11 Jan 2016, 21:22
A symmetrically colored keyboard is consciously and subconsciously appealing, especially on a 60% board (right and left columns of modifiers bridged by a spacebar in the same color but contrasting with alphas and numerals). I have no data to support this supposition—just habits and opinions.
But when learning a new keyboard layout (currently only three months into using HHKB), color functions as a visual mnemonic for me at sacrifice of symmetry. This is an extreme example of how a lack of symmetry can be a distraction, but it is nonetheless an authentic example.
I recently put caps from an AEK II on a Matias Laptop Pro (this is probably harvesting from the better board to feed the lesser board, but I occasionally like to have bluetooth—and the Matias boards have 6-month battery life). I love the feel of the AEK caps (the Helvetica italics font is okay-ish but is wonderfully nostalgic), but the legacy nature of the homing keys—being on D and K instead of F and J—causes me occasional muscle memory confusion after decades of homing with F and J. So simply dying the F and J keys on the old AEK caps an alternate color makes a significant visual aide—when my finger memory gets confused, I can just glance down to get back on the home keys quickly.
Highlighting F and J from the other alphas is fairly symmetrical, but I’ve got a bit of a mess on my HHKB. I initially tried to adapt and like the fn arrow diamond cluster navigation. It works well if I am scrolling down a web page with one hand on my keyboard, but I find it much easier keeping both hands on the home row and use IJKL + Control for navigation.
Currently, I’m trying to get acclimated to both navigation methods, so I have IJKL caps in one color, the HHKB diamond cluster in another color, and the balance of my alphas in yet a third color (I have a white set I’ve died various colors and the native black on charcoal gray).
It looks like a by-product of finger painting day at clown college. It’s now anything but symmetrical. If I can put the rainbow vomit out of my mind and work, all the colors are highly functional. But when I stop to admire the aesthetics of my keyboard—well…I don’t spend much time admiring.
If you could rely on only ever using one keyboard layout at all times, having color or tone symmetry between modifiers and alphas/numerals seems zen-like on a 60% er (similar to Hypersphere’s “Symmetrical + Mods example in his original post, but all in blanks). TKL and full boards seem like they could achieve a balance of sorts with tone accents, but inherently the visual weighting of the num pad and arrow clusters keeps them from achieving symmetry …“not that there’s anything wrong with that…not at all”
Last edited by
seaworthy on 11 Jan 2016, 23:03, edited 1 time in total.
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