3 ms·
Nobody cares perhaps, but F5 as a refresh key came in the mid 80s (I was told it was a $1m of usability consulting). The midrange AS/400 got [CUA](https://www.i
by paul_h 17d ago
Nobody cares perhaps, but F5 as a refresh key came in the mid 80s (I was told it was a $1m of usability consulting). The midrange AS/400 got [CUA](https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/3.1.0?topic=actions-default-cua-function-key-settings https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/3.1.0?topic=actions-default-...) first. There were many more F1 for help, F12 for go-back-a-page, F3 for big-exit of app. Green screen stuff (3270 and 5250 where two common wire/frame protocols). The same keys made the jump to some windows apps. One by one they got whittled away until F5 for refresh was left. For that one it wasn't just Windows - as browser rollout took it wider. Has it gone yet? I'm on a Chromebook and it doesn't have F keys so I can't see for myself.
- dcminter 17d agoF1 still launches Help in some apps. I don't think I've ever done it on purpose...
- PlunderBunny 17d agoHaha - the number of times I’ve accidentally hit F1 and ended up looking at some variation of ‘page not found’ in Edge…
- dcminter 16d agoI think it's usually my IDE. I haven't seen it recently; not sure if I disabled it in a fit of pique, or if it just doesn't do that any more? (/me goes and tentatively pokes F1 on purpose for the first time in decades... yeah, it's the latter).
- kgwgk 17d ago"Have you ever seen a keyboard where the F1 key is missing? Chances are that isn’t an accident. It’s a deliberate move to avoid accidentally launching the Excel Help menu [...]" https://excelevate.co/wp/2025/06/11/save-the-f1-key/ https://excelevate.co/wp/2025/06/11/save-the-f1-key/
- jamesfinlayson 16d agoOn a Mac I have no idea what, if anything F5 does in Chrome. Refresh is the much more annoying Cmd+r.
- cout 16d agoWhat? F3 should be help and F7 is exit. That's what the WP keyboard template says and I'm sticking to it.