Replacing Scroll Lock and Pause / Break

[Kono Store]

Greetings! This is the official Kono Store account. We have a question for you (making this an ambitious first post).

Which keys would you replace Scroll Lock and Pause / Break with?



Scroll Lock and Pause / Break are extant keys with antediluvian origins. They can be reprogrammed, but that doesn't save them from being utterly useless to most people in base keyboard configurations. We want to find out which keys / base layer assignments would best replace them. This would mean new legends on most of our keyboards at some point in the future.

Our media key concept (pictured above for roasting) would leave Print Screen as-is (it still has some use), but we're not opposed to placing it on the function layer by default. The Previous Track function is rarely used, so it wasn't prioritized. Play / Pause would replace Scroll Lock and Next Track would replace Pause / Break on the base layer.

We're not concerned about the rest of the function layer, or keyboards with additional dedicated media keys, as all of that will change on a keyboard-to-keyboard basis. This is primarily a way to make "dead" keys useful without reprogramming (while maintaining backwards compatibility with things like Excel) in standard full size / TKL keyboards.

That said, what do you think?

[pixelpusher]

I'd get rid of the print screen key too.  Surely people who need to grab a screenshot can remember function P, right?

Something like this?



Oh, and nice to see the official account here.  Can't wait for the RE:Type.  Looks amazing.

[Kono Store]

We considered going the pure media keys route, but some people do still need those keys for consoles and excel.

Also, the volume keys don't necessarily provide the same functionality as a Play / Pause and Next track combo. Play / Pause can be really useful when dealing with incoming VOIP / Discord calls while Spotify and other media apps are playing. Plus people tend to rebind the volume keys to a personally preferred location.

Mute ^ Print Screen, Play / Pause ^ Scroll Lock, and Next Track ^ Pause / Break could be interesting though.

[Findecanor]

Something like this?

(Attachment Link)

Move the front-facing legends up top and move Play/Pause to the right and you have got my current setup.

Play/Pause should be on Pause/Break's position, obviously!

[ErgoMacros]

Macs map these to F13, F14, and F15. I remap those on the OS side to what I want with Hammerspoon.
So, you could map to "Cut/Copy/Paste". Not sure if that works cross-platform.

My current mapping of F15 is one of my favorites these days, it repeats the following key stroke (+ mods) n
times. Where n can be whatever you want.

Example:
   F15, 4, 0, -                  outputs 40 dashes.
   F15, 8, space               8 spaces
   F15, 12, right_arrow     moves 12 characters to the right, or nudges the selected graphic object 12 pixels to the right.
   F15, 18, esc                 does nothing. Use esc to cancel if you change your mind.

'Luck!

[Kono Store]

We're likely going to use Print Screen, Vol -, and Vol +. Those seem to be the most-demanded options from each forum.

They're also the best options in terms of cross-OS compatibility.