I Hate (Most) Keyboard 'Fn' Keys

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Fn Keys, Defaults, and Stateful Behavior

  • Many dislike keyboards where media/brightness are primary and F1–F12 require holding Fn or toggling a hidden “Fn lock.”
  • Persistent Fn state (especially “Fn as Caps Lock”) is widely criticized as causing mode confusion and breaking muscle memory.
  • Some laptops/keyboards provide good solutions: BIOS options to flip Fn/Ctrl, choose F-keys vs media as default, or temporary overrides (e.g., Alt+F4 always works regardless of Fn mode).
  • Others handle Fn in firmware only, so the OS can’t see or remap it, leading to unfixable behaviors (e.g., airplane-mode keys or sleep keys next to frequently used keys).

Function Keys vs Media Keys: What People Actually Use

  • Some barely use F-keys and prefer volume/brightness on the top row.
  • Others rely heavily on F-keys for: window closing (Alt+F4), rename (F2), refresh (F5), fullscreen (F11), “Save As” (F12), IDE/debugger shortcuts, Excel, games, web dev tools.
  • Several argue that full‑size, well‑spaced function keys (grouped 4–4–4) are crucial for efficient use.

Keyboard Layouts, Ergonomics, and “Bad” Keys

  • Frequent complaints: missing dedicated Home/End/PgUp/PgDn, cramped arrows, misplaced PrintScreen, and dangerous sleep/power keys near common keys.
  • ThinkPad‑style Fn at bottom left is polarizing; some see it as a long‑standing mistake, others as a deliberate design with BIOS-based escape hatches.
  • Caps Lock is often remapped (Ctrl, Shift, Hyper, push‑to‑talk, Esc), though some still use it for long uppercase sequences.
  • Sleep/power keys are commonly disabled or remapped at OS or registry level; some map sleep to F4.

Natural Scrolling and Input Metaphors

  • Strong split: some find “natural” scrolling intuitive on trackpads (dragging the page), others see it as ergonomically and mentally wrong.
  • Several prefer: natural on trackpads, “classic” on mouse wheels. macOS tying both to a single setting is widely criticized.
  • Third‑party tools are used to separate scroll directions per device and adjust pointer acceleration.

Programmable and Ergonomic Keyboards

  • Many advocate QMK/ZMK/firmware‑programmable or heavily remapped boards to:
    • Put modifiers and layers on thumbs.
    • Replace nav clusters, numpads, and F-rows with layers on home row.
    • Avoid stateful toggles in favor of “quasimodes” (hold‑to‑activate layers).
  • Opinions diverge on ultra‑small (40–50%) and column‑stagger layouts: some find them transformative; others worry about thumb fatigue, awkward reaches, and overcomplex layer state.