The Fade of the Keyboard Icon

The modern keyboard is a study in standardization, but as reporting from Hacker News highlights, this uniformity was the result of a long-standing conflict between words and icons. Early computing hardware from companies such as Apple, Atari, Amiga, and Commodore often featured unique company logos or obscure symbols on their keys.

This tension between text and iconography mirrored a broader cultural divide; while America leaned toward words, Europe utilized iconography to create a universal visual language across multiple languages. This approach allowed manufacturers to sell a single product across Europe without creating numerous SKUs for different UI strings.

IBM exemplified this shift. The company's 1965 1130 computer featured an unusual symbol for the space key, and its 1970s Selectric typewriter included "Express" (a fast Backspace) and "Index" (which moved the page down). While IBM's scientific and laboratory computers continued to use iconography into the 1980s, office users eventually rejected these confusing symbols in favor of text.

As keyboards evolved into the Windows and PC standards used today, most unique symbols vanished. Only four gained widespread acceptance: the symbols for Shift, Enter, Tab, and a version of the Backspace arrow. Other lost icons included those for "key beep," a symbol for Print Screen depicting a CRT screen turning into paper, and proofreader-inspired marks for Insert and Delete. Other forgotten functions included "Reverse Tab" and "Home," which historically served to clear the screen or return the cursor to the top left corner.