So i want to buy the framework 12 newest gen however i want to get a uk english backlit keyborad i dont suppose anyone on the framwork team could share if and when that would be an option
Sadly it’s not an option and they don’t announce anything before it’s actually available (to at least pre-order). Desperately waiting for a German backlit keyboard. Sadly they left all non-us users hanging with that one. One day hopefully.
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Heya, I have an idea that could make it so Framework could instead only have to produce/manufacture a SINGLE physically-distinct model of keyboard
for each physically-distinct keyboard layout
making it easy for anyone to get a keyboard compatible with backlighting,
no matter what label-layout they need!
[
There are essentially just 3 different physical layouts,
ANSI, ISO, and JIS
see image ANSI/ISO/JIS
(
… okay, there are more than 3, eg:
image ANSI/ISO/JIS/KS/ABNT/ANSI-minor_variant
but… KS the Korean one is I think strictly inferior to JIS the Japanese one,
and ABNT the Brazillian one is strictly superior to ISO, but not really significantly (ie only one key more), and it’s much more niche…
)
( To verbally describe the 3:
-
ANSI has the flat horizontal
enterkey (with the\|key above it) -
ISO has the “rotated upside-down L”
enterkey (with the\|key nestled to its left),
plus an extra key to the right of theleft shift -
JIS is like ISO,
with an extra key to the left of theright shiftinstead of by theleft shift,
plus an extra key to the left of thebackspace,
and MOST IMPORTANTLY, 3 extra modifier keys, 1 to the left of thespacebar, and 2 to the right
)
]
eg, the UK English and German label-layouts are both just physically examples of the ISO layout!
In fact, looking at the keyboards for the Framework 12 series 3
(which I am personally most interested in getting)
link
they all fall under either the “ANSI” category or “ISO” category:
- ANSI: gen-2 - Gray - Backlit - US English img
- ANSI: gen-1 - Gray - US English img
- ANSI: gen-1 - Lavender - US English img
- ISO: gen-1 - Gray - French Canadian img
- ISO: gen-1 - Gray - British English img
- ANSI: gen-1 - Gray - International English img
- ISO: gen-1 - Gray - Belgian img
- ISO: gen-1 - Gray - Czech/Slovak img
- ISO: gen-1 - Gray - Danish img
- ISO: gen-1 - Gray - French img
- ISO: gen-1 - Gray - German img
- ISO: gen-1 - Gray - Hungarian img
- ISO: gen-1 - Gray - Italian img
- ANSI: gen-1 - Gray - Korean img
- ISO: gen-2 - Gray - Nordic img
- ISO: gen-1 - Gray - Portuguese img
- ISO: gen-1 - Gray - Slovenian img
- ISO: gen-1 - Gray - Spanish (Latin America) img
- ISO: gen-1 - Gray - Spanish (Spain) img
- ISO: gen-1 - Gray - Swedish/Finnish img
- ISO: gen-2 - Gray - Swiss img
- ANSI: gen-1 - Gray - Traditional Chinese (Cangjie & Zhuyin) img
(
and Framework does not seem to currently have any offers for physical JIS keyboards,
although for reasons I’ll explain later, they REALLY should!
)
But yeah, rather than offering like 6 different ANSI variants and 16 different ISO variants,
and Framework needing to worry about whether they can get enough interest in a particular language to do a production run of a new gen for it,
they could just manufacture a single physical keyboard for each of ANSI, ISO, and JIS,
with the keycaps having a clear plastic removable cover compartments to hold a removable/replaceable label for each key
(
eg something like this
– these example images are for a desktop keyboard rather than a laptop, but I think it should be clear what I mean…
(also, I’m referring specifically the all-clear variants, to be compatible with backlighting)
egs:
eg img
eg img
eg img
eg img
eg img
eg img
eg img
)
Oh yeah, and in order to be compatible with backlighting,
users would need some sort of scratch-off stickers
in order to create their own custom labels
(eg imgs for scratch-off stickers, although these are big and round rather than small and rectangular)
But yeah, this way,
all the different label-layouts could be done without requiring separate manufacturing/production runs!
(
And any user could trivially create whatever completely custom label-layout they wanted,
and still have it be compatible with backlighting!
)
Cuz like, as cool and practical and customizable and simple-to-manufacture as this kind of thing would be,
that kind of DIY fiddling with customization might be a turn-off for a lot of normie-customers…’
– but for the kind of person who’s interested in Framework,
it’s EXACTLY the kind of thing we want, isn’t it?
So Framework should take advantage of that to massively simplify their production/manufacturing!
Anyway, why is the JIS physical layout important?
Not just for the Japanese market!
Having the extra modifier keys is also important for enthusiasts who need custom keyboard layouts with multiple layers
[
ie,
rather than just having just a “normal” layer and a “shift” layer that gets capital letters and turns numbers/punctuation to another set of punctuation
(eg: a → A, 7 → &, and / → ?)
you really want additional layers that handle:
- navigation (arrow keys, home/end, page up/down, backspace/delete, enter, etc etc)
- punctuation
- digits and other math stuff
- function keys (they actually go beyond F1 to F12, all the way up to F24)
etc, not to mention macros…
so you can put all this important functionality in way more accessible locations in and around the home row,
and simply get at it all by using your thumbs to select different layers with the modifier keys,
without needing to move your hands from the home position at all.
]
Admittedly, the population is pretty low for these enthusiasts who want a keyboard layout like this that… frankly, doesn’t completely suck,
but these people are most highly concentrated in exactly the linux-etc enthusiast market that Framework is more-or-less targeting!
[
I would make a separate top-level post about this,
but the forum software says I’m not “trustworthy” yet xD
]
Great initiative 
Maybe I’m too naive, but isn’t it much “simpler” though? The three base layouts and the rest is all software and key caps? Key caps in themselves should not be that difficult to produce. So that would leave the assembly process which might be expensive / complex?
At least that’s my simplistic non-expert understanding. Might be a ton of things I am not considering.
Personally would prefer a keyboard with a separate box where I have to manually install key caps myself if that means they can provide keyboards for their international audience more easily. Stickers and scratch-offs sound a bit like a no-go for me though 
It sure seems simpler to me, yeah!
They would be under the clear plastic cover in their own compartment
(
and so they don’t have to (and probably shouldn’t) actually be adhesive stickers
– that was just the quickest way I could find a visual reference for vaguely what I mean
)
It should be very easy for Framework to source a supply of specifically-sized little not-too-flexible thin clear plastic squares with a scrape-off-able coating on one side
(and multiple colors of that would easy! and customizable rainbow eye-candy = sales!)
Oh yeah, and
you are precisely correct there,
but that’s the special thing about Framework!
-- ie, a normie might be turned off by it,
but the kind of person who’s interested in Framework
is exactly the kind of person who would PAY EXTRA for the ability to DIY-customize all this stuff!
Framework could just handle the maximally simple manufacturing production for a mere 3(three) separate SKU’s,
and then we, their fanatically loyal customers, would pay them extra for the privilege of handling all the fiddly detailed labor of assembly ourselves! xD
And if they can collapse all of their manufacturing production into just 3 SKU’s for ANSI/ISO/JIS
then they would have time to focus on R&D for a 4th SKU:
the kind of keyboard that should exist,
a keyboard actually designed for human beings with human hands
(which we should have been using this whole time if our species wasn’t so depressingly dysfunctional)
-- imagine something like the ergodox layout
or even the keyboardio
directly on a 2-in-1 notebook-laptop/tablet (!!!)
ergodox:
keyboardio:
