5 ms·

It's not about neutrality, it's about ease of understanding. For me at least, when speaking about something that can be entered into a keyboard ^D is less obvio

by jrlocke 10y ago

It's not about neutrality, it's about ease of understanding. For me at least, when speaking about something that can be entered into a keyboard ^D is less obvious than Ctrl+D–I need to press the key labeled "control" to issue the proper command, the key labeled "^" will not suffice.

joosters 10y ago
To be really pedantic (sorry! I'm not complaining about your comment), your keyboard does not have any key labelled 'control', it is always (AFAIK) abbreviated as 'ctrl'. Which is really weird to me, as it's hardly a big word needing abbreviating, and keyboards often have other long words written on the keys ('delete', 'page down', and so on). On top of that, the shortened 'ctrl' is really a terrible abbreviation. It's not obvious that it stands for 'control' and I would guess that most non-techy people would have no idea that it means this word. Plus, it's near to another key with multiple letters ('alt'). The overall effect is that 'ctrl' appears to just be a jumble of letters with some esoteric meaning. A really odd design decision. Why not just put 'control' on the key and be done with it?
- patrick8 10y ago
  You're incorrect, especially for the typical reader here. A good chunk (maybe not over 50%, but its gotta be close) of the regular readers on this site use Macs. Most Mac keyboards, including the ones on the Macbook Pro, spell it out. Same for most non IBM/IBM-PC compatible keyboards.
  - dancek 10y ago
    I'm typing on a MacBook Pro that has "ctrl". Not sure I've ever seen a Mac keyboard that said "control", but maybe that's because I've mostly seen Finnish keycaps.
    - jonknee 10y ago
      Look in the menu bars and you'll only see ^ describing the shortcuts.
    - JdeBP 10y ago
      Enjoy this picture of an Apple keyboard that says "control": https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apple_Keyboard.JPG https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apple_Keyboard.JPG
  - joosters 10y ago
    I'm typing on a mac keyboard too. It has 'ctrl', 'esc', but 'delete' is written in full.
  - jrlocke 10y ago
    My mid 2014 MBP control key is labeled "control"
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- kaeruct 10y ago
  http://www.clickwithyourmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Control-Key-300x300.png http://www.clickwithyourmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/C...
  - joosters 10y ago
    How odd! My mac keyboard is a similar design, but has 'ctrl', and has no writing on the shift keys, caps lock and so on. The only unabbreviated word it has is 'delete'. Perhaps the standard is something to do with the country (mine is a UK layout).
    - Zarel 10y ago
      Yes, it does. Not sure why, but: http://i.imgur.com/vvQNuQX.jpg http://i.imgur.com/vvQNuQX.jpg
caf 10y ago
Even then though, why is it obvious that you don't need to press the key labelled + as well?
- jrlocke 10y ago
  All I know is that in my youth ^ sent me to google befuddled a few times while + never did

by jrlocke 10y ago

joosters 10y ago

To be really pedantic (sorry! I'm not complaining about your comment), your keyboard does not have any key labelled 'control', it is always (AFAIK) abbreviated as 'ctrl'. Which is really weird to me, as it's hardly a big word needing abbreviating, and keyboards often have other long words written on the keys ('delete', 'page down', and so on). On top of that, the shortened 'ctrl' is really a terrible abbreviation. It's not obvious that it stands for 'control' and I would guess that most non-techy people would have no idea that it means this word. Plus, it's near to another key with multiple letters ('alt'). The overall effect is that 'ctrl' appears to just be a jumble of letters with some esoteric meaning. A really odd design decision. Why not just put 'control' on the key and be done with it?

patrick8 10y ago
You're incorrect, especially for the typical reader here. A good chunk (maybe not over 50%, but its gotta be close) of the regular readers on this site use Macs. Most Mac keyboards, including the ones on the Macbook Pro, spell it out. Same for most non IBM/IBM-PC compatible keyboards.
- dancek 10y ago
  I'm typing on a MacBook Pro that has "ctrl". Not sure I've ever seen a Mac keyboard that said "control", but maybe that's because I've mostly seen Finnish keycaps.
  - jonknee 10y ago
    Look in the menu bars and you'll only see ^ describing the shortcuts.
  - JdeBP 10y ago
    Enjoy this picture of an Apple keyboard that says "control": https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apple_Keyboard.JPG https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apple_Keyboard.JPG
- joosters 10y ago
  I'm typing on a mac keyboard too. It has 'ctrl', 'esc', but 'delete' is written in full.
- jrlocke 10y ago
  My mid 2014 MBP control key is labeled "control"
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
kaeruct 10y ago
http://www.clickwithyourmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Control-Key-300x300.png http://www.clickwithyourmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/C...
- joosters 10y ago
  How odd! My mac keyboard is a similar design, but has 'ctrl', and has no writing on the shift keys, caps lock and so on. The only unabbreviated word it has is 'delete'. Perhaps the standard is something to do with the country (mine is a UK layout).
  - Zarel 10y ago
    Yes, it does. Not sure why, but: http://i.imgur.com/vvQNuQX.jpg http://i.imgur.com/vvQNuQX.jpg

caf 10y ago

Even then though, why is it obvious that you don't need to press the key labelled + as well?

jrlocke 10y ago
All I know is that in my youth ^ sent me to google befuddled a few times while + never did