[keyle]

Man. People really want to live on hard mode.

When I see this layout I'm both amazed and thinking he must love copilot!

Back in the days we used to pay extra to have more buttons!

Extra F keys up top, two columns of function keys on the left etc.

This minimalistic trend with keyboards isn't really making people more efficient as it is a conversation starter.

[alpaca128]

It's much more comfortable imho. You can reach all buttons without moving the hands all over the place, arrow keys are directly under my fingers at all times. It's not faster if you meant that with "efficient", but it certainly makes standard keyboards feel cumbersome to use. On the other hand more keys everywhere don't make you more efficient either, they just increase the chance of you messing up a hand movement when typing blindly.

With fully programmable layouts the number of keys doesn't mean that much, though for me the sweet spot is around 42. Going much lower than that comes with too many compromises.

[comfypotato]

For me, it’s the confidence of knowing you’re hitting the right key. Memorizing how your layers are configured is nbd (it quickly become second nature). 42 keys (CRKBD?) allows you to confidently strike each key and confidently return to home. I’ve never been able to guarantee this if a single key is even 2 units away from home.

That being said, I think the most important thing is that you like what you’re using. If you prefer Mac’s native keyboard, more power to you. More keyboard happiness is less work stress.

[jhanschoo]

> Memorizing how your layers are configured is nbd

Ymmv; I have difficulty remembering the chords for keys I use once a week or once a month.

[comfypotato]

I put a lot of thought into where I map things. If I make sure it’s in line with my long term plan, then I never have to move it. I get the rarely-used mappings memorized eventually.

[jhanschoo]

As you helpfully state in your reply, that is not a nbd worth of effort. (Baseline effort being hunt-and-peck on dedicated keys)

[comfypotato]

I see what you’re saying. What I meant is that I don’t actively work to memorize mappings. An initial effort/push when convenient to intelligently create the mapping is all that’s required. From there it happens naturally.

I was clarifying that the greatest hindrance to this process is changing your mappings (I get so confused if I ever try to move a custom mapping). I put in a little effort up front to make sure I don’t have to change the mapping.

[keyle]

Yeah nowadays I stick to TKL.

[raffraffraff]

Amen. I know a guy who moved to one of these minimalist keyboards (clickity keys on a lovely mahogany plank). He claimed that he could type just as fast on it, but it must have been like Invisible Boy in "Mystery Men": he could only do it when nobody was watching.

[bayindirh]

Many people don't use the F-Keys and don't know the joys and speed it brings. Instead they store macros to another layer, which includes the key-depth, but they don't care.

75% is a good compromise in size and usability in my experience.