More functions on your keyboard

More functions on your keyboard
Mac Tip #202/29-June-2005

Visit any Mac retail shop and a glance will show you that the large keyboard on a desktop Mac has been cunningly packed into a tight space for a Powerbook or iBook.

Gone are the numeric keypad on the right-hand side (very handy for accountants) and the Home, End and other keys in the middle. We’re left with just the standard alphanumerics. Or are we?

Look closely at your Mac laptop’s keyboard. See the arrow keys at the bottom right? They may also have Page, End or Home inscribed on the key. Then look more closely at the J, K, and L keys and the keys nearby. Do you see some numbers, such as 1, 2 and 3?

You can use the fn key to extend the functions on your keyboard.

Visit a (longish) web page in Safari and hold down the fn key while you press (once) the down arrow key. The page will scroll down one screenful at a time. Once you’ve reached the end use fn and the Home (left arrow) key to shoot back to the start. fn and End will take you to the end of the page, while fn and the up arrow will scroll up one screenful at a time.

Try that in various applications, such as while reading a PDF. In my experiments behaviour in Microsoft Word was erratic, and you’re better to use Word’s Powerbook Toolbar.

On a full-size keyboard the Numeric Keypad groups all the numbers and maths symbols close together so an accountant can keep her arm and hand in one place while entering numbers. The fn key brings a similar function to the laptop. Hold down the fn key and type a J and you’ll get the number 1. Fn and K brings you a 2 and so on. Look closely and you’ll find the numbers, a divider, a multiply, an equals, a decimal point, a minus and a plus on the keys around J, K and L.

But I’ve left the best for last: fn and the Delete key gives you a Forward Delete. Commonly Mac users delete by backspacing over the characters to the left of the cursor. The Forward Delete (favoured by Windows users) allows us to delete characters to the right of the cursor.