Yesterday Erin took you through the signs and symbols that you will find on your computer keyboard. She even explained the name for each symbol. Another element she mentioned is that there are different keyboards for different countries.
If you have ever sat down at a computer whilst in the United Kingdom and tried to type an email, you probably ran into a few frustrations. That's because the UK keyboard, while very similar to the American one, has a few differences.
The UK keyboard is on the top and the US keyboard is on the bottom. The UK keyboard is wireless, so that's why the keys are squished together in places. To get the meaningless differences out of the way first: Since my region is set to 'UK' the 2 and 3 keys (highlighted in yellow) behave the same no matter which keyboard I use. Apple Wireless Keyboard: No, the International English will reflect the US layout in that the 2 key has an @ above it, while the 3 key as a # sign. On the British English, the 2 key will have a € sign, while the 3 key will have the £ sign. The remainder of the keyboard should be the same. So today I'm going to show you the difference between US and UK layout keyboards! It's pretty simple once you know!SUBSCRIBE!
The United Kingdom and Ireland use a keyboard layout based on the 48-key version defined in British Standard BS 4822. I've included the American keyboard and the UK keyboard below, so you can take a look at the differences. To be honest, the differences are so few and minor that identifying them might feel a bit like some of those 'spot 5 differences' images you may have completed as a kid.
United Kingdom Keyboard
I've included a list of the main differences below for you but one of the first differences you might have seen is that the UK enter key is a little bit bigger. You might have also noticed that some of our symbols are in different places. The one people notice the most are the '@' symbol, which is to the left of the enter key. While the quotation mark makes it way over to above the number 2.
The pound symbol, which we actually call a hash rather than pound, is also moved closer to the enter key giving us a space for the currency symbol of the British Pound.
Main differences between a US and UK keyboard:
- an AltGr key is added to the right of the space bar
- the # symbol is replaced by the £ symbol and a 102nd key is added next to the Enter key to accommodate the displaced #
- @ and ' are swapped
- the ~ is moved to the # key, and is replaced by a ¬ symbol on the backquote (`) key
- the key is moved to the left of the Z key
- the Enter key spans two rows, and is narrower to accommodate the # key
- on laptop computers, the | and key is often placed next to the space bar
When I visited New York a couple of years ago I bought a wired keyboard for my Mac, not realising there would be any significant difference between UK and US keyboards. Avi mov converter mac.
As it turns out I actually prefer the US keyboard.
British Keyboard Layout Vs Us
My friend Mike was asking me about the differences between the two keyboards so I decided I would demonstrate with the following picture: Mac keyboard shortcuts pdf.
British Keyboard Vs Us Keyboard
The UK keyboard is on the top and the US keyboard is on the bottom. The UK keyboard is wireless, so that's why the keys are squished together in places.
To get the meaningless differences out of the way first: Since my region is set to 'UK' the 2 and 3 keys (highlighted in yellow) behave the same no matter which keyboard I use. I don't recall ever using the extra key on the UK keyboard, highlighted in orange.
The biggest difference for me is the location of the backtick key, shown in pink. ⌘ + ` is the key combination to switch between windows within the same app. On the UK keyboard this key is too close to the shift key, and means left shift is tiny. On the US keyboard it is in an ideal location, above the tab key.
European Keyboard Vs Us Keyboard
Lastly is the return key. On the UK keyboard the key is vertical while on the US keyboard it is horizontal. Since my fingers move left to right much more than they move up and down having a vertical return key is like building a runway that is wide instead of long.
