[HN Gopher] What purpose did the lower-right Enter key serve on ...
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What purpose did the lower-right Enter key serve on original Mac
128k keyboard?
Author : SeenNotHeard
Score : 24 points
Date : 2024-08-06 20:47 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (retrocomputing.stackexchange.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (retrocomputing.stackexchange.com)
| kps wrote:
| Newline vs Submit, instead of one key doing either depending on
| whether you're in a multiline text field.
|
| Another I miss (that Apple didn't have either) making the same
| distinction is Next/Previous instead of overloading Tab.
| erikw wrote:
| That never occurred to me, but sounds wonderful! I wonder if
| modern interfaces would have ended up more navigable if there
| had been the expectation of these dedicated keys on every
| keyboard?
| parl_match wrote:
| This is a distinction that mattered quite a bit more in the 80s,
| and still matters today in limited application. While the comment
| in that is correct (return for multiline, and enter for selecting
| default option) a key feature for the macintosh, and any computer
| of the era, would have been being used as a terminal emulator
| (console for a mainframe or server of some sort).
|
| On line based serial consoles, like interacting with a PDP or VAX
| (common in the era), you would be emulating a teletype. Return is
| short for "carriage return", physically moving the cursor to the
| head of the next line. In use cases such as that, enter doesn't
| matter as much.
|
| However, on many IBM computers, where the UI is form based (not
| line by line serial as many expect): return is for new lines only
| or moving to the next form field, and enter is for submitting the
| whole form as is.
|
| You still see return vs enter on modern keyboards, usually in the
| numpad area.
|
| TLDR: it was probably considered a necessary function key for
| interacting with non-macintosh computers, a substantial use-case
| in the 80s
| ajross wrote:
| What's interesting is "Enter", at the time, wasn't really a
| standard key at all. The key was called "return" on most
| keyboards, including seminal ones like the Apple II and VT-100.
| The IBM Model F that shipped with the original PC just had a
| "down and right" L-shaped arrow[1] on the key. A quick search
| pulled up the later F that shipped with the PC/AT, which had both
| the arrow and "Enter" printed on it. I think this is the first
| point where the industry shifted.
|
| Now everyone but Apple uses "Enter".
|
| [1] Chromebooks today have revived this tradition and have arrow-
| only enter keys.
| ydnaclementine wrote:
| Love the "well acktshually" snark in the answer. Keep it real
| stackexchange
| flemhans wrote:
| I miss this so much in chats, even right now when typing this
| comment. It's too bad that return and enter ended up being the
| same thing in most applications.
| amatecha wrote:
| Yeah, this brought me back to the days of AIM and constantly
| having a "3" at the end of my messages (and people asking why)
| because I was pressing the Enter key on the numpad to send my
| messages (and sometimes accidentally hitting the 3), rather
| than the Return key which would add a newline into my message!
| The distinction was actually a good thing, looking back. Can't
| even guess how many messages I've erroneously sent in recent
| years when actually trying to jump to a new line in the text
| I'm drafting...
| icedchai wrote:
| shift-enter would also work for adding a newline into your
| messages, IIRC. It still works that way in many apps.
| Sakos wrote:
| Yeah, wish I could still assign it to different hardware keys
| instead of it being relegated to an implementation detail that
| differs depending on what application I happen to be using or
| even which field I have highlighted in a particular
| application. It's maddening.
| nmstoker wrote:
| I'd love this in modern UIs, I've got several apps where return
| is submitting a multiline textbox with shift-return adding a
| line, but then a few more that flip it the opposite way around...
| It's tough to recall which is which and therefore you end up
| submitting prematurely far too often!
| lloeki wrote:
| Bonus points for those that use alt or ctrl just to add to the
| confusion.
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(page generated 2024-08-06 23:00 UTC)