4 ms·

As a programmer I am disappointed with the lack of innovation in mechanical keyboards. They all look the same and have extremely similar layouts. What I could

As a programmer I am disappointed with the lack of innovation in mechanical keyboards. They all look the same and have extremely similar layouts. What I could really use is some navigation keys to the left of the keyboard; maybe two columns of keys that are programmable; any innovation actually would be nice.

snewk 10y ago
or, hear me out, some kind of dynamic programmable bar just above the keyboard?
majewsky 10y ago
How about http://keyboard.io http://keyboard.io? They have a freely programmable "Any" key. (Not involved with them, just a customer.)
ajsalminen 10y ago
There's lots of innovation but you need to look at the smaller developers and in some cases build it from parts yourself. Check out the something like the Planck, Keyboardio, The White Fox or the various Red Scarf II boards. All of those you can also customise to make any key do exactly what you want, make the space bar double as a modifier key etc.
michaelgrafl 10y ago
There's stuff like this: https://ergodox-ez.com/ https://ergodox-ez.com/ Or this: https://shop.keyboard.io/ https://shop.keyboard.io/ You can get keyboard without a numpad and add a Filco TenKeyPad to the mix. Navigation keys on the left would be cool. But I'm also really happy with a default tenkeyless. I think that fact that they mostly look the same is good. Like most electric guitars look like Stratocasters or Les Pauls. But then I'm not a big fan of novelty in design in general. There are people who build their own keyboards using mechanical switches in interesting designs. Freaks.
brokenmachine 10y ago
http://geekhack.org/ http://geekhack.org/ . You're welcome. I recommend the Ergodox wholeheartedly. You can put arrows wherever you want. I have a layer always set up so I hold down a thumb key and the home row becomes arrows. As a touch-typist, I can move the cursor and select text (holding "shift") without moving my hand. I'm using Dvorak layout, but if it was Qwerty, my (right hand) home row goes from this: Y U I O H J K L To: Esc PgUp Up PgDn Home Left Down Right End It is totally natural now for me, I get frustrated being on a keyboard without this functionality. Odd, I couldn't get that to format correctly, is there anyway to define a code block in hacker news markup? I blame consumers for the lack of (reasonably-priced/available) innovative options in keyboards. Everyone who notices my Ergodox thinks I'm the one who's odd, while I think anybody who would use a horrible membrane keyboard for 8 hours a day at work without yearning for something better is the one who is odd.

snewk 10y ago

or, hear me out, some kind of dynamic programmable bar just above the keyboard?

majewsky 10y ago

How about http://keyboard.io http://keyboard.io? They have a freely programmable "Any" key. (Not involved with them, just a customer.)

ajsalminen 10y ago

There's lots of innovation but you need to look at the smaller developers and in some cases build it from parts yourself. Check out the something like the Planck, Keyboardio, The White Fox or the various Red Scarf II boards. All of those you can also customise to make any key do exactly what you want, make the space bar double as a modifier key etc.

michaelgrafl 10y ago

There's stuff like this: https://ergodox-ez.com/ https://ergodox-ez.com/ Or this: https://shop.keyboard.io/ https://shop.keyboard.io/ You can get keyboard without a numpad and add a Filco TenKeyPad to the mix. Navigation keys on the left would be cool. But I'm also really happy with a default tenkeyless. I think that fact that they mostly look the same is good. Like most electric guitars look like Stratocasters or Les Pauls. But then I'm not a big fan of novelty in design in general. There are people who build their own keyboards using mechanical switches in interesting designs. Freaks.

brokenmachine 10y ago

http://geekhack.org/ http://geekhack.org/ . You're welcome. I recommend the Ergodox wholeheartedly. You can put arrows wherever you want. I have a layer always set up so I hold down a thumb key and the home row becomes arrows. As a touch-typist, I can move the cursor and select text (holding "shift") without moving my hand. I'm using Dvorak layout, but if it was Qwerty, my (right hand) home row goes from this: Y U I O H J K L To: Esc PgUp Up PgDn Home Left Down Right End It is totally natural now for me, I get frustrated being on a keyboard without this functionality. Odd, I couldn't get that to format correctly, is there anyway to define a code block in hacker news markup? I blame consumers for the lack of (reasonably-priced/available) innovative options in keyboards. Everyone who notices my Ergodox thinks I'm the one who's odd, while I think anybody who would use a horrible membrane keyboard for 8 hours a day at work without yearning for something better is the one who is odd.