Backlit Keyboard YES or NO?

[tp4tissue]

I mean, if you think about it from a purely functional perspective, for a touch typist, why would it matter if the lettering on some of the keys wears off?

Idk about you, but I can't feel doubleshot/dyesub lettering under my fingertips, which certainly isn't the case with engraved, painted, laser-etched and sometimes printed legends.

I find some kind of easily visible lettering quite useful, when I'm putting a set on a keyboard—to distinguish different profiles/rows. An obscure use case, but an use case nevertheless.

If it's assumed keycaps with legends (as opposed to blanks) improve accessibility for some users, higher quality printing methods make the final product less complex than backlighting.

I seriously doubt that those extremely minor differences in feel can explain the popularity (among enthusiasts) of more durable printing methods.

If you want to get into obscure use cases, then people who use backlighting to see their keys in the dark will count. If rare cases of accessibility issues are a concern, then you also have to take into account users with bad eyesight, whose ability to see the keys will benefit from backlighting. If anything, that seems likely to be more common than people who will lose the ability to use the keyboard after their letters start to fade. And of course, even lettering that rubs off within days will do the job if you're just using it to get the keys in the right place.

Anyway, the case of different printing methods is just one of the many ways in which people focus on the appearance of their keyboard. There are also keysets that sell on the basis of having different colors, and novelty keycaps that sell for vast amounts of money despite having a negative effect on the typing feel of the key in question. If you're not going to accept that it's okay for appearance to sometimes trump functionality in people's preferences, surely the latter would be a far more fitting target...

I don't think night time use of your keyboard is an obscure use case at all.  Buying into high end keyboards that you carry from location to location and use to play games and do business seem to include late night surfing, gaming, home entertainment, and programming, text entry.

Backlit is a GIMMICK within the home use market


If you can't touch type..  you probably don't use a keyboard enough to even justify buying mechanical in the first place..



Looking at your keyboard, and making it pretty does absolutely NOTHING...



For example,   lets say you dress up a car...  that might get you laid...

Dress up a keyboard is the antithesis of laid-itude...   


If WHATEVER you do does not contribute to the propagation odds of either you or others,  then it needs not be done.. 

[digi]

do you even backlit......bro?

[paicrai]

they make you type faster
yes

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Well, certainly visitors to the office notice my backlit Poker II — maybe one day I'll succeed in getting someone hooked on MX reds (I rarely think to invite anyone to try the switches). The fact that it's lit up seems to attract more attention than that nearly half the keys are missing from it.

I really like having a backlit keyboard — it's just more fun. At least, until I finally wear through the paint on the keycaps, anyway : )
(Not yet, though there's a small dink on one of them where the light shines through.)

[digi]

led's can be compared to chicks, yea, your girl might look OK without makeup, but add some basic makeup and she instantly goes up 2...maybe 3 points. It's basic math people.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

led's can be compared to chicks, yea, your girl might look OK without makeup, but add some basic makeup and she instantly goes up 2...maybe 3 points. It's basic math people.

Is the effort you're expecting her to go through every day for you, justifiable? I've never considered it to be. I am sure she could find something better to do with her time than live out a life of not being allowed to actually look like a human being.

At least backlit keyboards have this factored out: it's manufactured backlit and it remains backlit forever. Make-up isn't something you apply once and retain forever, after all.

Granted, backlit keyboards are less economical, as they do consume additional electricity in place of simply using printed legends. That is something that does bother me.

[digi]

led's can be compared to chicks, yea, your girl might look OK without makeup, but add some basic makeup and she instantly goes up 2...maybe 3 points. It's basic math people.

Is the effort you're expecting her to go through every day for you, justifiable? I've never considered it to be. I am sure she could find something better to do with her time than live out a life of not being allowed to actually look like a human being.

At least backlit keyboards have this factored out: it's manufactured backlit and it remains backlit forever. Make-up isn't something you apply once and retain forever, after all.

Granted, backlit keyboards are less economical, as they do consume additional electricity in place of simply using printed legends. That is something that does bother me.

i don't expect her to, she just does. led's can be turned on/off if the board is decent...so they're both optional.

[Hull]

A very subtle glow when typing in a dark room is better than no glow at all. But the color need to be a soft blend of colors and certainly not neon blue or neon red. I prefer a soft light yellow or whiteish color using a very weak but even lightsource. Better no glow than pitch red, green or blue, which damage my eyes.


 

[davkol]

I've heard three explanations so far: it's fun, it supports low self esteem (I smell social pressure there) and finally the scientific one: fake ovulation. Anyway, as some random redditor has put it: "I want to like a girl, not the mask she wears." Yeah, I dislike make-up for the most part.

