We need to redesign the freaken keyboard!!

[CalamitySymphony]

Seriously, when you consider that most people are right handed, how can not have an enter button on the left side? Especially when working quickly or multitasking with the mouse in the right hand?

Anyone else ever had this feeling that they're coming out with some of the craziest new HDs that are less than size of a quarter, or LCDs that you can roll around, but they can't give us some sort of customizable or better designed keyboard?

Now I really wish I could reassign that stupid CAPS LOCK key that I NEVER use into a Enter key. Anyone know of any software that can let me do this?

 

[poisonthewell]

No I never really thought about it. I kinda like that keyboards are fairly standardized. Wireless vs non, ergonomic or not are about the only things I want to consider when purchasing a keyboard.

 

[CalamitySymphony]

On second thought, when will you ever need to type an extensive paragraph in ALL capslocks and NOT be flamed off the earth? That key seems so worthless...

 

[TSS]

some people use it im sure... else they'd have a empty slot there. personally im more comfertable of hitting a capslock key when im hitting tab for scores or shift for walk, instead of enter (which then means use item and i actually need those). so as a gamer i cant really agree. besides i'd rather not have a huge capslock key to replace the enter on the right. makes it more tempting to push.

 

[CalamitySymphony]

Haha, nevermind. I found a solution, a simple program called Key Tweak.

 

[Finns14]

There is a keyboard out there where the buttons are free floating and you can move them how ever you like.

 

[Ricemarine]

Why don't you use the dvorak keyboard?

 

[Mik3y]

god gave you a pinky. learn to use it.

 

[l Xes l]

shut it

 

[Zepper]

http://www.a4tech.com makes keyboards with the keypad on the left side. That would put an Enter key near the left hand.

.bh.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

no. lets leave the keyboard as it is. CALMITY, just turn the keyboard upside down, then it'll be on your left =]

 

[Greenman]

I'd like know decided to put the function keys along the top of the keyboard. They used to be on the left, where God intended them to be, then one day I find them all along the top of the board, where you can't use them at all. As far as I know, there is only one keyboard that has them on the left still, and it's over a hundred bucks.

 

[NeoHavoc]

Just had to throw my 2 cents in. The caps lock key does have it's place, especially in the work environment. You have no idea how many times I have had to fill in a spread sheet comprised of all number and acronyms. I am always greatful for the caps key when I do work like that.

 

[Jeff7]

I use the mouse right next to the keyboard (and I am right-handed) - if I need to, I can always just use my thumb to hit the Enter key on the numeric keypad.

 

[JLGatsby]

You need to move your hands more when you type. I type just as fast as these people who have the "traditional" hand typing formation (fingers on the middle row and never moving), but it's more comfortable to have free floating hands above the keyboard.

 

[Velk]

Originally posted by: Greenman
I'd like know decided to put the function keys along the top of the keyboard. They used to be on the left, where God intended them to be, then one day I find them all along the top of the board, where you can't use them at all. As far as I know, there is only one keyboard that has them on the left still, and it's over a hundred bucks.

Logitech G15 has a bank of programmable function keys on the left. You can map them to Fkeys or enter or whatever. The g15 is still fairly pricey though, but a very nice keyboard.

 

[Hacp]

who uses home, end, page up, and page down???

 

[PingSpike]

I use home, end and occasionally page up and page down.

What I really want is for backspace to be on the home row. I think I use that key more then the spacebar.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Hacp
who uses home, end, page up, and page down???

Me. Quite often, actually. They're very handy for highlighting.
I also may be one of the few people who uses the Win95 key regularly.

 

[piasabird]

You can probably do this in windows. I have done it on a DOS machine and my Mainframe emulation program can do it quite easily. It is just simple key mapping. On the mainframe software the enter key is only a carriage return and the right control key is the enter key, and the left control key is a reset key.

Try checking this out:

http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/tools/msklc.mspx

It said the .net framework must be installed.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: Hacp
who uses home, end, page up, and page down???

I do, regularly. They are standard keystrokes in DeLorme mapping programs for zooming out, in, etc.

They are also used in word processing quite a bit.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: corkyg

Originally posted by: Hacp
who uses home, end, page up, and page down???

I do, regularly. They are standard keystrokes in DeLorme mapping programs for zooming out, in, etc.

They are also used in word processing quite a bit.

I also use home/end extensively while programming. Being able to jump to the start/end of long lines of code is very helpful.

And I use page up/down all the time. Do you go to your mouse every time you want to scroll up/down a long webpage/document? Or hold down the up/down arrow and wait?

I use caps lock on occasion, too. Admittedly less often than numlock, but a hell of a lot more than I use scroll lock. Interestingly, SUN Microsystems keyboards (at least the older ones) switched the positions of the left control and the caps lock keys. This is actually a nice change, since in UNIX (especially if you are using Emacs), you are often hitting CTRL-<insert key here> combinations, and that move makes it easier to reach the left control key. But it's not that big a deal.

I *still* don't like the goofy Windows keys (well, I actually wouldn't mind them so much if hitting it didn't minimize full-screen applications). That's about the only thing I would ditch from today's keyboards.

What I really want is for backspace to be on the home row. I think I use that key more then the spacebar.

I might suggest some typing practice.

OP, as I'm sure you have found by now, there is software that can remap keys in Windows. You can swap your keyboard to use a Dvorak layout on the fly if you really want.

 

[zephyrprime]

We definitely need new keyboards! I wish they would make and entirely customizeable keyboard.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
We definitely need new keyboards! I wish they would make and entirely customizeable keyboard.

Not full-size, but:

ergodex DX1 customizable keypad