Computer: Keyboard: Layout
@ and colon   (-1)  [vote for, against]
The time has come to change the priority of some punctuation marks.

I searched here, and the concept has been somewhat touched on, but specifically:

I think that the usage of the colon (careful now) is now more prevalent than that of the semi-colon. It should therefore switch places with the semi-colon and no longer require a shift depression to activate.

Furthermore, @ is used enough that it should be remapped to somewhere that does not require a 'shift'. Programmers may grumble, but I would suggest replacing the backslash with the @.
-- snikrepkire, Apr 21 2004

I demand they replace the lowercase z with an uppercase I. (yawn)
-- Worldgineer, Apr 21 2004


Plenty of keyboards had/have @ as a regular key (i.e., not shifted). Buy a new keyboard and quit yer complainin'.
-- DrCurry, Apr 21 2004


// It should...switch places with the semi-colon//

Methinks if you switched the keys, the ; would suddenly become more common again (due to typos)

Why they don't have two-pressable key keyboards yet? Then you could hit "," and "." together for a ";", and the colon could have its own key.
-- phundug, Apr 21 2004


(presses : and ) simultaneously)
-- Worldgineer, Apr 21 2004


[snikrepkire], for your real job are you one of those people in charge of changing the scientific names of things every few years?
-- bungston, Apr 21 2004


[phundug] They do, they're called chording keyboards and I use one sometimes (FrogPad).
-- bristolz, Apr 21 2004


Do they make 106-key chording keyboards? I know they make ones with only 10 keys or so, but that doesn't help when you want a "p" overstruck by a "%" and you want it now.
-- phundug, Apr 21 2004


The MonoManus is a 144 key chording keyboard.
-- bristolz, Apr 21 2004


Buy a Commodore 64. Then see if you can amaze your friends by writing a workable TCP/IP stack on it (should be possible, actually, if you get a 2400-baud modem). Let us know when you're done.
-- supercat, Apr 21 2004


There is nothing wrong with my colon and the @ is also just fine.
-- kbecker, Apr 21 2004


Shouldn't this be called @&:?
-- nilstycho, Apr 22 2004


Suggested name: eBoard.
-- sartep, Apr 22 2004


Suggested name: Don't read this.
-- yabba do yabba dabba, Apr 22 2004


Oh...I thought this would be a domain for proctologists.
-- Salted Nuts, Apr 22 2004


.ass?
-- Worldgineer, Apr 22 2004


So this really should be called @&@.
-- FarmerJohn, Apr 22 2004


Would this classify a "let's all ... "?

(I just read the rules today and I am trying to gauge how they apply and are applied)
-- Bamboo, Apr 22 2004


I don't think it does [Bamboo], it is more an idea to increase the importance of the @ on a keyboard (by making it easier to type), as opposed to telling us all to consider @ more important in a general sense.
-- MikeOliver, Apr 22 2004



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