Editing Alps SKCL/SKCM series (section)

===Slits===
On switches made up to 1993, the slider aperture contained a pair of prongs, one per side, possibly designed to dampen the impact of the return stroke. The resulting appearance of a switch shell with these prongs is described as "having slits", one above and one below each prong. These prongs, and thereby the slits, disappeared around 1993. MouseFan in particular considers the switch quality to have degraded around the time that the slits disappeared.<ref name="MouseFan" />

Based on MouseFan's terminology, switches with slits can be referred to as "pine" (「松」, ''matsu'') and switches without slits as "bamboo" (「竹」, ''take'') based on the Japanese three-tier grading system, with pine as the highest grade.<ref name="Digi_Joho" />

[[File:Alps SKCL-SKCM -- slits.svg|centre]]

The length of the tabs enclosed by the slits also changed with time; the tabs, and thereby the slits, had reduced in length after a couple of years. The longer tabs were potentially more prone to damage when pulling keycaps, as the tabs bear the strong keycap removal force by holding the slider down.

<div style="text-align: center">
<gallery widths=250 heights=187>
File:Alps SKCL Green -- variants table.jpg  | Typical SKCL Green, with longer tabs
File:Alps SKCL Yellow -- variants table.jpg | SKCL Yellow, with shorter tabs
</gallery>
</div>