Talk:Computer keyboard

This  level-4 vital article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Computing High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Computing, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of computers, computing, and information technology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ComputingWikipedia:WikiProject ComputingTemplate:WikiProject ComputingComputing High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by Computer hardware task force (assessed as Top-importance).

Archives

1

This page has archives. Topics inactive for 31 days are automatically archived by Lowercase sigmabot III.

There ought to be a section on reduced boards, such as those with only 34–42 keys, which rely on firmware "layers" to access characters other than letters. Where would it fit? —Tamfang (talk) 01:42, 12 October 2023 (UTC)Reply

Key mechanical response to "thumbing" it, with the electrical connectivity response for the computer maybe additional topics. --195.24.52.66 (talk) 10:36, 6 January 2024 (UTC)Reply

In a modern computer, the interpretation of key presses is generally left to the software: the information sent to the computer, the scan code, tells it only which physical key (or keys) was pressed or released.

This is no longer true. Scan codes disappeared with the advent of USB keyboards, which are now universal. A USB keyboard sends a HID code, which represents a character, or a function such as Volume Up, irrespective of the physical location of the key. References do often call HID codes “USB scan codes” but they are quite different. Scan codes are unique to a particular piece of hardware. HID codes are defined by the USB standard. BoarGules (talk) 09:09, 18 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

Good catch. When you find the supporting citation, please add that info to the article and indicate tie date range of the preceding technology. TYVM. 𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 15:48, 18 June 2025 (UTC)Reply

There's an article specifically for ergonomic keyboards. It should have a dedicatd paragraph in "Types and standards" section referencing it.

Further I miss the notion of TKL keyboards and 70% keyboards.

Further I miss a notion of DIY stuff like Ergodox keyboards with only 45 keys. 2003:D4:8727:8A2C:7D0B:2E41:7922:8532 (talk) 07:47, 1 November 2025 (UTC)Reply

Section on ergonomic keyboards added. But your other suggestions are too detailed for this article, see WP:UNDUE. 𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 10:50, 1 November 2025 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for the quick response. Looks great. 2003:D4:8727:8A2C:7D0B:2E41:7922:8532 (talk) 18:47, 1 November 2025 (UTC)Reply

Hi again on ergonimics, now I have setup an account. In the section 'Physical injury' there should be a link to ergonomic hazard section office desk. There I detailed about office ergonomics.

The second reference in the ergonomic sitting picture in the same section is not about office chairs.

I've restructured the article Ergonomic keyboard and also found a good picture that could be used in section 'Ergonomic keyboard'

For the article ergonomic keyboard I also created a picture for strain points when using keyboards. Powercycler (talk) 14:17, 15 November 2025 (UTC)Reply

The video is pretty old, of low graphical fidelity, and shows a laptop. I'm thinking about uploading a higher-quality replacement. I have a Model M keyboard which I think is a good choice to represent "Keyboards" broadly, given its influence. But I'd like to gauge interest before I do that. Moiré (talk) 03:01, 31 May 2026 (UTC)Reply

I think your efforts would be better employed elsewhere; this is a highly non-critical part of this article and is really only a page decoration - "typing on a keyboard" is not the most difficult concept for a human reader to grasp. --Wtshymanski (talk) 16:59, 16 June 2026 (UTC)Reply