Keyboard skin and sticker are two common ways to protect keyboard. They are also called keyboard protector by some keyboard users.

A keyboard skin is usually a sheet of rubber-made transparent sheet. It is used to cover the whole keyboard, keep it from dirt, dust and liquid. It also prevents letter or symbol print form being scratching. When the skin gets dirty, you can wash the skin. It is by now the most effective way to protect keyboard. But it also has some disadvantages.

First, letters may not be clear enough to see when covered with skin. A keyboard skin also blocks out light, thus makes it less clear for users to see letters or symbols on keyboard. To solve this problem, some skin is made very thin and transparent. This could help solve the problem for some extent.

Second, keyboard skin is not good for cooling of keyboard. Keyboard may give out heat especially for a notebook keyboard. Putting a skin on a notebook keyboard means “storing” heat; that is not good for the keyboard.

Using a skin also means a sacrifice of tactile feel. You may feel totally different typing on a keytop with and without a skin. That’s the main reason why most users take skin for laptop keyboard but not desktop computer. The price of laptop keyboard is far higher than desktop computer. Keyboard users feel it unnecessary to protect the keyboard with skin. They value more of the typing tactile.

The other type of keyboard skin is not transparent. You can not see the letters on keyboards, but the skin itself has letters print on. Despite the transparent color, it is usually colorful, often with red, green, blue or black.

Covering a sheet of skin of keyboard is some how like that of a rubber-made flexible keyboard. Liquid of dust can not get in. It washes easily, too.

Another keyboard skin is called sticker. A keyboard sticker is somehow sticky and can be stamped on keycap. It is also called as key label. It is used to protect individual keycap rather than the whole keyboard. A sticker has its special function.

First, larger colorful print letter sticker aids those users having weak eyesight. Big letters with bright color help them to see clearly. Common letters printed on keycap only take little space, and they are located on the upper left size of keycap. Compared with those common letters, big printed letters on sticker make take up the whole keycap surface, the size may be third time or even more than normal keycap print.

Those stickers are particularly popular among elderly or those with weak color sense. Children are also fond of those colorful labels. Thus they are also taken as a good accessory to teach the children to know about the keyboard and the computer. They arouse children’s interest for computer.

Some stickers are with Braille, which help blind people to use keyboard. Except those customized keyboard, most keyboard keycaps don’t have Braille on and make it impossible for blind people to use. Braille stickers can help solve this problem. For this type of sticker, the function of protecting keyboard can almost be neglected.

Some keyboard sticker is made with “back light” can also be seen in market. That is totally different from backlit keyboard. The former one uses some luminescent material to print the letters while the latter one is backlit underneath the keycap by LED bulbs or other light source. This kind of keyboard sticker can somehow transform a common keyboard into a lighted one. Lighted letters make it much convenient to use keyboard in poor light environment.