Ask HN: Why does nobody use ISO 9995-7 key symbols?

3 points by qwerty456127 ↗ HN
⎋ means Esc (perhaps it looks bad but that's just a font problem), ⇧ means Shift, ⎇ means Alt, ⇱ and ⇲ mean Home and End respectively, ⌦ and ⌫ mean Delete and Backspace respectively etc.

Mac users often record keyboard shortcuts like "⌘ + ⌥ + ⌫" but PC users write Ctrl + Alt + Del whatever... Emacs users have a notation of their own.

No single keyboard cheat sheet (which could save screen/paper space this way), nor even an actual keyboard I've ever seen had ISO 9995-7 key symbols - everybody just uses the names.

Why is this?

2 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 16.1 ms ] thread
Blackboard/analog simplicity and keyboard/digital simplicity are completely different.

Blackboard: λ > lambda

ASCII: lambda > λ

More power to you if you want to include the graphically elegant glyphs in your final drafts. S/o to (La)TeX for being a bridge here.

Digital or analog, λ is easier to read than "lambda".

In fact I've discovered ISO 9995-7 as I realized "⌘ + ⌥ + ⌫" is much faster and easier to find visually, read and comprehend (not just better-looking) than "Command + Option + Backspace" and there ought to be a similar visual language for generic PCs.