I hate my 60%, you can only use the question mark or arrows at one time. And unfortunately, I use both of them frequently
60% is what I imagine being in hell is like
I have a split 40% because I type for a living and normie keyboards destroy my wrists.
I might catch some heat… but I gotta speak my truth - this is all I need. I game, I program, I have 2 function keys that change the layout and provide access to any keys not physically present.
You do you man. We all got different hands and preferences and physical dimensions, as well as different usable desk space. It’s silly to draw lines in the sand about peripherals. Personally, I like my giant gaming keyboard with macro keys and whatnot. I program the extra keys to do things as needed. But I wouldn’t force that on anyone who wants a smaller form factor. Hell now we can even get picky on how much actuation force, key travel, and sound of key press. A keyboard for every preference!
what brand is this? :O asking for a friend
Keychron. Here’s a link to this one: https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k9-pro-qmk-via-wireless-custom-mechanical-keyboard?variant=40471030431833
I kind of wish Duolingo would create a trainer that helps you practice shortcuts and hot keys. They never seem to stick in my brain asides from copy/paste, new tab, change focus.
Glad to know I’m in the clear with my little 40%. Or is my mental so disordered that its come full circle back to an actual keyboard?
i have a 65% although honestly i’d rather it be a 75% (which i meant to buy but didn’t look closely enough at the keyboard), anyway it’s not that bad
i also with the damn apostrophe key wasnt the same as the esc key + fn
65% is too cramped. Buttons need double functions and the FN key works overtime.
75% or TKL is the way.
Nah nah nah nah 75% keyboards are actually the correct option. Everything else is either a gimmick or antiquated I WILL die on this hill
You try to take numpads from standard keyboards and I’ll gladly charge that hill.
We good now?
Almost. No home, end, insert or delete though?
All these keys are available on the numpad w/ numlock disabled
numlock disabled
While we’re on the subject of violence…
Okay everyone calm down. There are dedicated home, insert and delete keys. It’s just that many of my keycaps don’t self identify like that. Partly because I like cute keycaps, and partly because I remap those keys from time to time, and if they never had “home” or whatever written on them to begin with, I don’t have to go grab my box of keycaps and switch them out.
Edit: and okay, I currently have ‘end’ mapped to the ‘home’ key on layer 2, so I’d have to press Fn + ‘home’ for that.
I’m just saying the one key I’d be 100% okay losing is numlock. Turning it off when I’m typing fast can guck up an excel sheet SO fast.
And as great as althea simultaneous editing is kn SharePoint, the necessary saves all your edits live feature of it can be a real problem if you don’t immediately notice a fuckup.
Why pay for a keyboard with less keys. You’re getting scammed.
Nahnahnah bro it has everything it needs. Full function keys, full alphanumeric and 5 programmable buttons.
I need my 60% to stop my mouse bumping into my keyboard. Pains of a slow sens
While I love my full-sized keyboard, respectfully - who cares. The whole idea of a PC is the freedom to use whatever you want.
Keyboards, controllers, speech to text, a wii-mote, literal bananas/bread, eye/blink trackers, whatever suits you best. Insisting there’s a best device for everyone doesn’t change people’s minds and just leads to hostility when we should be glad more people are using the device that makes them happy. One day you might be one of them when your circumstances or preferences change.
Full-size is objectively superior, everything else is a mitigation for sub-optimal circumstances.
If you have reduced desk space and need to conserve your keyboard size to allow more room for a mouse then absolutely, pick as small a keyboard as you’re comfortable with to get sufficient mousing space.
Anything beyond that is subjective personal preference, which again I have no qualms with, but calling it better without further qualification is going to invite incredulity.
This is objectively superior, as it saves you from RSI.
If a full-sized keyboard provides all the keys you reasonably need to do your tasks efficiently, then yes a full-sized keyboard is superior. But that is just not the use case for everyone, hence why it can’t be objectively so. Unless you want to imply that more keys even if you don’t need them is better anyways.
If so, you could argue this monstrosity of a keyboard (or something even bigger) is what everyone should be using if they have the space, since it has way more buttons than a full-sized keyboard, making it even more objectively superior. In reality you would not use more than 30% of the buttons on that keyboard, so the rest might as well not exist. But if you are, I don’t know, some macro-wizard playing 4 instances of WoW at the same time, maybe it is objectively superior for your needs, but for me a normal sized keyboard would do.
