The F and J keys on keyboards have a secret function

You may not have noticed it before, but the F and J keys on computer keyboards are not like other keys. They have indeed a very secret peculiarity which owes nothing to chance. It is very practical.

Like many Internet users, you use your computer every day, whether for work, communication, or just browsing the web. to Power, you know the location of the keys on the keyboard by heart and you no longer need to look at them to type at full speed, as your fingers fly from letter to letter. However, you may have missed an interesting detail! If you look closely at the F and J keys, you’ll notice a small, raised line just below the letters. It is the same as the one on key 5 of the numeric keypad, regardless of the brand of keyboard. But yes, look carefully! But then, what can this attribute be used for?

These small features have a very specific origin and purpose. Keyboards, especially those used for extensive text input, are designed to maximize typing efficiency and speed. When it comes to typing without looking at the keyboard, correct finger positioning is crucial. However, the arrangement of letters on AZERTY keyboards – or QWERTY for English speakers – is neither natural nor ideal. It is inherited from ancient mechanical typewriters. In these devices, when two adjacent keys are pressed at or near the same time, their legs can collide or even get stuck. To solve this problem, manufacturers decided to move away from letters that are more likely to follow each other in words, even if it means making it more difficult to access certain keys. In addition, to make things easier for users, they had the ingenious idea of ​​adding tactile markings, in the form of bumps or grooves, on the most frequently used keys. If the stem problem no longer exists today in computers, the arrangement of letters on keyboards has not been as modified as usual, and manufacturers have kept the little typing trick of underlining the F and J keys.

The J and F keys were chosen as landmarks due to their central location on a standard QWERTY or AZERTY keyboard. These keys are the starting point for placing your fingers, which should naturally rest on the keys in the middle row, with your left index finger on the F key and your right index finger on the J key. As a result, the touch screen stroke lets you simply, even if you’re not Necessarily aware of this, quickly find the correct position of letters without looking at the keyboard. By feeling it under your fingers, you can quickly reposition your hands on the keyboard without having to look at them. Obviously, these little tactile cues are valuable if you use all your fingers in a typing position. But it’s also useful if you only type with two fingers!

So don’t forget that in order to type effectively with the AZERTY keyboard, you should position your fingers as follows:

• Left index finger on F
• Left middle finger on d
• Left ring finger on S
• Left little finger on Q
• Right index finger J
• Right middle finger on K
• Right ring finger on L
• Right little finger on M

Next time you put your fingers on the keyboard, remember that this little stroke is designed to make your typing smoother and more efficient. An important small detail!