Any ANSI UKers? How was the switch from ISO?
Hi!
Many mechanical keyboards are only available in ANSI layout. I've held off buying a keyboard because of this.
How have people here found moving from ISO to ANSI? Does it take long to say goodbye to the backwards-L return key etc.?
I had the exact same question a couple of years ago. I was a very long time UK ISO user, and then some of the keycaps on my keyboard broke. When looking at a replacement I fancied a mechanical DIY, so I bought a Glorious Gaming GMMK TKL, still UK ISO. But the selection of keycaps was small, even with UK sellers, e.g., on Etsy. So, I got an ANSI version of the same GMMK keyboard, and some nice blue & white keycaps from an Etsy UK based seller.
It took me a few weeks to get used to the layout. The Enter key is not a problem, it is things like @ and # not being where your muscle memory expects them. Also, the lack of a £ key. Because, being ANSI, you need to use the US keyboard layout in Windows, which does not have £ or €. Eventually I used the Microsoft keyboard layout generator to create a custom layout, with £ mapped to function 3. I think I mapped € too.
I can share my keyboard layout file if anyone wants it.
I move back and forth between the standards. My laptop and 75% mechanical are ANSI, my work laptop and Bluetooth keyboard are ISO.
You'd be surprised how quickly you get used to switching between them.