Keyboard events are essential for creating interactive web applications that respond to user input beyond mouse clicks. In JavaScript, you can listen for keyboard activity using three main event types: keydown, keyup, and keypress. Each of these events serves a specific purpose and provides valuable information about the user's actions.

The keydown event fires when a key is pressed down, making it ideal for detecting when a user initiates a keyboard action. The keyup event is triggered when the user releases a key, which is useful for actions that should occur after typing is complete. The keypress event, now considered legacy and less commonly used, activates when a key that produces a character value is pressed down; however, it does not capture all keys and is not recommended for modern applications.

Each keyboard event provides useful properties on the event object. The key property returns the value of the key pressed, such as "a", "Enter", or "ArrowDown". The code property refers to the physical key on the keyboard, like "KeyA" or "ArrowLeft", which can be helpful when you want to detect specific keys regardless of keyboard layout or language. Common use cases for keyboard events include implementing shortcuts (like pressing "s" to focus a search box), validating input as the user types, and providing accessibility features for users who rely on keyboard navigation.