I was just reading this thread… https://sh.itjust.works/post/23476261
…and it got me thinking about something that I’ve wanted for a long time. Why is it that keyboards have not evolved to have dedicated copy/paste keys left of the main board? I’d love to see an additional column of keys left of Esc->Ctrl configurable as macros at least. I do a lot of copy/paste for work. The current shortcuts arent terrible or anything but they’re not exactly comfortable. I’d rather move my whole hand to the left for a macro key than contort to hit the current shortcut.
What do you think?
At some point, the populace felt keyboard shortcuts were enough and they have everything else they need on a keyboard. It’s the standard, other keyboard designs didn’t really quite take off, and most people can barely use a full-sized keyboard anyway.
Some people prefer smaller keyboards, and are willing (and wanting) to have more shortcuts and function layers for ergonomic and desk space reasons.
(If you use a 40% or smaller keyboard, you’re weird, and I love/hate you.)
Some other people use so many shortcuts that it becomes so infeasible to remember or press them all, so they get macro pads, or even entire additional keyboards to function as macro pads.
In the Before Time, there were physical keyboard overlays for specific apps. For example Wordperfect had an overlay that showed it’s keyboard functions.