Keyboard key terminology

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

On Apr 9, 2008, at 5:02 PM, Phil Bull wrote:
> ...
> We have a bug [1] where the reporter recommends that we refer to the
> Return/Enter key as "Enter" instead of "Return". It seems that we
> currently refer to that key by both names in the documentation; I think
> that it would be a good idea to standardise on one and put a note in 
> the style guide about it. The question is, which variant should we 
> use?
>
> It's worth noting that the GNOME Style Guide [2] recommends using
> "Return".
> ...
> The reporter of the bug and another commenter feel that "Enter" is the
> more commonly-used term, however. Does anyone have a strong preference
> either way?

Mac laptops have a Return key but not an Enter key.

All other laptops have an Enter key but not a Return key.

Mac desktop computers have both: Return in the keyboard's main section, 
and Enter in its numeric keypad.

All other desktop computers have two Enter keys: one in the keyboard's 
main section, and the other in its numeric keypad.

So in summary, it's much more common for a computer to have an Enter 
key than to have a Return key. Calling it "Return" risks people being 
unable to find the key at all. But calling it "Enter" risks people on 
the Mac thinking that they have to go all the way over to the numeric 
keypad, when they don't.

I wonder if the help could use an &entity; that has a different value 
depending on what hardware Ubuntu is running on.

Cheers
-- 
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/