

For Science: WhichShiftButton.com - nbertram
http://whichshiftbutton.com/
A friend and I made a website that asks you one of the most useless questions ever... for science.
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eqdw
Idea: Instead of asking for someone's vote, have them type out a paragraph and
measure which shift they use

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pavel_lishin
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.

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nbertram
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...](http://download.oracle.com/javase/1.4.2/docs/api/java/awt/event/KeyEvent.html#KEY_LOCATION_LEFT)

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stevelosh
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>

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

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gte910h
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.

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eqdw
Wait. Chording is bad? But I use EMACS... How else will I type command-
control-meta x?

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skizm
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).

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burke
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.

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nlawalker
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.

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wccrawford
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.

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phaylon
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.

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noodle
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.

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T-hawk
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.

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44Aman
Pretty much always use left shift. The right one seems unnatural, somehow.

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alecperkins
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.

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adrianp
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.

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

