Java Glossary : Keystrokes

Last updated 2004-06-28 by Roedy Green ©1996-2004 Canadian Mind Products

Java definitions: 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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Keystrokes

It can be difficult to explain to someone over the phone what keys to hit to get the effect they need. One dear woman spelled out the word E N T E R when I wanted her to hit the [Enter] key. Here are the conventions I used to make this clear.

• Hit

  means tap a single key and let it go immediately.

• Press

  means push a key and hold it down.

• Key

  means spell out something, but don't hit [Enter] when you are done.

• Type

  mean spell out something, then hit [Enter].

When I want to make it clear I am talking about a single key I will sometimes enclose it in brackets, e.g.

[BackSpace] [space bar]

When I want you to press two keys at once I use a + sign, e.g.

[ctrl]+S

That means press [Ctrl] and hold it down, tap the S key, then release the [Ctrl] key. It won't work if you try to press both keys down exactly at once as if you were playing a piano chord.

The famous reboot sequence:

[Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Delete]

means press [Ctrl] and hold it down, press [Alt] and hold it down, tap [Delete], let go of [Alt] and [Ctrl]. You may let go of [Alt] and [Ctrl] in either order or exactly simultaneously. For writing keystroke documentation for novices it would be nice to have a font that made it clear that [BackSpace] was a single key. It would be a single glyph that looked like a key. I have not yet found one.

DSK ¤ Keyboard Illustrator Student Project

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