What is your mono-legend strategy?

User avatar
zslane

21 Nov 2015, 05:03

For those of you who have put mono-legend keycaps on your keyboards, what is your guiding principle in choosing which keycaps to use, non-shifted vs. shifted symbols? Do you use a single consistent principle (e.g., "always non-shifted"), or do you use a varied approach (e.g., "shifted for the numrow, non-shifted everywhere else")?

I am thinking of putting the Granite mono-legends on my Pok3r and am uncertain how to proceed.

User avatar
Muirium
µ

21 Nov 2015, 20:46

You likely already know how I tackled this:

Image
Image

My strategy was dominated by the caps I had at that point. And indeed the keyboard! Didn't have my ANSI NovaTouch yet, or my subsequent Granite trades. I could do a better version of that layout now, although the lighting would be dodgy now we're in Scots winter.

I'm one of the most obvious proponents of monolegends around here. I think they're elegant, especially with icon mods. One cap, one legend, right across the keyboard. Look is what drives my strategy. I go with whatever I reckon looks better (within the available options of course). So the number row gets the shifted legends — otherwise where's the fun? — and the symbols at the edge of the alpha block are whatever feels right to me.

If I did that board again now, I'd replace comma and period with < and > as I think the tiny punctuation glyphs are much too small to match the rest. (Assuming I do actually have those caps…) But I'd keep the mix of - and + instead of the more logical - and = or _ and + as the ± duo are the more natural pair.

A subjective answer, then. As is the idiosyncratic desire for monolegends in the first place!

User avatar
zslane

21 Nov 2015, 20:57

Interesting. The choices I made are exactly what you describe, right down to the use of < and > next to the ?. I went with what I thought looked best as well, though in the case of the numrow, another contributing factor was that I need a visual reminder of the punctuation marks more than the numbers.
Pok3r w/ Granite mono legends
Pok3r w/ Granite mono legends
image.jpeg (562 KiB) Viewed 1395 times
Last edited by zslane on 21 Nov 2015, 21:02, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Muirium
µ

21 Nov 2015, 21:00

Exactly. I can type on blanks, even up there if I have to, but seeing & instead of 7 can be a real help even so.

That ISO board also forced my hand re: backslash. See that / tucked beside Return? That's \ on ISO (or the fruity Apple version of it that I use on my ISO boards) and I had no single unit \ at the time. So I picked / as a dirty trick, which forced me to use ? in its rightful place a row below.

Dependencies.

Wait, what was this about a Poker? I thought you were allergic even to TKL!

User avatar
zslane

21 Nov 2015, 21:04

I'm not really a fan of toy keyboards like 60%ers. But my iPad needed something suitably small, and the Pok3r was the best at hitting all the bullet points for me.

This shouldn't be news to you. It's why I need that 1.75u starburst key: to serve as my other FN key.

User avatar
Muirium
µ

21 Nov 2015, 21:08

You think I can keep up with other people's keyboards? Haven't you seen mine?

Let's see a picture of what you've done so far. Ninja!

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