Editing Keyboard profile

[[File:KeyProfile.gif|344px|right|thumb|Common keyboard profiles]]

'''Keyboard profile''' refers to the profile shapes of each row of [[keycap]]s.

A keyboard can be said to be "[[low-profile]]" or "high-profile", depending on its overall height on the desk; keyboard height is a combination of the design of the switches and the height of the keycaps.
Switches used in low-profile keyboards typically have [[:Category:Low travel switches|low travel]].

A reason for lower and flatter profile is more often to save space, especially in the case of laptop keyboards that are made to be as flat as possible. There are also users who prefer the key surface to be low on the desk.

==Sculptured==
Also called '''sculpted''' or '''contoured'''. The purpose is [[ergonomics]]: to even out the distance that the fingers have to move for typing on different rows.

Having a flat keyboard is more practical, and in most cases the curved profile is simulated by giving each row its own profile. The top of each keycap is at a different angle to the bottom of the keycap, and the top angle differs from row to row.

[[File:Keyboard profile -- sculptured.jpg|640px|centre]]

Unlike other profiles, a keyboard with sculptured keycaps can not have keys exchanged between rows without making the keyboard profile uneven; this poses a problem for anyone wishing to rearrange the keycaps for a non-standard [[keyboard layouts|keyboard layouts]] such as DVORAK.

Since the mid-80s, the majority of desktop keyboards used sculptured profile keycaps. However, flat profile is becoming more common as desktop keyboards draw closer in design to laptop keyboards.

===Numbering===
[[File:Row numbers in KPT keycaps.jpg|thumb|250px|KPT used R4 for the top row and R1 for the bottom, per the mould numbering]]

Most keyboards have four row profiles, for the alphanumeric rows, with the function key and space bar rows borrowing their profiles from the adjacent rows. The space bar is often higher and convex.

The ISO/IEC 9995-1 standard labels rows alphabetically starting with the space bar row as row A, and the bottom alphabetic row as row B, etc. The standard also mandates that rows above the alphanumeric section start with K and that rows below the space bar be labelled from Z backwards.

Several manufacturers do use ISO numbering, or just ''mostly'' ISO numbering. Other manufacturers label rows in other ways:

{| class="wikitable"
! align="left"|Row \ Vendor
! align="left"|Keys (QWERTY)
![[Signature Plastics]]
![[QWERKeys]]
![[WASD Keyboards]]
! align="left"|[[Cherry]]
![[Leopold]]
![[Topre]]
![[KAT]]
![[MDA]]
|-
! Function row
| align="left" | Esc, F1, F2, …
| 1 (DCS is 5) || 1 || 4 || E (F on older keyboards) || E || E || 5 || 1 or 0
|-
! Number row
| align="left" | 1, 2, 3, 4, …
|| 1 || 1 || 4 || E || E || E || 4 || 1
|-
! Tab row
| align="left" | Q, W, E, R, …
| 2 || 2 || 3 || D || D || D || 3 || 2
|-
! Home row
| align="left" | A, S, D, F, …
| 3 || 3 || 2 || C || C || C || 2 || 3
|-
! Bottom row
| align="left" | Shift, Z, X, C, V, …
| 4 || 4 || 1 || B || B || B || 1 || 4
|-
! Space bar row
| align="left" | Ctrl, Alt, Space, …
| 3 or 4 || 4 || 1 || B (A on older keyboards) || B || B || 1 || 4 (convex 5)
|}

===Notable profiles===
====OEM profile====
Most vintage and modern mechanical keyboards have keycaps in what is called "Standard Profile" or "OEM Profile". The profile is used for keycaps with different [[Keycap mount|key mounts]] and several switch families, including [[Cherry MX]], [[Alps SKCL/SKCM series]] and [[Mitsumi miniature mechanical]].

Example keyboards include keyboards made by [[Costar]] (such as [[Filco Majestouch]] and [[WASD Keyboards]]), [[Das Keyboard]] (III), [[iOne]], [[SteelSeries]], [[Chicony]], etc.
There are also [[rubber dome]] keyboards that have this profile, but those usually have a standard [[Keycap mount|key mount]] and separate sliders over each dome.

[[File:Cherry vs OEM profile.jpg|thumbnail|right|Cherry vs. OEM profile, bottom row keycaps]]

====Cherry====
Keyboards from [[Cherry]] corporation in the [[:Category:Cherry G80 series|G80]] and [[:Category:Cherry G81 series|G81]] series have contoured keycaps that are somewhat lower than the "standard" profile. Cherry's keys are sharper on the bottom than most other manufacturer's keys.

