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I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

electronicmaterialsoffice.com

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Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#191

Post by konfusinomicon »

criley2 wrote: post #126

Looks really cool as a Mac keyboard. My dream keyboard at the moment is something like an ErgoDox EZ or moonlander which is ergonomics and quality first. I get the feeling this board will be a similar price ($300+ USD) and at that point I'd just get my dream board! Lol.

dont know about the ergodox, but the moonlander is worth every cent and you should definitely make that dream a reality. knowing what I know now that im over the learning curve I probably would have paid 500 for it. it would be nice if it was compatible with the low profile switches this one has though.

Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#192

Post by 45ure »

Lendal wrote: post #144
layer8 wrote: post #35

Everyone is different, but personally I won’t buy a keyboard without separate Delete and Backspace keys, without Home/End/PgUp/PgDn/Insert keys, and without a dedicated Menu key [0], for any kind of serious work. I’d also imagine that one is prone to bump into the rotary knob if one is not fully conditioned to that keyboard. I applaud the T-shaped cursor block and the full-sized function keys, although it would be us…

There's a lot of wasted space on the right side of this keyboard where they could have easily put the Del/PgUp/PgDn keys right there. I don't know why they didn't.

Judging from the USB-C at the top and other tact/slide switches on the side, my guess is that the MCU and a prismatic battery of sorts (500mAh Li-ion?) occupies that space. A low profile design will always have some tradeoffs; perhaps an oled in that space is possible with a cutout for a badge.

Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#193

Post by samatman »

layer8 wrote: post #157
samatman wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something I've been actively working on is chording with two hands. For an example, I noticed that I habitually type & with only my right hand, twisting my wrist to press shift and 7 at the same time, which is awkward and painful if I do it too often. The solution being to use the left pinky for the shift key and the right middle for the 7/&. I agree the less chords the better, but for what's left, making sure chords…

I’m trying to do that as well. I’ve been thinking that it would be nice to have some software that would disable specific chords when you use the “wrong-sided” modifier key for it, in order to train yourself to use the right one.

I couldn't figure out how to do this with QMK, I had the same thought as you.

Ok, more accurately I figured out that it would involve writing nontrivial amounts of C, and I gave up. You can do anything with QMK if you're determined.

Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#194

Post by Symbiote »

em500 wrote: post #136
rodrigodlu wrote: post #91

ISO keys, awesome. I wish ISO layouts can be more common, I grew up using ABNT (pt-BR) layouts, I got used to US-intl + altgr, but I dearly miss the big enter key. I'm a US layout MX Keys owner right now, so the key caps minimal profile is awesome for me. Definitely miss the big enter from ISO layouts. Don't care about the num pad like my accountant wife does, but the full size arrows and del/insert I do care. home/e…

I have the exact opposite pref. In most of Europe ISO layout (with various country-specific accents) are standard and it can be hard to find a US (ANSI) layout (with horizontal rather than vertical Enter). In the Netherlands, most brands seem to default US layout, but some (most notably Logitech and Apple) still default to ISO, with a thin vertical Enter. Even "International English" (Apple) or "International America…

US-ANSI keyboards are easily available in Denmark (double check the manufacture's model number though).

- https://www.computersalg.dk/l/1428/tastaturer?f=71324fc8-e92...

- https://www.proshop.dk/Tastatur?pre=0&f~tastaturer_sprog=amk...

Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#198

Post by thegeekpirate »

This is the first time I've gotten a real headache by looking at a website, and I'm assuming the culprit was too much movement mixed with only a couple hours of sleep.

Make sure the spin on the 360 view is user-controllable, and get rid of the marquees. A hover animation on the sections would only be expected if they're interactive. Text is needlessly large.

Everyone else has covered my qualms about the keyboard itself, but I'm legitimately not a fan of anything besides it being USB-C and made of aluminium, so I'm clearly not in the target market (I'm happy with my Model M and Das Ultimate) =b

Best of luck!

Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#199

Post by jagger27 »

layer8 wrote: post #163
Lendal wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of wasted space on the right side of this keyboard where they could have easily put the Del/PgUp/PgDn keys right there. I don't know why they didn't.

I suspect they need that space to house the internal electronics like the keyboard controller.

Controllers are really small these days and fit just fine in the gaps between keys (see link below for a typical example). It’s almost certainly mostly for the battery.

https://rama.works/updates/2020/4/24/m50-a-pcb-inventory-2-b...

Re: I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard

#200

Post by davidmurdoch »

elliotpage wrote: post #117
mromanuk wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More Website advice: - the text is too big - Add padding to text and images - Add space between elements (look crowded) - too much moving stuff: Loose the marquee text Pictures and videos looks awesome, the product looks superb, love the concept of having different height for keys. Congratulations on your launch!

I am sorry, but I strongly disagree. The Marquee text is what catapulted the site from "This is nice" to "This is Art" for me. But then again I am more viewing the page as a piece of performance art than an actual attempt to sell me a keyboard!

Try looking at out on mobile. It screams geocities.
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