Languages that use more than A-Z, basically every other language, call it foreign letters if you want, can not type on the proposed layout like the English do. Removing the keys everyone else uses to type their languages is the same as it would be for english people if anything from A-Z was taken away.
Seeing foreign symbols, is detrimental. Its not that it ruins the whole thing, but it is a drag. Pandora keyboard being an example thereof.
The ctrl/select drives me nuts, not only is the orientation wrong, arguably the order is too, and the readability is lower than all other keys, making it the rotten apple.
You could find backspace on your keyboard if there were no labels, not so much when its nowhere on the typewriter area to be found. That is unprecedented.
Symbols aren't all over the place on mobile keyboards because they are mobile, nor because they are better used with two thumbs that way, they are that way because of _limitations_.
Its never the same, and it is always bad.
You are wrong about alternating between hands needlessly, because that is what you are doing, shifting motorical attention, and tying up both, instead of just one (which is off-centered anyway) in the worst possible position.
Nobody, ever, thinks comma and dot on the left is normal. It looks and functions like a hacky solution due to a lack of keys, it isn't balanced.
Fn to type symbols doesnt make sense, and it fails for novices. When it could have been working, as per normal. Nothing awkward about mobile keyboards is normal anymore. They are gone for a reason.
Put Esc on Esc, top left outside of keyboard area, done deal.
I know tab isnt ideal, but it cant be. Either its in the correct position, or its in a functional position compared to the dpad. I am open about all shortcomings, not trying to trick anyone.
Problems are real for the people who have them. Some people, like me, are pedantic, we notice detail, and flaws. Take for instance that guy who made the dpad, who does that? He does, nobody else.
AltGr isnt complex, its normal, two modifiers total is however too simple, because its missing functionality. AltGr+ qwerty and so on (alternate graphics) is supposed to do something @ł€®þ←
Showing people 1 layout isnt even a test of comparison, it never occurs to someone that they should mention how to improve, or their difficulty, they just hammer on.
I used windows, windows, i said it, and i never knew it was terribad until way after i got good at it. Novices are people who aren't good with computers, not the people at gamescom.
(Ill make a list of all shift+ and altGr+ combos and modifiers here) most all of which is lost.
Added functionality:
- Tradable buttons you can type other languages than English on (the most important purchase-groups other than english covered nativly)
- Streamlined punctuation (a reason why singlespace is better, this vs this (try this for yourself))
- Shift+ combos for all coding brackets {[ ]} < > and : (same as above)
- AltGr+ combos for ? and - and often used English ' (things you can get done with one press is better than tying up both thumbs)
- Alternate graphics
- One US diactric symbol per key (more coverage than any other layout if you prefer that)
- Language layer (all important european languages one+one click away)
- Select Start in correct orientation (even when horizontal, the pandora is still wrong.) (yet i imagine a lot of people will vote to keep it broken)
- Ability to use Fn with everything (+shoulders for mediabuttons, + dpad, +buttoncluster + all of the letters that otherwise would have clutter on them)
- No major issues with buttons that don't belong together on the same key. (the look is not the same if the tie is around your waist, you are just using the same wardrobe)
- Compose on Start is a lot less shaky than on flappy-space.
- Buttoncluster labels that make sense for gaming buttons and 87-key functionality (this, forever this)
Removed functionality:
- Ease of typing F-keys with shoulders, (along with potential accidentals to be fair)
- Ease of seeing where F-keys are (which is ugly to be fair) (And you can Alt+F4, accidentally)
- F-key labeling
- Caps lock labelling
- Fn labeling (because we dont know for sure what works best, its ugly, and the user knows best)
- Super key, (there are plenty of other good options to control a desktop environment than waste a button. Xfce has a nice setup, and doesnt use super by default.)
Changed functionality
- Visibility of things that should be on the AltGr layer
I think people who use / and \ do so sparingly, or are sufficiently advanced to use shoulders to type those, with shift in one place, which is how not to waste one, you have to make that transition all things considered.
The people who want extra keys for foreign letters, are the majority, as per the vote. The keyboardtreads long since stopped having regular people in them. Its now a vortex of the same people producing forever changing design, with no guidance. And then me pasting my layout every now and then. It seems people listen more to you though.
üöä, in that order, in that orientation, is forgetting how people type, not just Germans, but everyone who isn't anglo/english.
üöä are letters, meant to be typed to the right of p and the right of l. Now the default only has one layout, and i think keeping with how people know to type is infinitely better than re-training them with methods you invent.
The symbols on those keys, [{ ]} and < > are duplicated on the
altGr layer. Fortunately, they are all symbols advanced people use, so for regular people, its not even noticed.
The way i envision typing French is with select, which doubles as a language layer+numbers. Closest thing you get to typing french without ruining things for everyone else. And you can type big letters.
An ideal situation, is to have the foreign letter keys be visual, and a keymat could be made for that, showing the changes. Meanwhile, early adopters are advanced people who dont look at the keyboard when they type. Position is everything. With two defaults, you get a lot done, because even for novices, they can use a german keyboard to type for example Norwegian. Having a letter to type that produces local equivalent is help along the way.
So with all things staying the same, preproduced English default pyras. Worst case you throw a keymat into the package and send it off, let the user assemble it. No added nothing.
TOHKBD and librem are much smaller, but ok, one default english keymat, and one german keymat. Name your price for 1000, if I can afford it, I will gladly pay.