I do this sometimes too! i'll mess up some drawing or misspell a word on physical paper and instinctually reach to hit ctrl+z before i remember that that isn't how that works. I had always seen this one as a somewhat unrealistic exaggeration, though lately I have found myself occasionally attempting to 2-finger tap to undo a line written with pencil on paper, with no success. The joke is that he would be typing within some text processor or email client, Alt-tab to the browser and enter an address there. This is less about Ctrl-tab but rather about Alt+Tab. CTrl-Tab with only 1 tab open does nothing.

You would need to use Ctrl-T to open a new tab where the cursor would then be in the address bar to type an URL to go to. Unless there was a change in the way a browser worked between then and now, Ctrl-tab is not something you would type an URL into after hitting as it switched between already open tabs. Either one works in this case, since the position of the next character is determined by moving the paper, not the hammers. Hence 'carriage return' at the end of a line. The carriage, though, is the larger piece the platen is part of, which moves back and forth as you type. The platen is indeed the rubber cylinder. gateway mike 173.245.55.119 ( talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~) The ribbon is between the hammer and paper. The platen is the rubber cylinder that holds the paper in place for the hammers. Technically it's the carriage that holds the type hammers for the letters. I don't know you, but it looks like a 'Madlibs ( ) meets Firefox tabs' kind of letter to me. If he uses a browser based email program it could be either 108.162.249.117 01:44, 30 December 2013 (UTC)Ĭtrl+Shift+Tab is back a tab. Alt+Tab, next top level window on desktop. So I did tag this as incomplete.- Dgbrt ( talk) 18:31, 19 September 2013 (UTC)Ĭtrl+Tab, next tab in tab bar. You are absolutely correct, and the is much more missing. The spaces are because he's trying to alt-tab. I didn't realize how bad my habit of tabbing to Firefox every few seconds to check news sites had gotten until I tried writing on a typewriter.Īdd a comment! ⋅ add a topic (use sparingly)! ⋅ refresh comments! Discussion List of websites Website addressīritish Broadcasting Corporation's website which also includes one Ctrl/Alt+Tab combination. To remedy this, he writes a brief thank you note to his grandmothers. The title text references that Randall's real grandmothers, upon seeing this comic, might feel bad that he doesn't write to them at all - not even poorly-written letters like in the comic. It also shows Randall's love of news and information websites. So, he hits the tab key, types a URL, and hits the tab key again right in the middle of his letter. So the key combination that would satisfy Randall's somewhat hyperactive impulses on a computer is dramatically different on a typewriter, where that key instead causes movement of the platen. Pressing Tab there doesn't switch to another screen, it just moves the platen (the typewriter's cursor, so to speak) to the next tab stop, leaving a wide space before the next typing on the same piece of paper. However, there is only a simple Tab key on an old-fashioned typewriter. On a computer, the Ctrl+Tab keyboard combination usually switches to between browser tabs within a window, such as between two Firefox tabs, while Alt+Tab switches between windows. As if through muscle memory, Randall periodically attempts to check the latest news by pressing a combination involving the Tab key, typing the URL of a specific website, then pressing a combination using the Tab key again. However, due to a habit he's developed from using a computer for so long, Randall inadvertently litters the letter with chunks of blank space followed by website URLs. Randall is writing a letter to his grandmother on a typewriter, thanking her for taking him and at least one other person on a trip. DEAR GRANDMOMS: I AM SORRY! YOU ARE WONDERFUL PEOPLE AND THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING LOVE RANDALL. Title text: Somewhere in the world, my actual grandmothers are reading this and angrily exclaiming that I never write even malformed thank-you notes.

Simple writer xkcd