Macro keyboards are mini programmable USB keyboards that can be pressed to trigger shortcuts, a sequence of keypresses etc. They can have several layers so switching to a different one will trigger different keypresses from the same key, so e.g. different IDEs can be represented.
I’ve just bought one with a view to setting up shortcuts for debugging. Each IDE has its own unique keys for navigating through the code, so I figure it’ll be nice to just press one key to start debugging and one key to step into instead of a combination of ctrl+whatever etc
Do you use one? If so, what do you use it for and what size do you use? Is it too big / too small?
No. I think that macro functionality is useful, but I don’t do it via the physical keyboard.
My general take is that chording (pressing some combination of keys simultaneously) that lets one keep one hands on the home row is faster than pressing one key. So, like, instead of having separate capital and lowercase letter keys, it’s preferable to have “shift” and just one key.
I think that the main arguments for dedicated keys that one lifts one hands for would be for important but relatively-infrequently-used keys that people don’t use enough to remember chorded combinations for – you can just throw the label on the button as a quick reference. Like, we don’t usually have Windows-Alt-7 on a keyboard power on a laptop, but instead have a dedicated power button.
Maybe there’s a use to have keyboard-level-programmed macros with chording, as some keyboards can do…but to me, the use case seems pretty niche. If you’re using multiple software environments (e.g. BIOS, Windows, Linux terminal, whatever) and want the same functionality in all of them (e.g. a way to type your name), that might make some sense. Or maybe if you’re permitted to take a keyboard with you, but are required to use a computer that you can’t configure at the software level, that’d provide configurability at a level that you have control over.
In general, though, I’m happier with configuring stuff like that on the computer’s software; I don’t hit those two use cases, myself.