> the Option key, also called Alt key, because of the switch symbol ⌥ that adorns it
Oh, is that what the squiggly symbol represents? I've been looking at it for decades without seeing anything more than an abstract shape.
Oh, is that what the squiggly symbol represents? I've been looking at it for decades without seeing anything more than an abstract shape.
Some other keyboard trivia:
- The 1983 Lisa used the Apple logo for its command key. The 1984 Mac used the cloverleaf symbol instead because Steve Jobs didn't like seeing so many Apple Logos in the main menus.
- The command key has been around since 1983, but is was never labelled "Command" on the US-English keyboard, nor was that key referred to as "Command" in the documentation. It just lore that this strange cloverleaf key was called "Command", and passed down through oral tradition. Apple finally labelled the key in the late 2000s.
- Apple has been very conservative about its keyboard layouts and symbols. The original Mac and Lisa had separate Enter and Return keys. The separate "Enter" key survived will into the 2000s iBook and Powerbook keyboards. It was finally removed with the MacBook in 2006.
- Likewise, the Apple Logo was added to the command key in 1986, for compatibility with the Apple II. It wasn't removed until the late 2000s.
- The Apple Extended Keyboard from 1987 was Apple's first keyboard to use a PC-style 104 key layout. This keyboard includes all of the PC-specific text such as Alt, Scroll Lock, Print Screen, etc. This is how the Option key came to be knows as "Alt" on non-US keyboards.
Nope. It was referred to as the "Command Key" many, many times in the original 1984 Mac manual. See the index:
https://vintageapple.org/macmanuals/pdf/Macintosh_1984.pdf
The NeXT workstation, circa 1987, actually replaced the cloverleaf symbol with the word "Command".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NeXT_Keyboard_Command_Key...
http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/images/SPDT-switch-c...
Either way, it is a changeover switch for selecting between two options, not a momentary on/off switch like the key switches on a keyboard.
So what does ⌘ represent?
https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Swedish_Campgrou...
A variation of the symbol is also the symbol for the National Heritage Board, which is in charge of protection of ancient monuments.
The road sign for "Camp ground" has a stylised tent: <https://xn--vgmrken-5wac.se/tag/campingplats/>
I found it pretty clear from the title, site affiliation disclaimer, background image, section headers, language, and overall theme of the article. What's misleading you?
The revisionist history is that it's a Swedish map symbol repurposed.
People who were there will tell you that it's called "double infinity" and was used because the regular infinity symbol lacked visual weight and it was thought might be too similar to other keys.
That part I don't know. Maybe just because it's geeky, and the original Mac team was certainly that; even the ones involved in its physical design.
https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Swedish_Campgrou...
> Susan Kare states that she has since been told that the symbol was picked for its Scandinavian usage due to its resembling the shape of a square castle with round corner towers as seen from above looking down, notably Borgholm Castle.
Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_key#Origin_of_the_sy...