Command key

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The Command key, known as the open-Apple key in documentation previous to the Apple Macintosh family of computers, is a modifier key present on Apple keyboards. An "extended" Macintosh keyboard—the most common type—has two command keys, one on each side of the space bar. Some compact keyboards have one only on the left.

Contents 1 History 2 Function 3 The ⌘'s origin 4 On other keyboards 5 References 6 External links

[edit] History

Early Apple computers, like the Apple IIc, had two such keys which mapped to the two different fire buttons of an attached joystick. Because it was an Apple II, the one on the left had an outlined "open" Apple logo, and the one on the right had an opaque "solid" Apple logo. The Apple Lisa had only the solid Apple logo. When the Macintosh was introduced in 1984, the keyboard had a single command key with a symbol reminiscent of a four leaf clover (⌘, U+2318), because Steve Jobs said that showing the Apple logo throughout the menus as a keyboard shortcut was "taking [it] in vain."^[1]

Thus, the ⌘ appears in the Macintosh menus as the primary modifier key symbol.

In 1986, the Apple IIGS was introduced. Like the newer Macintosh computers to come, such as the Macintosh SE, it used Apple Desktop Bus for its keyboard and mouse. However, it was still an Apple II. Apple changed the keys on the IIGS's keyboard to Command and Option, as on Mac keyboards, but added an open-Apple to the Command key, for consistency with applications for previous Apple II generations. (The Option key did not have a solid-Apple, probably because Apple II applications used the solid-Apple key much more rarely than the open-Apple key; thus there was less need to keep it around.) Because any ADB keyboard could be used with the IIGS, all of Apple's ADB keyboards—even those intended for the Mac—also required the open-Apple. As of 2007, Apple's Command key still uses this two-symbol design.

[edit] Function

The Command key has a single purpose: allowing the user to enter keyboard shortcut commands to GUI applications. The Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines have always recommended that developers use the Command key (and not the Control or Option keys) for this purpose. A small set of shortcuts (such as cut and paste, open and save) are standard across all applications, and many other shortcuts are standardized (Find, Show Fonts). If an application needs more shortcuts than can be obtained with the twenty-six letters of the Latin alphabet, double modifiers such as Command+Option are used.

One advantage of this scheme, as contrasted with the Microsoft Windows mixed use of the Control and Alt keys, is that the Control key is reserved entirely for its original purpose: entering control characters in terminal applications. (Indeed, the very first Macintosh lacked a Control key; it was soon added to allow compatible terminal software.)

The Macintosh keyboard's other unusual modifier key, the Option key, serves as a modifier both for entering keyboard shortcuts and for typing text—it is used to enter foreign characters, typographical symbols, and other nonstandard characters.

[edit] The ⌘'s origin

The clover symbol is a Saint Hannes cross which is sometimes found in Scandinavia as an ornament on Viking artifacts. It is also similar to a traditional heraldic emblem called a Bowen knot.^[2] However it is more commonly given nicknames such as '"splat", "butterfly", "squiggle", "beanie", "flower", "cauliflower", "propeller" or "shamrock." Some believe the symbol to be named the "infinite loop", which is also the address for Apple world headquarters: 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA 95014. Unicode standards documents such as U2300 (Miscellaneous Technical, Range 2300-23FF) call it the Place of Interest Sign. It is used in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden as a symbol of "sites of historical or touristic interest", for example church ruins, museums, interesting natural formations, and so forth. It is used as a roadsign at such places.

The ⌘ came into the Macintosh project at a late stage. The development team originally went for their old Apple key, but Steve Jobs found it frustrating when "apples" filled up the Mac's menus next to the key commands. Since Jobs felt that this was an over-use of the company logo, he opted for a different key symbol. With only a few days left before deadline, the team's bitmap artist Susan Kare started researching for the Apple logo's successor. She was browsing through a symbol dictionary when she came across the cloverleaf-like symbol, used in Sweden for "attractions on a campground". When she showed it to the rest of the team, everyone liked it, and so it became the symbol of the 1984 Macintosh command key.^[3]

[edit] On other keyboards

When a non-Apple designed keyboard is present in the Mac OS X environment the operating system tries to map a similar key to the Command key function. On a keyboard designed for MS Windows, the Windows logo key is mapped to act as the Command key.^[4] On a Sun Microsystems designed keyboard the meta key (◆) maps to the Command key function.

[edit] References

1. ^ Hertzfeld, Andy. Folklore.org: Macintosh Stories: Swedish Campground. Folklore.org: Macintosh Stories. Retrieved on December 23, 2006. “'There are too many Apples on the screen! It's ridiculous! We're taking the Apple logo in vain! We've got to stop doing that!'”
2. ^ James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry (Oxford, 1894). [1] Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
3. ^ Hertzfeld, Andy. Folklore.org: Macintosh Stories: Swedish Campground. Folklore.org: Macintosh Stories. Retrieved on February 21, 2007. “'Twenty years later, even in OS X, the Macintosh still has a little bit of a Swedish campground in it.'”
4. ^ Frakes, Dan. "Mac mini, Windows Keyboard", MacWorld, Mac Publishing, LLC., 2005-01-31. Retrieved on December 23, 2006. “Windows key acts as Apple/command”

[edit] External links

• Jargon File entry on feature key
• Andy Hertzfeld's story at Folklore.org
• Susan Kare's interview regarding the symbol
• St. Hans' Cross entry at Symbols.com Online Symbol Encyclopedia
• Sight Worth Seeing entry at Symbols.com

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