For Science: WhichShiftButton.com

For Science: WhichShiftButton.com(whichshiftbutton.com)

10 points by nbertram 14 years ago | 20 comments

A friend and I made a website that asks you one of the most useless questions ever... for science.

eqdw 14 years ago |

Idea: Instead of asking for someone's vote, have them type out a paragraph and measure which shift they use

pavel_lishin 14 years ago | |

Does javascript differentiate between left and right shift?

edit: Looks like it doesn't care. Interesting fact, if you bind an "keydown" event to something, it will fire when you hit caps lock to turn it on, but not to turn it off.

nbertram 14 years ago | | |

Haven't found a way to do it with JS - I don't think it's possible. Apparently you can do it with Java http://download.oracle.com/javase/1.4.2/docs/api/java/awt/ev...

stevelosh 14 years ago |

If you use a Mac and want to force yourself to use the correct shift keys, I threw together a KeyRemap4Macbook config that will disable letters typed with the wrong shift: http://forr.st/~LXx

pavel_lishin 14 years ago | |

Pray tell, which ones are the "correct" ones?

hollerith 14 years ago | | |

For keys you press with the left hand, the right shift key is the correct one, and vice versa.

gte910h 14 years ago | | |

You're not supposed to push two keys with the same hand at once (it's called chording, and its especially bad when done with weak fingers).

The correct shift key is the one on the opposite hand.

hollerith 14 years ago | |

Thanks! I've wanted that for years.

skizm 14 years ago |

Left shift is only used for gaming, anything else is right shift. A lot of times I will even hold right shift for an ENTIRE SENTENCE IN CAPS because I am just so damn used to holding right shift for caps.

EDIT: I suspect most people use left shift because that allows them to type w/o removing their hand from the mouse (most people use the mouse w/ their right hand).

burke 14 years ago |

I thought I used both, but after paying attention to it for a few minutes, I seem to use the right shift well over 90% of the time. It's really too bad there's no way to actually detect which shift key is being pressed using JS or even Flash.

nlawalker 14 years ago |

Am I the only one that had a typing class where they taught that you press the Shift key with the hand you're not using to type the letter you want?

Example: K = left shift, R = right shift.

wccrawford 14 years ago | |

I can use either one, but I have to -think- to use the correct one... So I don't. It's much faster to simply stretch my fingers.

phaylon 14 years ago | | |

I do the same. I sometimes try to use the correct ones, but it isn't made much easier by the fact that some keys are easier shift-pressed with one hand. I'd feel weird using the left shift key to get a "_" when the right shift key is directly next to the "-/_" one.

noodle 14 years ago |

I use the right shift button but space with my left hand. I don't know if I was taught to do it that way or if its just more naturally comfortable for me. Just out of curiosity, I'd like to see something process some text to determine the most commonly capitalized letters to see which side actually is better to use from an efficiency standpoint.

T-hawk 14 years ago |

I've got a slightly unusual pattern; for letters I use exclusively left shift, but will use right shift for the punctuation symbols on numbers 1-5, function keys on the left side, and the home/end/arrow navigation keys. So I answered both, though it's 90% left.

44Aman 14 years ago |

Pretty much always use left shift. The right one seems unnatural, somehow.

alecperkins 14 years ago | |

Same. I think in my case it's from playing first-person-shooters. With my right hand on the mouse, the left-shift key is the only option.

PS I feel compelled to go on record and say I'm very disappointed the 'For Science' badge is an image.

adrianp 14 years ago |

It would also be interesting to see if the voters are left or right handed (or ambidextrous?); I assume there is some correlation between this and the most used Shift key.

mumrah 14 years ago |

I'm guessing the I use left shift since several of my passwords have capital letters on the LHS of the keyboard.