Tab

The tab key on a keyboard is used to advance the cursor to the next "tab stop".

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When a typist wanted to type a table, there was a lot of time-consuming and repetitive use of the space bar and backspace key. To simplify this a bar was placed in the mechanism with a moveable lever for every position across the page. Initially these were set by hand, but later a "tab set" and "tab clear" keys were added. When the tab key was depressed the carriage advanced to the next "tab stop". These were set to correspond to the particular column locations of the table (hence "tab") being worked on. The tab mechanism also came into its own as a rapid and consistent way of uniformly indenting the first line of each paragraph.

Typist: REDIRECT Data entry clerk...

Space bar: Space bar is a key on an alphanumeric keyboard in the form of a horizontal bar in the lowermost row, significantly wider than other keys. Its main purpose is to conveniently enter the space, e.g., between words during typing. Users typically use their thumbs to press it. It is large enough so that a...

Tab related Images and Photos (experimental)

Tab Hunter

Bluetooth Keyboard Case for Samsung Galaxy Tab