Just a quick note: I am also very much in favour of putting the F-keys on the number keys. For one most compact keyboards (I own) do it like that and it seems more intuitive (to me at least, but that is personal preference as has been already discussed).
For another, this would put € on E where it belongs and opens up Tab or Q for ESC, which is a better choice in my opinion, since it feels more natural (ESC on Q=Quit / ESC on Tab as the opposite of tabbing through input fields = exit current form).
In the end it looks like the layout will be a custom, non-standard one no matter what we do. So in my opinion every key in a non-standard or unexpected (to most users) position should make sense from the context and not just be placed there because there was still room.
This is especially important with often used keys like the F-keys, ESC, shift, control, etc.
I agree with Linux-SWAT: I feel like having special symbols like the French accents or German umlauts in the "correct" position is nice for a single group of people, but we should not sacrifice the position of keys important to ALL users for that.
Finally this is all just theory crafting. Nobody here can actually predict whether this layout works or layout X is better than Y (given that both are reasonable, but all in here seem to be).
What we need is some prototyping or rather people creating this custom layout for their keyboard at home (as closely as possible), test drive it for a week or longer and report back with problems/suggestions/ideas.
It's the same with the action buttons really. Nobody can objectively say greek-smbols are better/worse than ABXY, (though some people are making quite an effort), both have pros and cons. To find out what works best you gotta let a larger group of people test it.
And since ED does not have the money to prototype a thousand keymats or cases with buttons we gotta find some cheap alternatives to properly test it I think. (instead of just arguing about single button placements)
Some makeshift prototypes (like a keyboard layout for you at home) could be especially helpful, since you can invite outsiders to test it, too. We are all just way too used to the Pandora's keyboard and special workarounds/problems. Get some novices in the mix and find out what is really bothering them with this layout.
For another, this would put € on E where it belongs and opens up Tab or Q for ESC, which is a better choice in my opinion, since it feels more natural (ESC on Q=Quit / ESC on Tab as the opposite of tabbing through input fields = exit current form).
In the end it looks like the layout will be a custom, non-standard one no matter what we do. So in my opinion every key in a non-standard or unexpected (to most users) position should make sense from the context and not just be placed there because there was still room.
This is especially important with often used keys like the F-keys, ESC, shift, control, etc.
I agree with Linux-SWAT: I feel like having special symbols like the French accents or German umlauts in the "correct" position is nice for a single group of people, but we should not sacrifice the position of keys important to ALL users for that.
Finally this is all just theory crafting. Nobody here can actually predict whether this layout works or layout X is better than Y (given that both are reasonable, but all in here seem to be).
What we need is some prototyping or rather people creating this custom layout for their keyboard at home (as closely as possible), test drive it for a week or longer and report back with problems/suggestions/ideas.
It's the same with the action buttons really. Nobody can objectively say greek-smbols are better/worse than ABXY, (though some people are making quite an effort), both have pros and cons. To find out what works best you gotta let a larger group of people test it.
And since ED does not have the money to prototype a thousand keymats or cases with buttons we gotta find some cheap alternatives to properly test it I think. (instead of just arguing about single button placements)
Some makeshift prototypes (like a keyboard layout for you at home) could be especially helpful, since you can invite outsiders to test it, too. We are all just way too used to the Pandora's keyboard and special workarounds/problems. Get some novices in the mix and find out what is really bothering them with this layout.
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