Unpopular Opinions

Learning and discussion
1

@wjrii I agree, I’ll torment y’all with my opinions on compact 75% keyboards :slight_smile:

6 Likes
2

My entire approach to the hobby is an unpopular opinion, LOL.
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

  • What the industry needs is neither traditional well-known layouts nor dramatic departures actually based on ergonomics. No, what it needs is minor tweaks that just make users do a double-take and then mis-type.
  • EVERYTHING SHOULD BE CHEAP(…ish. Let’s not go nuts here, LOL. Laser engravers don’t grow on trees… though major components of my switchplates do.).
  • Learning to touch type properly is boring, more boring than handwiring a 100-key board and learning to make keycap legends so you don’t have to use blanks.
  • Noise on a keyboard is a good thing.
  • Who needs QMK when I have KMK? What track record does QMK have? Pshaw!
  • The bottom and inside of a keyboard are where you stash the ugliness to make it easier to fabricate.
10 Likes
3

The Tab and Capslock keys should be merged into one giant inverted ISO-style ↱ key.

This can be accomplished by adding an extra stem receptacle to the ISO-key mold. Just my 5 cents.

9 Likes
4

These probably aren’t so much unpopular as “might not seem that way at first glance” kinda things;

  • Price and quality loosely trend together but are ultimately decoupled at the individual item level

  • Competitively priced prebuilt commercial boards can be a great solution if your end goal is to have and use a nice keyboard

  • Highly expensive customs can be thoroughly worth it if you enjoy some thing(s) about them

  • Most hype is severely under-baked and over-sells a given thing, but sometimes it’s true; if people are still consistently singing the same praises six months later, maybe there’s something to it - otherwise it’s probably best ignored

  • Great designers and workshops can make meh products sometimes

  • Companies with awful practices and reputations can occasionally make great products in spite of themselves

  • Click-jacket switches can be enjoyable

  • Flex-cuts aren’t always bad and sometimes actually do improve sound and/or feel in a given chassis; whether the likely resulting reduced durability and/or reliability is worth it depends on user and use-case

  • North-facing LEDs do make sense for some applications and priorities

  • On that note, backlit key legends is a valid priority in choosing a keyboard

  • I use Page Up, Page Down, Home, and End more than the arrow keys by a wide margin

  • Almost none of my keyboards have a Delete key

11 Likes
5

@Deadeye , those points should be wrapped in fortune cookies!

7 Likes
6

There should be more custom, full size, 108+ key, clunky, 5+ pound, metal boards available for purchase.

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7

Too many gamers with narrow shoulders.

4 Likes
8

Arrow keys on 60%.
There. I said it.

11 Likes
9

An interesting read on this topic.

4 Likes
10

Haha to be fair, I use ESDF for my layered arrows when typing, but the dedicated arrows are super nice for media playback, etc. Right on the corner of my layout, no modifiers needed, always available.

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5 Likes
11

I have an Adam board with a similar layout and do appreciate the arrow keys but am not a fan of the 1u right shift.

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12

Right shift is unnecessary.

On my 64-key layout, I have the 1u keys to the left and right of the “up arrow” key mapped to PgUp and PgDown.

6 Likes
13

This is the way.

2 Likes
14

The market is over concentrated on aluminum as a case material. I think it’s over-rated and not worth the annoyance of static shocks.

6 Likes
15

Nahhhh I found learning touch typing actually not so bad :sob: :sob:

1 Like
16

THE LAST ONE IS SO RELATABLE I HATE IT :joy: :joy:

2 Likes
17

People gonna talk about the ergonomics of “Control” on “Capslock” position or “Delete” on the pipe key but then say it’s cool to capitalize T or G with left shift. How are people seriously typing a capital A or W with only their left hand? That’s crazy talk. You can pry my right shift from my Cold, Dead, Hands. “Cold” and “Dead” typed using right shift. :rofl:

8 Likes
18

I literally never use right shift for anything :frowning:
Must just be a result of how I learned to type when I was growing up (we actually learned how to type in school, but even until sometime last year I was still using index finger to hit space and not my thumbs).

2 Likes
19

I don’t think I’ve ever touched right shift. But then again, my method of typing is just extremely rapid hunting and pecking with my two middle fingers, and my left thumb for Shift.

1 Like
20

The only time I ever use right shift is for certain keyboard shortcuts that involve Enter, can’t remember what specifically as it is just my muscle memory that takes over when I do them.

1 Like