Talk:Enter key

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] Difference between enter and return

Shouldn't there be some point made about the difference between enter and return?

There's quite a bit of debate about this over on the Carriage Return talk page. More specifically, about whether there is a difference. --Dom 11:46, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

If I remember right from my days as an embedded developer working on a keyboard driver for a standard PC keyboard: all keys on a PC keyboard generate unique key-codes, even those keys that appear to be the same to a user, such as the Shift-, Ctrl-, and Alt- key-pairs. I assume(!) the only difference between a Apple Mac keyboard and a PC keyboard is that Apple ones provide a visual distinction while PC keyboards don't.

The reason that applications such as Adobe Photoshop can provide different functions for the enter/return keys under one operating system (OS) (e.g., Mac OS X) but not under another (e.g., Microsoft Windows) is not because of the application but because of the OS's support for these keys. If the OS does not provide the distinction then the application cannot.

This claim could easily be proven by using a PC keyboard with a Mac together with an application that supported the enter/return key distinction, i.e., does the application continue making a distinction between the keys after the keyboard has been swapped for a PC one?


-Andreas Toth (talk) 02:43, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] More thoughts...

I think it's vague to say "In word processing..." For instance, in Microsoft Word, pressing the Enter key twice to make space between paragraphs ignores the power of styles. For a fine description, see shaunakelly.com.

Is "word processing" distinguished from other editing environments like Arbortext Adept and FrameMaker? I think so. How would the naive user know that this distinction was being made here? (Hatsandcats 15:45, 17 December 2006 (UTC))

[edit] Confusing

This article deals with the subject very confusingly, and even lists what the return key does before the enter key. But perhaps even more worrying is the liberal use of hyphens before key. It's just completely unnecessary. Poojean 14:02, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Key Shape

I've noticed now on websites selling keyboards, that many of them seem to have a return key the same size and shape as the shift key below it with the hash/pound key above it,[1] whereas I am used to the wide vertical key shape.[2]

Is this a new standard, why do some keyboards have this? Is it region-specific? Isn't it harder to type with a smaller target? Why does the hash/pound key now need to be so big?

As you can tell I'm quite confused with this, any information or answers would be appreciated.--NeF 11:08, 15 July 2007 (UTC)

The small, horizontal bar with another key above it seems to be typical of keyboards in the United States. This is what I am used to seeing, anyway. Of course, the key above it in the US is the backslash, and our hash is on the three. In fact, having grown up with the wee return keys, I always thought the big L-shaped ones were a bit cumbersome and got in the way of pressing \. It's all a matter of socialisation I guess. :)

I could guess that maybe there is some influence coming from the US causing your keys to shrink. 24.40.185.14 (talk) 20:41, 29 January 2008 (UTC) (sorry, this was mine) Eris Discord | Talk 20:45, 29 January 2008 (UTC)