Why do the F and J keys on a keyboard have little bumps?

Question

Weirdo · Accepted Answer

So your fingers can find the home row without looking. Rest your index fingers on the bumps on F and J and the rest fall onto A S D and K L ;, the starting position for touch typing.

Classic touch typing puts the left index finger on F and the right on J, with the other fingers along the same row (A S D F and J K L ;), called the home row. Space, Ctrl and Alt are easy to find because they sit on the edges; the letter area needs these two tactile markers. After reaching for the mouse, you can feel for the bumps and get back into position without glancing down.

They're where your index fingers rest on the home row. Standard QWERTY and QWERTZ keyboards put the bumps on F and J, so the same technique works on any keyboard you sit down at. Keyboards with a number pad usually add a bump to the 5 key for the same reason.

On the Zhuyin (Bopomofo) keyboards common in Taiwan, F is also labeled ㄑ and J is ㄨ, and the bumps stay on those two keys, so the homing method is identical whether you type English or 注音. With practice you can keep your eyes on the screen and catch typos as they happen.

Why do the F and J keys on a keyboard have little bumps?

The bumps are coordinates for your fingers

Why F and J

Same keys on a Zhuyin keyboard