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NoOne-NBA- t1_iu5xrz4 wrote

Reply to comment by twinsnek in Akko 40 percent in the works. Aside from QMK, what do you want to see on it? by NatureAndArtifice

It's a balancing act between your ability to adapt to new workflows, and your own preferences.

On the one side of the equation you have to make room for all your preferred features.
On the other side, you don't necessarily need dedicated keys, to have those features.

My work keyboard is a great example of this.
I absolutely must have a numpad, to do my job efficiently.
The numpad on my work keyboard is a properly laid out ortho format (with a 2u NumEnter, 1u Num+ and 2u Num0), but it sits over top of the right hand alphas on my keyboard, on a layer.

That gives my keyboard all the features of my 1800s and F-keyless 100% boards, but in a 60% case, which was originally designed for an HHKB-layout.
The efficiency of the layout comes as a result of economy of movement.
I can literally type all the right hand alphas, the arrow keys, the nav block keys and the numpad keys without ever moving my right hand from the home position.

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twinsnek t1_iu5z5k4 wrote

You see, thats the stuff that makes this whole topic so interesting imo. The way people have their personal preferences and make them actually work is just impressive while also playing around with different options and ideas.

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NoOne-NBA- t1_iu9stxe wrote

That's why I don't consider endgame to be a permanent state.

Had you asked me, before I won that Dilly at the meetup, I would have told you I was perfectly happy with the keyboards I had at the time, both at work, and at home.
I would have told you that because I WAS perfectly happy with both setups...at that time.

At this point, those boards don't hold the same level of contentment for me anymore.
I've gotten used to new features I don't want to give up, particularly the split spacebar.
That one feature opens up all kinds of new pathways to explore.

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twinsnek t1_iucm3bk wrote

If I may ask, how many keyboards do you own (both at home and work), and do you actually circle around between them or do you have a main one and the others are for specific situations or for the collection?

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NoOne-NBA- t1_iuhxyx7 wrote

Sticking strictly to mechanical keyboards, I have 2 1800s, my 60% ortho, a 3x10 ortho I won at a meetup a few months back, and a hand-built macropad I designed.
I also have a 60% case I just received that will house my next custom build.

I use the two 1800s at home, on two different computers.
I use the 60% ortho at work, and have the macropad sitting on my desk there, mostly as a decoration.
Once I finish my next build, I will be rotating that one into primary use at home, and sell one of my 1800s.

I used the 3x10 ortho for a bit, just to play around with, and get some ideas from.
That board is what threw me down the "design my own layouts" rabbit hole.
It triggered a bunch of "what ifs" in my head, which ultimately led me to my current custom layouts.

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