It finally happened this morning. Well, actually, let me back up. Yesterday, while working
particularly long and hard on some obscure code, I inadvertantly turned on CapsLock and
didn't notice while everything I typed cAME OUT IN UPPER CASE. What a pain. I swore. 
	Later on, I discussed the issue with my wife over dinner. I said, "Honey, you know that
key on your keyboard, next to 'a', called CapsLock? Does that key bother you like it bothers
me?" 
	"Oh my god," she replied, "that key has got to go. Who ever needs to turn on CapsLock, 
and why would they? And why is it positioned so that it's guaranteed it'll accidentally be 
pressed like a dozen times per day?"
	So my wife agreed with me. CapsLock is an example of a "feature" that exists, solely
because it has always been there. I can see how CapsLock would have been useful on the old
manual typewriters: the pinky would probably get mighty tired holding down Shift any longer
than a couple words.
	Why does it exist on modern keyboards? So that newbies can shout? I actually tried to 
think of an example where it would be useful, but failed. Admittedly, I do have some clients
that type in ALL CAPS simply because that's what they've always done, since the 1980's or
so. Try as I might, they aren't going to stop that practice any time soon.
	Well, after that conversation with my wife, I vowed that next time I accidentally turned 
on CapsLock, I would do something. This morning, it happened. Reaching for the Shift key, I 
inadvertantly hit that key, and had to expend cycles turning it back off again. Wanting to 
live up to my vow, I decided to figure out how to disable CapsLock on my Linux system. So I 
did a  quick google search, and found some interesting pages. antiCAPSLOCK.com provides
instructions for turning off CapsLock on all modern operating systems, but after reading all
about it I said to myself "you know what? I'm going to turn it off for now, but when I update
my box I'll have to figure out how to disable it all over again." 
	I had a better idea, something more permanent. I put my fingernail underneath the key, 
and pulled up gently. It stretched but didn't snap off. I then released the pressure and the 
key just fell off onto the counter, as if it had resigned to its fate. I then had to pry off 
the under-key mechanism and use my wire cutters to snip off the button. A little super glue 
was all it took to put the dead key back on the keyboard, able to be touched but not depressed.
	Free at last! Free at last! I can type an email or a blog entry or some Python code,
all without getting slowed down by this stupidly misplaced key.
	Recommendation for keyboard manufacturers: keep the CapsLock key (some people may 
actually need it), but reposition it out of reach of normal typing fingers. The people that 
need it will likely set it and forget it, while the people that don't use it won't get
silently annoyed anymore. The century is 21, not 19.

© 2004 Paul McNett       [/Computing] permanent link