Before I get into the meat of this week’s tech, I want to share what is probably the cutest photo ever taken of a panda: http://bit.ly/J7ft7v. I admit that this photos has absolutely nothing to do my technology column, but it’s soooooo adorable. Enjoy!
On to tech. A long time ago the caps lock key had a useful purpose. That time was in the era of typewriters when you needed a way to add emphasis in the absence of italics and boldface. But ever since the invention of wordprocessing with built-in italics, boldface, fancy fonts and easy underlining, the caps lock has been become not only an anachronism, but a pain, too.
Caps lock makes it easy to TYPE IN ALL UPPER CASE. TYPING IN ALL ALL UPPER CASE IS THE EQUIVALENT OF SHOUTING. IT MAKES THE READER FEEL LIKE YOU’RE ANGRY, ANNOYED, AGGRAVATED. IT’S DIFFICULT TO SPOT PUNCTUATION WHEN READING ALL UPPER CASE. NOT TO MENTION THAT UPPER CASE BECOMES CHALLENGING TO READ AFTER A FEW LINES, WHICH MAY BE WHY IT’S USED FOR EMPHASIS IN LEGAL DOCUMENTS: SO THAT PEOPLE CAN’T ACTUALLY READ WHAT’S IN THE DOCUMENT WITHOUT GOING @_@.
The caps lock key also likes to surreptitiously turn on when you’re typing in a password. Of course the password field is masked with asterisks, so you can’t tell why your password fails. Only after you’ve incorrectly entered in your password three times and are locked out of your account, do you realize that the caps lock key was on.
There’s even International Caps Lock Day to celebrate the annoyance of caps lock: http://tnw.co/Imqci3.
If you’re a Windows user, download the free program CapsUnlock at www.brainsystems.com/capsunlock and elimiate this pesky key forever. If you’re a Mac user, you may have keyboard woes of your own, which can be solved with FunctionFlip, http://kevingessner.com/software/functionflip.
THANKS FOR READING THIS WEEK’S COLUMN. I HOPE THAT THESE TIPS HAVE BEEN HELPFUL!
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Bill Adler is the co-publisher of the Cleveland Park Listserv, www.cleveland-park.com. He is the author of "Boys and Their Toys: Understanding Men by Understanding Their Relationship with Gadgets," http://amzn.to/rspOft. He tweets at @billadler.
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