The Perfect Laptop Keyboard Layout Does Exist…

In this article, I argue that the given laptop keyboard layout is the optimal configuration for an average user.

The BEST keyboard layout that we want

Being a computer programmer and a research student, I can’t have a single day without using my laptop. I am a QWERTY layout based touch typer and gamer using WASD based navigation. Also, I work in a dynamic environment thus, I don’t use external keyboards or mice except laptop keyboard and touchpad. So far I have used many laptops with different keyboard layouts in last 10 years. Based on all that experience, I came up with the above layout as the best one for an average user. However, moving forward please note that this is my point of view based on my experience and I try to give my best shot to support my perspective.

Note that the given layout is for Windows/Linux laptops and you can derive the layout for Macbooks by simply replacing ctrl, alt, and start keys with control, command, and option keys. But other keys will be same as above.

First of all, I list down the common tasks of a laptop keyboard.

1. Coding
2. Writing documents
3. Audio/Video/Graphic editing
4. Media control
5. Gaming

In these common tasks, we can identify following 3 basic actions.

1. Entering alphanumeric characters
2. Navigation
3. Executing special functions

For entering alphanumeric characters we need typing keys. However, typing is closely coupled with navigation as we need to move cursor different locations while coding and writing documents. So navigation keys such as arrow keys, home/end keys, page up/down keys play a vital role not only when typing but also in other tasks. Control keys and function keys are used to execute special functions. Sometimes we use combination of all these keys to execute some command. Let’s dive into each category and find out the advantages.

Typing Keys — There is no difference of typing keys in the given layout compared to any average QWERTY keyboard layout except the button scales of tab, capslock, shift, backspace, and enter buttons. However, some keyboards locate the backslash button (\) next to the quotes (“) button and have flipped L shape for enter button. I find it harder to reach enter button in that way so that I prefer the given position for backslash button.

Function Keys — I find this composition of function keys (mapped functions) is very useful and clear.

Function Keys

• F1 is mapped to control backlight of the keyboard. This function cannot be ignored for a keyboard with backlight. (pro tip: don’t buy a laptop without backlit keyboard 😺)
• F2-F4 control sound. This is a part of media control functions.
• F5 is mapped to play/pause media. I find very convinient because we normally use F5 for similar task in many apps.
• F6-F7 control brightness of the screen.
• F8 can be used to take screenshots. (As a regular user you should know the power of screen shots 😉)
• F9-F12 can be used for navigation which I find time saving when coding and writing. Specially, home and end keys just near the ring finger avoid usage of mouse to move the cursor to begining or end of a line.

I have seen other functions mapped into function keys such as off microphone, lock touch pad, lock screen, play next/previous track, open media app/browser, on/off wifi/bluetooth and much more. But I don’t see them as frequent functions compared given functions above.

Control Keys — Esc, Ctrl, Fn, Start, Alt, and Power buttons are the control keys seen in above layout. I use left alt key (alt+tab for changing windows) and both ctrl keys more often. If you are enthusiastic of shortcuts, you may be aware of the importance of both ctrl keys. Nonetheless, I find left ctrl in the bottom left corner is more convinient than having it next to windows key as in some laptops. Right click button button is helpful for some tasks but I rarely used it in last few years. So, I removed it due to low usage and space constraints. However, we can replace it with right alt button (Suggest your thought on this). In overall, this control key setup is sufficient for the common tasks we usually do.

Arrow Keys — I personally don’t like the composition of the arrow keys with little up and down arrow keys. But in the long term I observed both up and down arrow keys are not used frequently (I mostly use them while getting previous commands in the terminal) and when I use them, both keys will be used for that task. So having little up and down arrow keys feels practical. Nevertheless, Macbook and Thinkpad designs are not aesthetic and X series design introduces an extra column of keys. Hence, I choose a similar layout as depicted in the Surface laptop which not only saves the space but also gives a nice compact look.

Arrow Keys of Apple Macbok, Lenovo Thinkpad, Asus X series, and Microsoft Surface

Considering the facts I have listed above I conclude that this is the best laptop keyboard layout that a developer should be looking for. It has minimalistic, aesthetic, and versatile qualities one can not simply avoid. The closest keyboard similar to above layout is in Microsoft Surface laptops but they don’t offer a right ctrl key. This layout might not be suitable for some data entry tasks that need substantial amount of numerical values to be entered. But for an average laptop user this should be the most convinient laptop keyboard layout.

Finally, I warmly welcome your thoughts and thanks a lot for reading this article.