the.com/keycap
The tiny hat on every key, taking all the fingerprints so the switch doesn't have to.
means The removable plastic (or sometimes metal) cap that fits over a keyboard switch, printed with a letter, number, or symbol so your finger knows where to land.
from A straightforward 20th-century compound of 'key' (from Old English 'cæg', originally a tool for locking/unlocking) and 'cap' (from Old English 'cæppe', a covering for the head, ultimately from Latin 'cappa'). As mechanical typewriters gave way to computer keyboards, the two-piece key — a switch underneath, a labeled cap on top — needed a name, and English just stacked the obvious words together, the way it does with 'hubcap' and 'kneecap'.
- origin
- Cherry MX shape became the de facto industry standard
- material war
- ABS shines and fades; PBT stays matte and outlasts it
- profile obsession
- SA, OEM, Cherry profiles sculpt height for your fingers' comfort
- hobby economy
- collectors pay more for keycaps than the keyboard itself