Originally posted by DarkWitchClaire
full keyboard layouts are by far the best layouts, the numpad is a useful input area to the point where i'd much rather have one then not and i can't ever imagine not having the arrow cluster
i'm in agreement with you here; i think it's a shame that small layouts ever became standard. ok, i understand for small devices of course, or for circumstances where you must be portable, but otherwise i don't understand the point.
people seem to value these smaller keyboards on their desk setups to conserve space. but to what end? i looked up early computer set-ups to see just how they differed from modern ones and although there are indeed some `atrocities' out there, many of them manage to fit a lot into a small space (i.e. they are dense set-ups)

(source: flickr)

(source: applefritter.com, 360.here.com)
in comparison, modern set-ups seem to value empty space. there is something oddly suburban about the way many desks (the likes of which you see on r/battlestations for example) look these days, as if the logic of urban planning has trickled down into our logic of desk arrangement. but what do people even do with that empty space? in theory, you can write, read, play games, etc. on it. but i struggle to be convinced people actually do that or that… even in my set-up, which involved a lot of empty space, i still found myself retreating elsewhere to do anything that doesn't necessitate the desktop computer directly. i hardly ever write by hand, but when i do, it's at my kitchen table. i read in bed, or on a beanbag chair. i play handheld games anywhere i can sit or lie down. taking apart electronics, working with screwdrivers, even all that happens elsewhere. are my habits a relic of these vertically integrated desk-for-computer times? or have we suburbanised our desks and created empty parking lots within our own homes?

the suburbanisation of the desk (source: reddit, flickr)
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sofi