the one to the left. This takes some getting
used to, but I actually find it more convenient than the way the pc
operating systems handle the cursor. This also means, incidentally,
that there isn't an overtype mode on the Mac, the cursor is always in
insert mode. If you want to type over text, you need to highlight it
first, done with the shift+arrow keys as in Windows. Home and end do
not move to the beginning and end of the line, but to the beginning
and end of the document. Pageup and Pagedown aren't used much. Note
that there are keyboard commands to handle all of that, but they are
implemented by holding one of the modifier keys and using the arrow
keys (command+left for the beginning of the line and command+right
for the end, for example).
Hope this helps, sorry about the length of the message if I typed too
much--grin
