The keyboard consists of multiple buttons that create letters, numbers, and symbols. It is divided into four main sections - the alphabet/number keyboard, function keys, numeric keyboard, and cursor keys. The numeric keyboard has two functions depending on whether num lock is on or off. Additional keys like escape, tab, caps lock, shift, control, alt, space bar, backspace, and enter perform various functions like deleting characters, moving the cursor, toggling case, and entering new lines.
1. KEYBOARD
IT CONSISTS OF MULTIPLE BUTTONS, WHICH CREATE
NUMBERS, SYMBOLS, AND LETTERS, AND SPECIAL KEYS
LIKE THE WINDOWS AND ALT KEY, INCLUDING
PERFORMING OTHER FUNCTIONS.
2. Alphabet Alt Backspace
Space
Capitals CapsLock Ctrl Cursor
Delete End Enter Escape
Function Home Insert Lights
Shift Number Numeric NumLock
Tab Page Up Page Down Print Screen
Keyboard - What are the keys
3. THE COMPUTER KEYBOARD IS DIVIDED INTO 4 MAIN
SECTIONS, PLUS ADDITIONAL KEYS.
• ALPHABET / NUMBER KEYBOARD - NORMAL KEYBOARD KEYS CONTAINING ORDINARY ALPHABET
CHARACTERS IN THE SAME SEQUENCE AS THE TYPEWRITER.
• FUNCTION KEYS - THE F KEYS OR THE FUNCTION KEYS ARE PROGRAMMABLE AND MAINLY USED BY
ADVANCED USERS.
• NUMERIC KEYBOARD - A BLOCK OF NUMERICAL KEYS GROUPED TOGETHER IN THE SAME WAY AS
MOST CALCULATORS. MOST OF THESE KEYS HAVE TWO FUNCTIONS. WHEN THE NUMLOCK LIGHT IS
SHINING, THE KEYS ACT LIKE A CALCULATOR KEYBOARD. WHEN THE NUMLOCK LIGHT IS NOT SHINING,
IT ACTS LIKE A CURSOR KEY PAD. CHANGE BETWEEN THESE FUNCTIONS BY PRESSING THE NUMLOCK
KEY ONCE.
• CURSOR KEYS - THE ARROW KEYS INDICATING THE DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT OF THE CURSOR ON
THE SCREEN.
4.
5. • ESC (ESCAPE) - THIS KEY IS USED IN DIFFERENT WAYS BY DIFFERENT PROGRAMMES. IT IS MAINLY USED TO ESCAPE TO THE
PREVIOUS SCREEN OF A PROGRAMME, OR TO UNDO WHAT YOU HAVE JUST DONE.
• TAB - THIS KEY ENABLES THE CURSOR TO JUMP A COUPLE OF SPACES TO THE RIGHT ON THE SCREEN, SEE TAB SETTINGS.
TO JUMP THE EQUIVALENT SPACES TO THE LEFT, USE THE SHIFT-TAB KEYS TOGETHER.
• CAPS LOCK - (A TOGGLE KEY) WHEN THIS KEY IS PRESSED, EVERYTHING IS TYPED IN CAPITAL LETTERS. A LIGHT USUALLY
INDICATES THAT THIS KEY IS ACTIVE. PRESS THE CAPSLOCK KEY AGAIN TO DE-ACTIVATE THIS FUNCTION.
• SHIFT - AS WITH THE TYPEWRITER, SOME KEYS ON THE KEYBOARD HAVE MORE THAN ONE CHARACTER. TO TYPE THE 'TOP'
CHARACTER THE SHIFT KEY MUST BE PRESSED DOWN FIRST, AND THEN THE REQUIRED KEY IS PRESSED TOGETHER WITH THE
SHIFT KEY.
• CTRL (CONTROL) - THIS KEY IS USED IN COMBINATION WITH OTHER KEYS IN SPECIFIC PROGRAMMES.
• ALT (ALTERNATIVE) - THIS KEY IS USED TOGETHER WITH OTHER KEYS, OFTEN WITH NUMERICAL KEYS TO GET A PARTICULAR
ASCII CHARACTER .
• SPACE BAR - MOVES THE CURSOR ONE SPACE TO THE RIGHT EVERY TIME YOU PRESS THE BAR.
• BACKSPACE - USED TO DELETE A CHARACTER TO THE LEFT OF THE CURSOR.
6.
7. Insert - ( a toggle key) the keyboard is normally in "insert" mode i.e.
you are able to insert words in the middle of a sentence or letters in
the middle of a word.
Home - moves the cursor to the beginning of a line or the top left
hand corner of the screen (varies with different programmes).
Page Up - displays the previous page of a document.
Enter - used to move the cursor to the beginning of a new, blank line
or to start a new paragraph.
Lights - the lights indicate which of the toggle keys are on.
8. Print Screen - this key is used with graphics programmes to capture a
screen image
Num Lock - ( a toggle key) this key activates the keys of the numeric
keypad. A light usually indicates that this key is activated.
Delete - used to delete a character to the right of the cursor.
End - moves the cursor to the end of a line or the bottom right hand
corner of the screen.
Page Down - displays the next page of a document (varies with
different programmes).