Personally, I feel like F-keys are a relic from the DOS era before everyone had a mouse and drop-down menus.
I mostly agree. I think that Function key rows are suitable for hunt-and-peck typists only. Reaching them requires a larger motion so it is difficult to acquire muscle-memory for them. The goal should be to help typists type without looking at the keyboard and therefore they only repress the development of keyboarding skills.
In the olden days, there were paper overlays for different programs for using them in programs. I have not seen that since the early '90s. MS Windows has some standard mappings in their user style guide, but.. I find that mnemonics on alphabetic keys are better.
Sun workstations in the early '90s had first numbered function keys at the top but they moved them to the left where they are easier to hit, and then they named them giving each a specific function. (Cut, Copy, Paste, Help, Undo etc.) (And then they added a
new numbered function row to be compatible with PCs
)
The function key row makes more sense when it is used not for function but for
position. In the Linux console, Alt + <F key> changes console and I first used that also for changing workspace in graphical environments but I changed to Alt + <number> because those are easier to reach.
Then there are media keys. Many vendors have them on the Fn layer and mostly on the function row, but there is no common convention for the mappings and some have them on the nav cluster instead. I wonder how many people actually use those combos — it seems to me as if people prefer separate media buttons.
I think that the best would be to have them not as keys but as smaller buttons near the left or right edge, and with volume control as a knob or roller. I have seen TKLs with them but why not on a smaller keyboard?
Likewise, I think if you have a mouse on the right, then it would make more sense to have your nav keys on the left.
I'm not sure that I agree that arrow and nav keys would not belong on the right side. I use those keys mostly when I type, not together with the mouse. Otherwise I scroll using
either the (right-handed) mouse or (right-handed) keys. Even if they would move, I think that the (forward) Delete key belongs close to Backspace.
I think that a staggered non-split QWERTY alphabetic area does not actually belong in the middle in front of the user but slightly to the left because of how the key staggering leans left.
When I sit straight in front of the desk with my arms stretched straight forward, my left hand is on the left keyboard half and my right hand is on the mouse. The arrow/nav cluster is not in the way at all.