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I was strongly agreeing with the article until the last part where he went on a crusade to remove keys. > For example, the large Caps Lock key is a waste of sp
by nayuki 9y ago
I was strongly agreeing with the article until the last part where he went on a crusade to remove keys.
> For example, the large Caps Lock key is a waste of space on a crowded keyboard. I never use it, but often hit it by mistake CAUSING ALL LETTERS TO BE CAPITALISED.
Some people remap this to Ctrl. Anyway, users are so accustomed to a physical key in this position (regardless of what function they map it to) that it would be a disservice to remove it.
> Other keys that are seldom used and could probably be done without are: Scroll Lock, Insert, SysReq, Home, and End. Removing unnecessary keys would free up space and improve usability.
Are you kidding about not using Home and End? They are the lifeblood of text editing on Windows. Have you never selected a line with Shift+Home? Jumped to the end of the text with Ctrl+End? Or do you always mouse-select text?
One of my laptop keyboards did not have dedicated Home+End keys, and had to access them with Fn+PgUp/PgDn. It was inconvenient to use, and was glad to switch to a ThinkPad that had real Home+End keys!
> Google took some steps in this direction when they introduced Chromebooks in 2011. They removed the Caps Lock key, all the F1 to F12 keys, Home, End, Delete, Page Up/Down and the entire number pad.
You can't seriously be approving the removal of F1 to F12 keys. Do you not use F2 to rename a file? F3 to find next? Alt+F4 to close a window? F5 to reload a webpage? F11 to full-screen the browser? F12 to open the web development pane?
> Apple have removed some of the more peripheral keys, including Page Up/Down [...] Removing Caps Lock would be great but I find the Page Up/Down keys to be very useful
Glad to see that you don't agree with the removal of PgUp/PgDn.
- Clubber 9y agoI agree. The closer a laptop keyboard is to a 101/104 layout (minus numeric keypad) the better. That's what made Thinkpad so great. I could switch from the desktop to the laptop without hesitation.
- exergy 9y agoI don't think the idea is the removal of the functionality, just the physical keys. Any half decent laptop will have home, end, page up and page down mapped to Fn+Arrows which to me is a smarter solution.
- mmozeiko 9y agoI'm strongly against Fn+Arrow keys. On such keyboards pressing Ctrl+Shift+Home (select all text from current position to beginning of document) or similar shortcuts requires too many keys to be pressed at once. I like keyboard layouts on laptops like System76 13/14 inch models or Gigabyte Aero 14. Full size arrow keys, not that half-size nonsence. And dedicated PgUp/Down and Home/End keys.
- orbitingpluto 9y agoDo you even vi? Remove everything! Here's a link to the pic of the keyboard for which vi was originally designed on: http://vintagecomputer.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/LSI-ADM3A-full-keyboard.jpg http://vintagecomputer.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/LSI-ADM... I completely agree with your post. Removing the home/end & function keys is such a waste given the amount of free space for keys on every single notebook ever made. edit: I realized I hadn't taken my initial argument to complete absurdity, "Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA
- nayuki 9y agoI am aware of vim, but don't find its working style comfortable. It's true that vim can work well on a plain keyboard without needing arrow keys, Ctrl key, home/end/pgup/pgdn, shift-selecting, mouse, etc. I like being able to type and select at any time, without having to remember which mode is active. Also, using Dvorak destroys the intuitive hjkl keys for positioning. MacBook Wheel was great satire from The Onion ;-D. It vaguely reminds me of how annoying it was to type passwords and search terms on the Apple TV remote's D pad. For home theatre PC use, it seems most my friends choose a Logitech Wireless Touch Keyboard K400.
- orbitingpluto 9y agoI set up a Roku for someone and the d-pad on the remote jumped twice instead of once for every click. Putting in a password required mod 2 arithmetic and switching between rows/columns with even/odd lengths. Things can always become more absurd.
- unwiredben 9y agoWow.. was it a RF remote or IR? I don't think I've seen that one in our bug database.
- orbitingpluto 9y ago