The problem: Most famous and popular keyboard manufacturers make full-size keyboards with bad UX!
Yes, I'm talking about you: Logitech, Razer, HP, Dell, Corsair, and almost all other famous brands!
Almost all your modern keyboards miss a single crucial UX thing: separate media buttons!
Instead, they provide a terrible FN button that is actually the UX ENEMY!
Let me demonstrate this in some examples:
Example 1: People tend to listen to music or podcasts using computers or laptops.
Okay, we listen to music and work or relax.
But suddenly, a phone call appeared! What do we have to do?
Yes, instantly stop the music to answer the call!
And how can we "quickly" do this with our brand-new modern FN-powered keyboards?
Yes, we have to use two fingers, or even two hands, to press a combo shortcut like FN+F1, just to simply urgently mute the music??
Is it convenient??? Completely not!
Example 2: You want to quickly close the app using the Alt+F4 shortcut.
You're pressing it, but it doesn't work! Why? Because the FN-lock mode is on!
You have to use your both hands to close the app by pressing three buttons at once: FN+Alt+F4 instead!
Convenient??? Absolutely not!
Example N+1: Using Mute and three-button-action like Ctrl+Alt+F2?
No! Suffer with four-button action using two hands: FN+Ctrl+Alt+F2, or with FN+Mute!
FN-lock mode is EVIL!!!
Yes, we usually have the FN-lock mode, which can be turned on to make F1 - F12 buttons act as media keys!
Is it good? Completely not! Even more!
Having the FN-lock mode, before each click, users have to remember whether the FN-lock mode is turned on or off, before clicking on any dual-mode button, to understand which action will be done by the single press! And for wireless keyboards, there is no FN-lock mode indicator at all!
Is this convenient? Completely not!
Yes, we can enable the FN-lock mode for the whole time, to make the media buttons work by default, without pressing FN. But they immediately lose the default button behavior, and need to press two keys to just call the default simple F1 action, and the same for all other F2-F12 keys! And three keys instead of two for shortcuts like Alt+F4, probably even using two hands instead of one. And four keys instead of three for complex shortcuts like Ctrl+Alt+F2, etc.
So, with FN-lock modes, we will get the quick Mute action, but will lose the quick F1 action!
Or the opposite - have convenient function keys, but complex access to the media keys!
Hard choice!
Also, the FN button can't be configured by the OS's built-in software! So, users are not able to turn the FN-lock mode on or off by automations, nor change the behavior of FN+somekey shortcuts!
In conclusion, the FN key is only useful for small-sized keyboards, like in 13-14" laptops, where we really have no space for additional media keys.
And that's all!
For full-sized desktop keyboards, the FN key is the UX ENEMY!
And even for 15-17" laptops, we usually have enough space to make dedicated media and other action buttons, instead of making the users suffer with than FN button and remembering the FN-lock mode!
And one more thing: Volume Control!
Do you really think that tuning volume using separate Volume UP + Volume Down buttons convenient for users?
Completely not! The convenient volume control approach is a knob! Yes, a single old-school rotary control is 100x times more convenient than two separate buttons!
Just rotate left to increase, right to decrease, press to mute - damn simple and convenient! Rotate sharply for instant change, slowly for precise control... What a convenience! Thank you, knob inventors!
And another thing: Please stop inventing new layouts!
The best layout is already invented - it's the classic layout!
People love to touch type! They don't want to learn new layouts on each new keyboard!
So, please stop moving the arrow keys, Print Screen key, Page Up, Page Down, Del, Ctrl, Alt, and all other crucial keys to new places!
And for F1-F12 keys - their position over the numeric (1-0) keys should be the same. So, stick to the classic layout, including button sizes and spacing between F1-F12 buttons, too!
Even a 1mm disposition of a key is already a source of missclicks!
So, the appeal to all famous brands of keyboard makers:
Please, please!!! Take into account this feedback, and understand that "combos" using FN keys are not convenient for users of full-sized keyboards at all!
And start making a really convenient keyboard for users, without any FN keys, FN-lock modes, and other tricky things, but with the strict classic layouts!
And start adding rotary control knobs for volume control, if this is not a rocket science challenge to you!
Believe us, we, real desktop keyboard users, have more than enough space on the desktops to fit additional dedicated media keys, to stop suffering from the FN button pains!
If you don't want to believe us, make your own survey and surprise yourself!
And the appeal to keyboard users:
Sign the petition on Change.org to show our voices!
Share your pains and disappointments about the FN button! Put comments here, write your own posts with a hashtag: #KillTheFN, find other articles and upvote them too!
Submit your individual feedback to the vendors that the FN key is the UX evil with a link to these articles, and beg them to Kill The FN!
Let's kill the FN button together!
P.S. Here is an example of a really convenient keyboard with dedicated media buttons and the volume knob: CHICONY KB-0420 - my UX favorite:
And what is your favorite keyboard with separate media buttons? Please share the model in the comments!
