Monday 15 September 2008

STUPID little design decisions

I am currently using a laptop at work, and it is shitting me.

The blue Fn key, used as a modifier to make keys do more on the limited space provided to a laptop, is bottom left. Which is where the Ctrl key is on every other (English QWERTY) keyboard in existence.

Which is infuriating for an experienced touch-typer like myself - I keep hitting going for Ctrl-S to save a document, and end up with an 's' on screen. Ctrl-backspace, to delete the entire previous word, just gives me one backspace.

At this point you could suggest that I be grateful that I don't accidentally switch the screen off, or force-close the application. But I'm not going to be, because the problem shouldn't exist in the first place. Ctrl is a very useful key while typing, and not just for Emacs users. It should be easy to hit without having to remap a keyboard layout which is otherwise portable to just about any computer, anywhere.
Asus, that was a really bad choice.

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