Screen-labeled function keys: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 02:06, 3 July 2006

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Screen Labeled Function Keys

[[Image:ATMscreen.jpg|thumb|right|300px|ATM in Mercer Island, WA with function keys]]

A special case of [[Function Keys]] are keys which are placed in close proximity to screen labels. These are most commonly found in kiosk applications such as [[ATM]] [[Automated teller machine]]s and [[gas pump]]s. These were first developed by Hewlett Packard in the [[1970s]]. The [[HP 9830]] desktop computer was the first calculator with two rows of 4 keys over which a paper overlay would be placed. These were adapted to terminals. Users would, of course, lose these labels. Programmers found that the [[HP 2640]] terminals could lock the top two lines of the screen, so they displayed the key functions there. Starting with [[HP 2647]] terminal, the keys were re-arranged to correspond with 2 pairs of 4 labels at the bottom of the screen. These could be programmed by [[escape sequence]] or [[configuration screen]]. This would be further developed on the failed [[HP 300]] Amigo, which used keys at the right side of the screen and [[HP 250]] business computers which placed them at the bottom. By arranging functions in heirarchical trees, many functions can be implemented with only 8 keys.