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[rowdy]

No...

Before I bought my first big boy keyboard, I genuinely thought that I would need the backlighting. I settled on a high contrast yellow on black Filco, but I hardly even look at the keyboard anymore, unless it is extremely dark, or I am drunk. I still don't think I would like a black on black board, but white, pink or grey would be acceptable for those times when I have to glance down.

Backlighting would interrupt the general experience of typing and relaxing.

Welcome to Geekhack!

On my non-backlit keyboards I do prefer a greater contrast between the keys and the legends.

[wes1099]

I personally prefer a subtle glow around the caps.  Can't stand the legends being lit.  This is the one thing about my orbweaver I don't like that I need to get remidied.  That and I do really like the HDD activity LED under my esc key.

Similar to this post, I think backlit legends are stupid, but I like it when my keyboard has a slight glow to it like these:

[Roibhilin]

way to completely derail a thread about backlighting into a discussion about "women are lying to me when they put on makeup abloobloobloo"

[tp4tissue]

I've heard three explanations so far: it's fun, it supports low self esteem (I smell social pressure there) and finally the scientific one: fake ovulation. Anyway, as some random redditor has put it: "I want to like a girl, not the mask she wears." Yeah, I dislike make-up for the most part.

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The primary function of makeup is to change the Perceived proportions of facial features by shifting emphasis (center of gravity) through contrast modification.....


 

[Daniel Beardsmore]

way to completely derail a thread about backlighting into a discussion about "women are lying to me when they put on makeup abloobloobloo"

You expect non-derailed threads? Looking at your post count, I suppose that is forgivable ;-)

Personally I'm surprised at how little love there is for backlit keyboards in this topic. I run mine at maximum intensity (bye bye retinas) and the chief downside is that now there's over 60 lights shining on all the detritus that collects between the switches!

(Wait, why does Firefox think that I should spell "forgivable" as "forgiveable"?)

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The primary function of makeup is to change the Perceived proportions of facial features by shifting emphasis (center of gravity) through contrast modification.....

It's a factoring violation: it's a virtually mandatory repetition of effort on a indefinite basis as part of the ever-growing obsession that we're not allowed to look like real human beings, even for men.

[katushkin]

http://kc-keycool.com/product.php?mod=detail&id=50

Sexy as hell

[orangeju1ce]

They're good to look at sometimes, but then .. I don't really look at the keyboard when I type and I don't really type in the dark often. Backlit keyboards are fine if you like to show off your goods , but no backlit is great too

[tp4tissue]

The primary function of makeup is to change the Perceived proportions of facial features by shifting emphasis (center of gravity) through contrast modification.....

It's a factoring violation: it's a virtually mandatory repetition of effort on a indefinite basis as part of the ever-growing obsession that we're not allowed to look like real human beings, even for men.

it's not that we're not to look like real human beings..

despite what we may or may not look like,  we are REAL, and MOST of us are Human-Beings.


The reason we gravitate towards Certain shapes and simplified features, is due to the combinatorial nature of binary signal processing in the brain coupled with a VERY LOW working memory capacity...


So even if we are in time capable of appreciating COMPLEX shapes (faces),  simplified is always easier to process, so we'd prefer it out of the ever present necessity to conserve processing power.

[jterp7]

http://kc-keycool.com/product.php?mod=detail&id=50

Sexy as hell

looks like I found my next kb, thanks katushkin

[Melchior]

Well the problem is there are WAY-Y too many Blue/White/Green LED backlit keyboards out there. 99.998% Marketing bling, shows up well in pictures and showrooms, flashy.

To preserve partial Night-Vision a longer wavelength color is much preferable; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopic_vision

So - Indeed they are doing it wrong, but that hasn't stopped a popular fad.

Indeed also the amount of light to keep key glyphs visible even under truly dark conditions is only a fraction of a candlepower.

Because to matter HOW good you are at touch typing sometimes you NEED to move your fingers off the home row and find that accursed Pause/Break key or F6...

[rowdy]

Well the problem is there are WAY-Y too many Blue/White/Green LED backlit keyboards out there. 99.998% Marketing bling, shows up well in pictures and showrooms, flashy.

To preserve partial Night-Vision a longer wavelength color is much preferable; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopic_vision

So - Indeed they are doing it wrong, but that hasn't stopped a popular fad.

Indeed also the amount of light to keep key glyphs visible even under truly dark conditions is only a fraction of a candlepower.

Because to matter HOW good you are at touch typing sometimes you NEED to move your fingers off the home row and find that accursed Pause/Break key or F6...

I have a yellow backlit Ducky Shine