Dan Knight wrote: >History: In the beginning was the splat/open apple/command key. It was >simple. And it was good. And it was inadequate, so with the advent of the >Plus (if memory serves), the option key was added to the keyboard -- >along with other nice keys like Escape. > >Thanks to programs like SoftPC and DOS cards, Apple began marking alt on >the Option key, but always in smaller type. This was to accommodate >DOS/Windows users. For Mac users, the three keys beside the spacebar are >Control, Option, and Command.
Tho I hesitate to correct our generous host, this history is not quite correct. With reference to my extensive collection of old Mac keyboards (all mentioned are beside me as I write): The original Macintosh keyboard (128k/512k model M0110) had option and command keys to the left of the spacebar, and enter and option keys to the right. The option key has always been necessary for typing extended characters, such as accents, etc. The original command key had only the "splat" (I call it a cloverleaf, which it looks like, and which name has also some distant association with the fact that the symbol was "borrowed" from Swedish highway maps, where it represents "point of interest"); the hollow apple was a later addition. The Mac Plus keyboard (M0110A), which added a numerical keypad on the right, moved the enter key to the lower right corner of the latter, and removed the right option key, making room for the \ | key and arrow keys to the right of the spacebar. The now-empty space formerly occupied by the \ | key was covered by making the return key L-shaped, I dunno why: it would have made more sense to leave the \ | key where it was and leave the second option key to the right of the spacebar. Thus began the Apple tradition of irrational keyboard design. To the left of the spacebar are option and command keys, like in the previous model but larger. The first "Apple Keyboard" (M0116), which came with the SE and Mac II, has the \ | key and all four arrow keys to the right of the spacebar; to the left of the spacebar are (in order from the corner) caps lock, option, command (with the hollow apple added), and ` ~. Caps lock's previous position to the left of A was now occupied by a control key, whose function was rather a mystery as very few Mac apps (nor the System) made any use of this DOS key. Also added was the esc key - another DOS import that initially had little or no use on the Mac - in the upper left corner where ` ~ used to be. Next in the family was the Apple Extended Keyboard; I don't have one right at hand, so don't know exactly how it was configured, in particular if if had the "alt" on the option key. See the Extended Keyboard II below. The Apple Keyboard II (M0487), my all-time favorite, appeared with the Classic/LC/IIsi generation. It put caps lock back in the spot to the left of A, so the keys to the left of the spacebar are control, option and command. It also switched the ` ~ and esc, the former back in the upper left, the latter to the right of the spacebar, followed by the four arrow keys. Next came the unlamented Apple Design Keyboard (M2980), a piece of junk IMO, both because of its shoddy construction and because of its design. This was in the era of the rabbit Performas, so many Mac models nobody could keep them straight. Also the time when Apple seemed to be responding to the perennial complaints about Macs being more expensive than PCs (why is it nobody complains about Mercedes being more expensive than Ford?) by giving the people what they seemed to want, e.g. a crummy cheap PC-style keyboard with all those extra keys (function, home, page-up, etc.) that most Mac users don't need. Apple already offered the Extended Keyboard for those who did need the extra keys, but now the excellent Keyboard II was discontinued, and every Mac buyer was given the same huge keyboard whether we wanted it or not. I believe this was also the first "standard" Mac keyboard that had the little "alt" on the upper left corner of the option key; at the time I assumed it was, like the Design Keyboard as a whole, an effort to make Windoze users feel at home on their new Macs, since "alt" has never had any meaning in the Mac environment. The Extended Keyboard II (M3501), like the original Extended, has the PC-standard row of function keys at the top, with the esc key at its left end, and another palette with the arrow keys and home, page up, etc. keys. The main keyboard section has control, option and command to the left of the spacebar, and command, option and control to the right. The tiny "alt" appears in the upper left corner of the option key. The Apple USB Keyboard (M2452), aka iMac keyboard, is essentially a reprise of the Keyboard II, a compact keyboard that has everything most Mac users need. By now the key layout has pretty well stabilized, with control, option and command keys to the left of the spacebar, and command and arrow keys to the right. I don't have any of the latest Mac keyboards, which seem to me a devolution from the original USB keyboard back in the direction of DOS bloat. What I'd really like to see would be some choices, as with the original Macintosh keyboard, for which Apple offered an optional, separate numeric keypad that could be placed wherever the user wanted it, e.g. to the left for left-handers. Now that would make some sense. As a right-hander, I find it really annoying to have to reach so far to the right of the alphabetic keys to get to my mouse. (In fact, back when I was using a desktop Mac I actually trained myself to use the mouse with my left hand because of this problem.) PowerBook keyboards have shown a similar erratic design history; that would be another essay. In all, it does seem that Apple has suffered from considerable indecision in keyboard layout design; recently, for instance, I've been confused by the new iceBook keyboard which has a command key where the enter key is on my Pismo. Partly I'd guess this is an ongoing effort to find the best key layout for the most users; but the process has also been considerably confused by Apple's ambivalent superiority/inferiority complex relative to the PC/Windoze world. Thus sometimes Apple does things its own, often superior way, since it isn't bound by the stultifying conventions of the PC world, many of which are that way only "because that's how it's always been," rather than for any good reason. For instance, why is it the ASCII character set includes the useless (to any ordinary user) \ | characters, but no cent sign? Because that's how ASCII was set up back in the 1950s or whenever, and that's how it's always been. On the other hand, at the other end of the cycle Apple sometimes seems to feel it must emulate the PC way of doing things, both in the (vain, I believe) hope of winning over the inveterate, irrational Mac-haters (cf. the "Kim Komando" story linked on LEM), and in an effort to attract the lumpen proletariat to try out the Mac, which apparently they won't do if the Mac is so unfamiliar as to disturb their sheep-like sense of security. Of course, if the Mac is no different than the PC, why should they? Anyway, it may be that "alt" was added to the option key for the convenience of the tiny number of users who had DOS cards in their Macs (and yes, I do see how it can be useful to present-day VPC users), but I've always assumed it was more because of the kind of thinking in the previous paragraph. As a Mac-only user and loyalist from the beginning of my computer experience, I find that a (minor) annoyance, and am also, apparently like some other list members, occasionally slightly annoyed by what seem to be recent "switchers" referring to Macintosh functions and hardware by DOS/Windoze terminology, e.g. "alt key," etc. Certainly no crime, but as someone said, this is a Macintosh community list, and communication is enhanced when we all speak the same language. Just as here in New Mexico I often suggest to recent immigrants that learning at least how to correctly pronounce a few Spanish words (New Mexico is the only State which actually has two official languages, one of the conditions for its entry into the Union in 1912) will much facilitate their residence here, I'd also suggest to those who've come to the Mac from the Other Side that a little effort put into learning Macintosh terminology will not only ease relationships with expert Mac users (who will be more than happy to help you if you treat what we love with a little respect), but will probably help you begin to learn how much more you can do with your new computer. Former Windoze users who treat the Mac as just another computer with a few funny names on the keys are not getting the real value out of their investment. Yes, the Mac is more expensive than the PC; there's good reason. I suggest Robin Williams' "The Little Mac Book" series as an excellent introduction not only to the computer but to its culture and environment. (Well, she is a personal friend, but I still think her books are the best.) Andrew Main -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... 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