Keyboard rant

I've noticed something about my Microsoft Digital Media keyboard.

A lot of the buttons go unused.

I'm not talking about the big three that very few people use (PrtScn/SysRq, Scroll Lock, and Pause/Break). For me, the Print Screen button actually gets a workout, because I like to document stuff (especially when something breaks). So does the Windows/Super/Start button. Heck, even the quick start button for the Calculator gets into the act -- even if the other program quick-keys don't.

I do miss the media player control buttons, though I suppose with a little tweaking in Debian or actually loading the drivers in Windows, I could set the ominous 1-5 buttons that sit unused to actually do something. But at least my volume controls and mute button work. The zoom lever's function is a mystery to me, though I haven't tried it out in GIMP or IE yet.

But in designing this keyboard, Microsoft added 12 new keys. But the problem was, they didn't actually add them to the keyboard. That would imply a new block of keys to ignore. No... they took a cue from laptop designers and overlayed the function keys with new functions.

Adding new keys to a keyboard -- especially mutlimedia keys and quick start keys -- is not a new thing. Heck, I've got an old IBM-branded keyboard with a quick-start button hand-labeled Lotus 1-2-3. Overwriting -- more accurately modifying keys so the original function now requires a meta-keystroke (i.e. Alt+, Ctrl+, or Win+) -- is a bit harder to get used to.

So I have a new favorite button: the "F Lock" button. The F Lock button's purpose is simple: toggle between the traditional F1-F12 keys and the new ... Office-related? ... keys.  Truthfully, the keyboard reminds me of that chipboard keyboard template that used to come with WordPerfect and flight sims, that described what each key did. Because now, instead of F4, you get "New". F10 is Spell, which I assume is spell checker.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't have a problem with these functions being mapped to their own buttons. And on this keyboard, it's easy enough to treat it like I have the Number Pad for years: make sure NumLock is on when I sit down, and go like normal. Even better, the new key behaviour is clearly marked, with the new function names printed on top of the button, and the traditional F Keys on the side as fits the demoted status. The F Lock key makes it possible for touch-typists to continue to use the keyboard unimpeded -- especially those of us used to using keyboard shortcuts that included the Function Keys. So kudos to Microsoft: you extended the functionality of a design while leaving legacy functionality accessible to power users.

So why am I praising Microsoft in this; even if it is a bit backhandedly? My wife just (past 6 months) bought an HP Pavilion laptop, and I had to use it to look something up for her right quick -- specifically needing to refresh the page to check the information. Being a touch-typist, I set up on home row and hit the F5 key.  Which promptly took me back to the browser's home page.

The keyboard on her laptop has also overwritten the function keys; and the F5 is now a globe, which is really my second complaint with the design: I know there's limited space, but why the icons instead of
words? On my keyboard, there is a browser launch button: it's icon mirrors the "Home" button from IE, but it's still labeled "Web/Home". In fact, the only buttons without an explicit label are the big silver 1-5 buttons, which I still assume are programmable; and the volume control buttons. But the globe button -- which is a good representation of "start a browser", not so much "return to the home page" -- being where the Refresh button should be? For anyone not already familiar with the way HP designed their keyboard, they're going to be frustrated and upset.

And it doesn't have an F-Lock (or, with their labeling convention, an "fn-Lock") key. [In fairness, the MSFT keyboard doesn't have a single-use key; so you can't easily switch between functions.] So now, a hard refresh (Ctrl+F5) is a three-finger salute (fn+Ctrl+F5). Same with closing (fn+Alt+F4) or maximizing (fn+Alt+F10) a window. I would wager that while this point was raised with someone on the design team at some point, the response was "But who actually uses the function keys?" And truthfully, they're probably right. For the rest of us, though; instead of Ctrl+S, Alt-F4, I may go back to ":wq" instead.