But to try and sense where you’re coming from, it should also be said that someone telling you their choice is better and disregarding that your criteria aren’t the same as theirs is being silly as well. And sometimes they can be stubborn and agitated about that as well - exactly the kind of hostility I meant in my initial comment. But someone’s got to step up and swallow their pride and accept it really is just all subjective at the end of the day.
the main advantage of full sized keebs iirc is that some programs have key combos involving F keys or home/end and don’t support changing the mapping (Minecraft shakes fist at sky F3+g)
That’s true, and if that’s the case then that definitely changes the choice. Although, afaik these smaller keyboards often come with software to remap keys or add macro’s at the driver level. (And for this choice specifically, 75% keyboard and higher do seem to mostly have both F keys and home/end). But yeah, some people’s use consist of just writing emails and streaming video, in which case they won’t care about any of that.
My biggest problem with that “monstrosity” is that it’s ortholinear.
You imply that such a thing being “optimal” is absurd, but if you had infinite usable desk space then what, exactly, would be the argument against it? If space is not a consideration then what does it matter if you don’t use every key?
Lots of people like smaller keyboards, and that’s perfectly fine. I get it as an aesthetic choice, and for many people it may not impact their daily use at all. But you will not convince me that removing the option of having additional keys for binding is a non-zero cost, even if they’re not currently being used.
For what it’s worth, I never used anything like that monstrosity, but I was quite happy with my G15 for the time that I had it which had 18 additional keys, plus media control, over a typical full size.
but if you had infinite usable desk space then what, exactly, would be the argument against it?
So I guess we agree then. Circumstances make something more or less optimal, meaning they are not objectively more optimal in every situation. That was my entire point, nothing more.
No one has discussed split keyboards, which offer all the benefits of a full size and addresses ergonomic concerns across the board. Need only half your keyboard today? Done and done.
Need ALL the keyboard, we gotchu.
I’m too new to upload so look up 5 column corne keyboard
https://images.app.goo.gl/tauZ
Huh, not my preferred method. I wish I learned typing on Dvorak, but I use a 96% ANSI keychron and I’m pleased with it.
Yep, typing this on a Corne-ish Zen. Funnily enough saw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bTI6WUJxD4 yesterday and my first thought was “No. ALL my keys get to work hard!”
you can link external images like so
You have left out galaxy brain giant IBM model M. (Not more keys, but thicc keys.)
It’s not just the size. It’s also the way the sound of typing will bother everyone else in the room.
It’s not just the size, or the sound, but the fact you could comfortably concuss an elephant with it, or stop a bullet and go right back to typing. Those things were built like tanks.
How about the superior 122 key Model F“To use this feature, simply press the F213 key.”
(unfolds paper keyboard map)
(moves finger around for five minutes searching)
Ah, okay. There it is. (tap)
My account is too new to post an image, so here is a link instead:
https://i0.wp.com/blog.lingodeer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/image6.png
You can inline images like this:
becomes:
When Neil Pert needs an office day.
That setup uses pedals ffs. no thoughts empty head
Wow what did they say about that?
I knew I was going to find a comment about the Model M!
I use the modern incarnation made by Unicomp since 2019. Best Keyboard I ever had and probably my main keyboard for the rest of my life. It’s really that good! Minimal wear on the buttons after 6 years (I’m a developer so the keyboard gets used once in a while 😉)
One thing I wanted to mention: Although I like the clicky sound, it is quite loud. It was loud enough that I woke up my little baby girl when working at night. So I had to silence it or buy another keyboard 😔 I ended up with fiddling dental floss inside of every single spring and used o rings to dampen the noise it makes when you hit the buttons hard and they bottom out. I’d say you get 80-90% of the tactility with 30% of the noise. Perfect combo in my opinion.
When my grampy died, my parents threw out about four Model Ms from his house. They didn’t know they’re not just old keyboards D:
I literally will not ever daily use a keyboard if it doesn’t have a number pad.
Any time I’m forced to temporarily use anything without a num pad I feel like I’m driving a car that’s missing half it’s steering wheel or something. It just feels wrong.
It needs to be ≥ 100% for me
I just learned how to type numbers quickly without a numpad. It’s truly a skill issue if you need a numpad lol
Amen.
I’ve been using a wireless mechanical 100% keyboard for years. Love it so much I bought a duplicate, so I have a spare when it’s time to run one through the dishwasher!
