If you start having keybinds like ALT + CMD + (F1..F6) you _really_ dont want to have to press an additional FN Keys. I found 4 key shortcuts not viable in the long run if you have to press them multiple times a minute.
With that said:
> So for me personally it's a number of advantages without a single drawback
The objective drawback is the expandability of your shortcuts because you are artificially limited in your options of key combinations. For me that would be a no go. Though I am close to 500 shortcuts in my 3 main applications alone, excluding i3 or KDE globals. I only use a mouse to browse the web.
If I had to regularly use 4 key shortcuts I'd go insane no matter what keyboard.
Edit: Then again I don't (yet) have 500 shortcuts, but if software doesn't support rebinding those that's not a problem with the keyboard imho.
Some project specific some more general. The project specific keybinds range from do test deployment and run tests to grab the latest test results format a text variant as well as pdf, archive and send them out to everyone who needs them. The general ones range from tell my AC/heating that I'm heading home from office to open my local weather forcast on Screen #2.
IMO there's no good reason to omit possibilities for aesthetics. Though as often as I thought about it I am not going to use a stream deck since I know I couldn't live without one after a few weeks and don't want to be bothered to carry it with me while traveling.
My point is that it's not for aesthetics but comfort. For aesthetics I wouldn't use vertical stagger or a split layout.
With a 40% keyboard you can enter everything without moving hands or wrists at all and more important keys are moved right below the thumbs so I can use Ctrl and Shift without twisting my hand.
All said and done I still think that the standard keyboard layout is actually not a bad choice either, and is sometimes underrated. I just think that some more experimental boards manage to be just as productive while removing some ergonomical weaknesses.
Adding a modifier, OTOH, add Y modifier+non-modifier and Y modifier+modifier+non-modifier bindings, where Y is the number of non-modifiers. So adding a hyper key means adding , say 104 additional keys (on a keyboard with 52 non-modifier keys). Adding a compose key means adding … another 104 additional keys.
My current keyboard has control, alt, super, hyper, compose and shift. A lot of folks add raise & lower, for even more modifiers.
Assuming USB HID, how are you distinguishing extra modifiers?
Many keyboards these days are getting quite fancy. There's even an open source keyboard firmware standard. https://qmk.fm/
Beginning of line: right-fn+cmd+h
Select beginning of line: right-fn+cmd+right-shift+h
Previous word: left-fn+option+h
Select previous word: left-fn+option+left-shift+h
Only being restricted to usual system-wide shortcuts I think I also would have issues, at least without custom macros. For example I defined macros for Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-Shift-Tab so I can switch browser tabs more comfortably, but I don't see that as much more than a crutch.
Life changing for me was binding my control key (which is, rightfully, in the typical caps lock position) to register as escape when pressed briefly. When held down beyond a certain threshold, it acts as control. This makes for a very handy escape key but combinations with control still work without issue. There are multiple ways to accomplish this, but I use xcape (for X on Linux).
- plank/preonic ortholinear boards. Fine, the advantage is ortholinear so the adjustment wasn't too terrible, but the advantage's thumb cluster beats the living shit out of the plank/preionic's bottom row. Also all flat not comfrotable.
- Viterbi (from keeb.io).. this was me thinking, this could work maybe if I could just get over the crampedness of the preonic keyboard i would be happier (Viterbi is split in half preonic mostly) .. nope.
- 60% w/ split spacebar in a nice wooden travel case for travel etc. Working on the laptop keyboard is literal torture, and the advantage isn't very portable at all. It's ... ok, the lack of a proper arrow cluster sucks, got used to layers for Fkeys, the sixcluster and arrows on a layer under wasd and ijkl depending on what hand i wanted to use. It's ok, sometimes it still flys with me.
- Minvan 40% .. mostly bought on a whim, sucks badly, I guess if I weren't coding it would be ok, but the increased use of symbols and non-letters is problematic on all these layouts. Too much cognitive overhead (where did I put the ampersand again...)
Now I knew less keys were not going to be solving my problems.
- Ergodox. I have some minor qualms with the advantage mostly size but also the case is quite hollow and noisy. Also they sell a limited array of switches for it (blue, brown, red .. I'm a brown guy, I like a little tactile feedback). Coming from the advantage this thing just sucks, very much the same layout (with a few extra keys) but flat flat flat, making it much harder to reach characters. Those advantage wells are amazing. The thumb cluster is also just worse due to the flatness. I actually gave this keyboard away.
- Iris (keeb.io) ... slightly better than the ergodox but less keys than the advantage. Tried it for a few weeks, felt limiting for coding. Have played videogames with it, works pretty well for that. It stays on my desk for that purpose.
- Dactyl - Finally I printed a dactyl. This is a great board for a travel board for me. It's essentially an open source kinesis advantage. I already had a 3d printer, had one printed, soldered and running in a week. Put some very nice zealious zilent switches in it. It's awesome. I still an advantage at home (though I replaced it's controller with a custom one that runs QMK, filled it with foam to deaden the din and am considering contacting the manufacturer for some spare parts so I can put some other switches in it) .. My only reservation is around the 3d printing, I wish I could get a solid plastic shell or it milled out of aluminum or something a little lighter (aluminum being extra weight when I travel .. if i ever travel again). But custom work like that is very cost prohibitive.
So anyways, that was my journey down the rabbit hole of niche keyboard designs. I mostly still use the advantage, with an iris for gaming, and a dactyl for travel.
Did you write about this anywhere? I'm thinking of getting an Advantage but it would be really nice to be able to run it with QMK, and your soundproofing sounds neat too.
I currently have an Ergodox EZ but the thumb clusters do not work for me, I can only press one of the keys without straining my thumb.
For the same reason many people prefer keyboard shortcuts over moving the hand back and forth between mouse and keyboard.
My main keyboard has 42 keys; that's enough for all letters, most common symbols and modifiers. Everything else is quickly reachable by holding down one of two "FN" keys.
Why? Because this way I can input anything without even moving my hands or wrists. And as both FN keys are directly below my thumbs I don't suffer from any delay when typing any special symbols or numbers. In fact my typing speed has stayed exactly the same, possibly even with increased accuracy because my hands are always guaranteed to be in the correct position for every input(outside the period of getting used to the layout of course).
So for me personally it's a number of advantages without a single drawback, except maybe the fact I now find standard keyboards really cumbersome and awkward to use.