Modern Cherry keyboards have the same 'B' row profile on the two bottom-most rows, but some vintage Cherry keyboards have the 'A' row profile on the bottom row, which is higher and more angled.
All Cherry keyboards with row 'A' are ''winkeyless'', but not vice versa.

[[QWERKeys]]'s "J series" is a copy of Cherry's profile row E,D,C,B but QWERkeys numbers them 1,2,3,4 from the top.

====Signature Plastics DCS profile====
[[Signature Plastics]]' popular [[Signature Plastics DCS-family|DCS family]] is ''mostly'' profile-compatible with Cherry Corp.'s keys, but not exactly. Most notably, the profile for the bottom two rows (row 4 profile) is angled more than Cherry's row 'B', while being also lower than Cherry's now deprecated row 'A'.
This can cause inconsistencies when using modifier keys from an [[Adapter kit|adapter kit]] made by SP together with Cherry keys on the same row.

The DCS profile is available with several types of mounts, including [[Keycap mount#Cherry MX mount|Cherry MX]]-compatible "U" mount and [[Keycap mount#Alps mount|Alps]]-compatible "Z" mount.

====Vintage Apple Macintosh====
Vintage [[Apple]] keyboards (with [[Alps SKCL/SKCM series]] or [[Mitsumi standard mechanical]] switches) have a completely Apple-specific contoured profile that is not compatible with any other manufacturer. It is almost as if the rows have been moved one step down.

==Curved==
A keyboard with a curved profile emulates a sculptured shape by making each row have a different angle. The same common keycap shape can be used on all rows. The type had been invented<ref name="dickharrisqna1">Deskthority forum—[https://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?p=488267#p488267 Dick Harris question/answer thread]. Dated 2021-06-02</ref> for the [[IBM Model F]] wherein switches are backed by a curved PCB.

They are commonly used on keyboards using [[Membrane keyboard|membranes]], such as the [[IBM Model M]] and many keyboards with [[rubber dome]]s.

At least one keyboard with [[scissor switch]]es and a curved backplane has been spotted, but they are very unusual.

==Stepped==
Stepped or "'''staircase'''" profile keyboards provide horizontal keycap top surfaces on an angled keyboard, as with a typewriter. Stepped keyboards were more typical in the 70s and 80s, but it is also used with some modern keyboards such as the [[IBM Selectric Touch Keyboard]], more commonly known as the "Model M2".

All keys have the same angled profile. The keycaps however can be angled or stepped profile, depending on the switches. If the switches have upright keystems, then the keycap top surfaces are angled back to match the angle of the keyboard itself:

[[File:Keyboard profile -- stepped.jpg|640px|centre]]

Alternatively, the switch keystems can themselves be angled, allowing the stepped profile to be achieved with flat profile keycaps:

[[File:Staircase profile using angled keystems.svg|centre]]

==Flat==
"Flat" refers not to the height of the keycaps, but rather to the fact that the tops of the keycaps form a flat surface. Flat keyboards can be both high and low profile. Flat profile is used in modern laptops due to the space constraints within a laptop shell. The space bar may still be convex profile for use with the thumb.

[[File:Keyboard profile -- flat.jpg|640px|centre]]

===Chiclet===
Chiclet keys are low-profile "island" keys, island keys having straight sides within holes in the upper shell of the keyboard. A few keyboards have a dip in the middle of the keys. It is common for the space bar on a chiclet keyboard to be flat.
High-profile island keys have existed since at least the 1950s.

The term "chiclet" was coined in the home-computer revolution in the late 1970's and early 1980s, taken from the "Chiclet" candy-coated chewing gum which the keys resembled.

Early chiclet keyboards (such as the one for the [[IBM PCjr Keyboards|PC jr]], Sinclair Spectrum, etc) had calculator-style keys that wobbled when pressed, but modern keyboards have stable [[scissor switch]]es. However, there do exist cheaper modern keyboards that do have low-profile chiclet keys that are ''not'' stabilised.
The first modern chiclet keyboards were on Sony ''Vaio'' laptops, but they were popularised by Apple, and are now found on many new laptops and low-profile keyboards.

<gallery widths=250 heights=187>
File:Chiclet keys.jpg          | [[Apple Aluminium Keyboard]], one of the earliest modern chiclet keyboards
File:Silitek KB216t -- top.jpg | [[Dell KB216]] from 2016
</gallery>

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Keycaps]]
[[Category:Keyboard terms]]