I think backlighting looks nasty 99% of the time.+1000
Hey geekhackers,
Some people love the look of LEDs shining on their keyboard while others have said "less is more".
I understand it come down to personal preference, but I wanted some opinions as to what ultimately made you decide on one over the other.
Ultimately it does come down to personal preference.
Personally, I do not like the way they look. I find them distracting as I am trying to look at the monitor, and for most touch typists they serve no function. An additional thing I do not like about them is that the LEDs are often one of the parts that are most likely to break on a keyboard (seems to be common for some brands).
Another thing that I have experienced, is that they are not the most convenient legends to have. Typically, a legend that is a contrasting color to the keycap is easier to read in all except for extremely low light conditions.
If it was possible to light up all legends evenly, in the centre and in the top/left corner, with double-shot PBT, then it wouldn't be so bad.
Until then, there are other things I value higher.
I don't mind backlighting, but I can't say I have found a backlit keycap that I liked the feel of.
I also don't like directly visible, absurdly bright LEDs so I tend to paint them only leaving a pinprick of light.Show Image(http://red.dazoe.net/stuff/WIN_20140914_014230.JPG)Show Image(http://red.dazoe.net/stuff/WIN_20140914_014253.JPG)
Sometimes I even paint the underside of my keycaps.Show Image(http://red.dazoe.net/stuff/WIN_20140914_015746.JPG)
For souped up customs, it seems silly not have LEDs, but I don't like them in any other context.
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 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.Considering the obscurity of some switch mods?
If you want to get into obscure use cases, then people who use backlighting to see their keys in the dark will count.The police officers with backlit TG3 84key keyboards? I don't doubt that. Who else? Uninformed gamers, who strain their eyes for no actual reason?
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.Someone should tell these companies that make keyboards for disabled people and seniors that they're doing it wrong. Or perhaps size matters.
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...Well, people do lots of dumb things. For example, keyboards are often compared to shoes around here… It's interesting how common is outright unhealthy but fashionable footwear.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
THREAD SUCCESSFULLY DERAILED
way to completely derail a thread about backlighting into a discussion about "women are lying to me when they put on makeup abloobloobloo"
The primary function of makeup is to change the Perceived proportions of facial features by shifting emphasis (center of gravity) through contrast modification.....
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.
http://kc-keycool.com/product.php?mod=detail&id=50
Sexy as hell
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 (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...