Hi, I'm Seb, a UX-Designer in his mid 30s who discovered this beautiful world you guys participate in just a few days ago. Since then I've been overwhelmed with all the info and thought it might be better to participate to learn a thing or two. Like probably most of you, I landed here when I was looking for a new keyboard and just couldn't decide - only to be sucked into this realm of completely new possibilites that this forum has shown me. I've been using mechanical keyboards at work for a few years, but never felt the need to own one at home, because as long as my old keyboard at home worked I never saw a reason to replace it. If you're wondering why: The Ideazon Merc Stealth is a pretty special piece and I still love it for gaming and for it's macro capabilities. I've held off on getting a new one for as long as it works, because for gaming it will be a pretty big adjustment to stop using it. I've had it since it was released (i think 2008).
But recently a change in my life happened: After a few years of mostly prototyping and creating concepts for interfaces i've got a new position within the company which requires me to "code" (" because it's just html and css) again. As I thought it would be better for me to do it with the merc (so much space for macros), i thought about getting a new keyboard for my home - i can't just bring my work keyboard home, because it has blue switches and my girlfriend will kill me. I'm 65% sure I'm not even joking. So the search for a new keyboard began 14 days ago and here I am, still no new keyboard, feeling lost and overwhelmed with all the possibilities, craving for all the cool stuff you guys showed me, like custom layouts or artisan keycaps and wondering if I should just buy or build something myself and If I should get 2 instead of 1, because it does not happen very often that I get excited about such things... but when that happens I'm willing to empty my pockets in that direction.
When the search started the choice was between a cheap chinese brand, ozone or a corsair. Now the choice isn't between brands anymore. I'm pretty sure I want a 65% iso layout with floating key design, rgb backlight, detachable usb cable on the left side and gradient keycap colors (I mean one color per line). That's probably not available ready made. But I'll probably start with buying something readymade, just don't know what yet. It'll probably be a couple more days until I can fully comprehend all the options, but I'm pretty sure I'll stick around after I made a decision, because your builds and infos are incredible.
Cheers!
