Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials,
Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription
The View From India
Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective.
First Day First Show
News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming.
Today's Cache
Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day.
Science For All
The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in!
Data Point
Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers
THEdge
At the cutting edge of education and careers
Health Matters
Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there
Gender Agenda
Stories from beyond the binary.
The Hindu On Books
Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features.
What is this key? Why is it called the ‘shift’ key?
| Photo Credit: Flickr
Have you ever looked at a keyboard and wondered why there is a key called ‘shift’ staring at you? That too, not just on one side, but one on each side, with an upward arrow next to it. Sometimes the key becomes just the upward arrow as well, like how it is shown on phone keyboards.
What is this key? Why is it called the ‘shift’ key? Read on to know more about its origin story!
Fun fact: the shift key was never an invention made for computers. It began way back in the late 1800s when typewriters were the star of the show.
A journey which lasted years and years, typewriters have evolved over time. From not having a keyboard structure to forming the QWERTY layout we see today to the shift and caps lock keys we see today — typewriters and keyboards have come a long way.