The…the what now?
You’ve never cleaned your keyboard in the dishwasher?
Hot water, don’t use detergent, and let any washed electronics dry completely before use is the method I use.
At the same time you charge your iPhone in the microwave oven at 10% power.
i reckon one can only do this with very soft water?
What, you don’t want your keys to crunch when you press them?
just map it to a layer bro
Not the same. A functional num pad needs to be in a strict grid pattern to work. The keys need to be column aligned so they can be felt and the num pad used without looking at it.
get an ortho then
I downsized a while back due to switching to a smaller desk, and it does feel weird.
I can input lots of numbers very fast without looking down with a num pad. I cannot do that with the number row. I have to look down at some point and it’s much slower.
The fuck do you people need the num pad on your daily driver? Are you all deviant accountants or retro computer enthusiasts typing in code from magazines?
Entering IP addresses for work (mostly network info for printers tbh), and a decent amount of games use it for flight.
Camera/perspective controls in blender
To remap the numlock off keys as a macropad.
I use it to type numbers
Well that’s pretty unusual to use it that way, I guess.
Meanwhile on my desk
Yes, I have this one with the ridiculous logo they only used for a few months. Some of the switches are starting to feel a bit worn though, and I don’t think Corsair switches are swappable.
Omg, I remember that, but I have the normal logo (on the older non-RGB white led version).
Switches arent hot swappable (but it’s def not a hard job to replaced then, but a bit time consuming).
Tho maybe you just need a bit of lube (I doubt you’ve worn the springs or the contacts).
In love with those media keys.
That’s how they should always be: Deidcated. If I have to hit Fn+something for Play/Pause it might as well not existYes, exactly, layers are for the main keys, not function keys.
I too have a full-size Corsair! I got the K100 Air about 6 months ago and I absolutely love it.
Nooo, where the extra 18 macro keys?? :D
But more importantly – tf is this?
TIL, and tho it’s not for me (I’m not into flats at all) I def want to try the actuation feel.
Ah! Thanks for sharing those visuals!
Yeah, over 60cN, non-linear, cherry branded, and flatttt (and with fragile keycaps, also that spring can spring out in event of a fall it seems).
With that kind of force and short travel there is no way I wouldn’t constantly bottom-out.
I spent 30 years thinking someday I’d start using the number pad and then finally gave up. I like having the typing part centered more.
The number pad only ever became relevant to me after decades when I began playing video games that have more keybindings than I have brain cells. Caves Of Qud makes use of basically the the whole number pad just to manually move in 8 different directions.
Caves of Qud annoyed me with that, but I got vim-ish movement keys worked out instead. Normal hjkl, bnyu for diagonals, took a bit but now it’s second nature
I’m a fan of TKL as well, but one annoying place where the numpad is missed is games and software that hardcode numpad keys
Exactly. For me it’s closer to 40 years and I don’t think I ever used the number pad more than ten times. Tenkeyless is just better, unless you’re an accountant.
Or if you use different language keyboard layout. I mostly use Czech layout and if I wanted to type numbers without a numpad, I would need to hold shift+number to type them, or change the layout. So for me it’s more convenient to just use the numpad. Also I grew up with full sized keyboards so it’s also a habit.
Tkl/80 is my preferred size
I’m a full TKL man myself. I don’t mind the space, just don’t like using space for stuff I never use.
Do you people never do any actual work on your computers?
I have body parts that are less important to me than my numpad.
We just don’t work as accountants ;-).
Or programming. Or sysadmins. Or sales orders. Or order picking. Or…
You need to type a number quickly?
You need a keypad.
The end.
I was a Unix sysadmin for years and never once used the num pad. I’m in sales now for 25 years and still don’t use it. I mean, it’s always been a goal of mine but I just never think of it when it’s time to use it, and it’s slower for me to use it than not use it. And I don’t enter enough numbers to get enough practice to be good at it.
100% or bust!
Get a larger desk. No way I’m typing numbers not on a keypad
I’m pulling my separate numpad out when I know I’ll be entering a lot of numbers. Or reach over to it when I enter a PIN from muscle memory. Otherwise I toss it to the side.
I use this occasionally when i need to do a lot of number typing whilst using my mouse so i can relax my arm to the side rather than reaching across the KB and straining the muscle behind my shoulderblade.
