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WHY is the US keyboard different from the UK one?

M

mpt-matthew

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 11, 2010
179
7
I can understand having this one difference...
UK keyboard has £ and $ symbol.
US keyboard has # and $ symbol. Makes sense.
But why is the rest of they keyboard different, like the enter key, ±/§ key, shift key.
Why does the US tab key have tab written on it, as oppose to an arrow (or why is the UK one an arrow).

This annoys me, as i'm trying to buy a keyboard cover for my mac, and they are all US versions, not UK.

mac_keyboard_differences.jpg
 
reputationZed said:
Same reason you Brits drive on the wrong side of the road. :)

The US vs. UK keyboard differences are not specific to Apple, they are just different standards that have become the norm in each country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_and_American_keyboards
Click to expand...

Actually, the Apple UK and US keyboards are almost the same.

The bigger difference is between PC UK and US keyboards. For example, # and @ are on the right of the L. And double quotes is shift+2

I recently bought a UK Apple keyboard without knowing this (I wanted the PC UK layout as I'm used to it while developing), and I just returned it because it's almost like my US Apple keyboard.
 
reputationZed said:
Same reason you Brits drive on the wrong side of the road. :)

The US vs. UK keyboard differences are not specific to Apple, they are just different standards that have become the norm in each country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_and_American_keyboards
Click to expand...

Apple innovate a whole new computer, and they can even make the keyboards the same?
It's not as if I couldn't click the enter button if it was rectangular, or click the tab button if it says tab instead of an arrow.
Grrr

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Well, looking at wikipedia, it was because the UK needs £ $ # but the US only needs $ # so we added an extra key indenting the enter key.
But apple then altogether removed the # key on the UK keyboard (before twitter i take it).

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erpetao said:
Actually, the Apple UK and US keyboards are almost the same.
Click to expand...

See image above? They aren't when you're trying to buy a keyboard cover!

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AND what's with the abbreviations? The uk is just symbols and abbreviations like cmd and an arrow for caps lock. The US has it all written out?
 
My keyboard(s) both look different to the pictures posted. USA here.
 

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reputationZed said:
Same reason you Brits drive on the wrong side of the road. :)
Click to expand...

About a quarter of the world drives on the left, and the countries that do are mostly old British colonies.
This strange quirk perplexes the rest of the world; however, there is a perfectly good reason.
Up to the late 1700's, everybody travelled on the left side of the road because it's the sensible option for feudal, violent societies of mostly right-handed people.
Jousting knights with their lances under their right arm naturally passed on each other's right, and if you passed a stranger on the road you walked on the left to ensure that your protective sword arm was between yourself and him.
Revolutionary France, however, overturned this practice as part of its sweeping social rethink. A change was carried out all over continental Europe by Napoleon.The reason it changed under Napoleon was because he was left handed his armies had to march on the right so he could keep his sword arm between him and any opponent.
From then on, any part of the world which was at some time part of the British Empire was thus left hand and any part colonised by the French was right hand.
In America, the French colonised the southern states (Louisiana for instance) and the Canadian east coast (Quebec). The Dutch colonised New York (or New Amsterdam). The Spanish and Portugese colonised the southern Americas. So The British were a minority in shaping the 'traffic'.
The drive-on-the-right policy was adopted by the USA, which was anxious to cast off all remaining links with its British colonial past

So there you have it! :D
 
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Somehow I think the QI buzzer would be going off; blame it on the French midget!

The lack of a # key really annoys me (that one was copied and pasted) any idea what the shortcut is for it?
 
Slow Programmer said:
My keyboard(s) both look different to the pictures posted. USA here.
Click to expand...

Ok, it's late (well it is here in the UK), but i can't see any differences between your keyboard and the US one above? Other than the fn button, which I think is more to do with age than location.
 
mpt-matthew said:
Ok, it's late (well it is here in the UK), but i can't see any differences between your keyboard and the US one above? Other than the fn button, which I think is more to do with age than location.
Click to expand...

The US one in your pic is a full-sized one (with the edge cut off) so the fn key doesn't need to be there. The arrows are also off the edge.
 
Nermal said:
Perhaps the UK keyboard is also used in some non-English-speaking countries.
Click to expand...

This is true actually, it's used in europe.
I suppose a symbol can have any meaning, so is not linked to a language.
My sister called the 'control' key 'ctrl' for quite a long time.
And most people call the 'Alternate' key 'Alt' (do americans call it alt?)

I wonder if the french say 'cmd'?

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Jaffa Cake said:
In the UK we use the left-hand Alt key. ;)
Click to expand...

There's a difference?!‽ (on a mac)
I had never used the right alt key... until now.
 
erpetao said:
Actually, the Apple UK and US keyboards are almost the same.

The bigger difference is between PC UK and US keyboards. For example, # and @ are on the right of the L. And double quotes is shift+2

I recently bought a UK Apple keyboard without knowing this (I wanted the PC UK layout as I'm used to it while developing), and I just returned it because it's almost like my US Apple keyboard.
Click to expand...

So why did apple keep some original UK keyboard features (like the 7 shaped enter key) but lose others, like the shift+2 for " ?
:apple::confused:

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snberk103 said:
Plus, though not apparent unless you take the keyboards apart, the "U" key is beefier on the UK keyboard. ;)
Click to expand...

Is it? Why oh why apple?
 
I kinda like the symbols.... But they are both missing the :apple: key. HMPH.

My child never knows what i mean when i say "apple-__" :eek:

I think the smaller return wuld bug me, but I really struggle going from the iPad to the regular keyboard! :eek:
 
In Oz we drive on the left hand side of the road which is the right side to drive on... of course.. This is because we are civilised.

We do use US keyboards though... (I mean € and £ symbols are for the Euro trash anyway)...

And everyone hates the French...




:D
 
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