Key symbols we lost to time, pt. 2: The Mac side
This article explores the historical evolution of keyboard layouts and regional design standards, specifically focusing on Apple's legacy hardware. It highlights how local laws and ergonomic standards influenced keyboard color and symbol placement in the 1990s and 2000s.
Why it matters
It provides insight into the intersection of industrial design, international regulation, and the history of personal computing.
The relationship between keyboard manufacturers and standards bodies in various countries is so complex I barely understand a snippet of it.
The most famous example must be the 1990s PowerBooks, which had a beige variant for Germany and Germany only, to conform with local laws that prescribed and enforced specific color and contrast combinations for keyboards, in order to avoid glare and attendant ergonomic problems for terminal operators in the decades before. (It wasn’t just Apple. ThinkPads did the same .)
= 2x) and (width >= 700px)" srcset="_media/key-symbols-we-lost-to-time-pt-2-the-mac-side/1.2096w.avif" type="image/avif"> = 3x) or (width >= 700px)" srcset="_media/key-symbols-we-lost-to-time-pt-2-the-mac-side/1.1600w.avif" type="image/avif"> = 2x) and (width >= 700px)" srcset="_media/key-symbols-we-lost-to-time-pt-2-the-mac-side/2.2096w.avif" type="image/avif"> = 3x) or (width >= 700px)" srcset="_media/key-symbols-we-lost-to-time-pt-2-the-mac-side/2.1600w.avif" type="image/avif"> (I know. Jump scare!)
But you’ll understand that what caught more of my attention was an obscure variant of keyboards for (parts of?) Canada in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
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