Chapter 5: When Your Keyboard . . . Isn t

In This Chapter

• Opening, resizing, and docking the Input Panel Keyboard

• Entering text with the on-screen keyboard

• Working with Shift and Caps

• Editing text

• Using function keys

• Using a standard keyboard with Tablet PC

Keyboards are nothing new. There are great big curvy ergonomic keyboards that reside in keyboard drawers the size of an orange crate, and tiny little keyboards that unfold from the size of a deck of cards so you can attach them to your PDA and make input humanly possible.

You've probably even encountered an on-screen keyboard before on your wireless phone or PDA (personal digital assistant) device, and if you have tried to use such a thing to enter more than two words, my condolences.

But the Tablet PC puts its own spin on keyboards: All models offer an on-screen keyboard that may remind you of the one on a PDA, but which is larger and offers full keyboard functionality at the touch of a pen. In addition, depending on the Tablet PC model you own, a regular, old-fashioned plastic-type keyboard may just be lurking somewhere close by.