The marketplace features a lot of keyboards. With options currently available in French, French Canadian, German, British English, Int’l English, and Belgian, Italian, Korean, Spanish (LATAM), Spanish (Spain), Trd’l Chinese all coming soon, I have noticed something.
Blank keyboards, clear keyboards, various languages…
But no white keyboards with black lettering?
There is no option for a white keyboard in the coming soon section, currently available section, or anywhere else on the Framework sites, marketplace or otherwise.
Why the need?
Its repairable and customizable nature is great for older people, a camera shutter is a must for many so a mic shutter is going to jive with a lot of people, with the only thing left - a white keyboard - being left on the table.
In the end it’s super minor but…
Why no white keyboards?
Do any of you prefer white keyboards?
Afaik, white themed materials need more maintenance. So I guess most people don’t usually prefer due to occasionally cleaning & maintenance. It also kinda hinders the backlight, which is kinda bummer.
Depends if they’re made of horrible cheap plastic or done properly!
The light silver keyboard on my wife’s Asus is just as light silver as the day it came out of the box over a year ago…she would absolutely love a white keyboard. The white keyboard on her Packard Bell before that (remember them!?) still looked new after 11 years!
I personally think an alternative colour option would be a great idea. Black keyboards on silver really do stand out a bit too much for me.
One of the reasons we chose a black keyboard (aside from aesthetics) is readability across ambient light levels. When it’s bright, you can read it easily, and when it’s dark, you can still read it easily with the backlight on. With a white keyboard, there are often ranges of ambient light where readability isn’t great and neither backlight on nor off improves it.
100% in support of a white keyboard. Several laptops out there pull off the white keyboard very well without readability issues like the MSI Prestige. I understand framework has more important things to focus on than these sorts of chassis aesthetics, but I would be first in line for a white keyboard/bezel in the marketplace since my framework is rocking a white dbrand skin.
Very interesting. Certainly wasn’t a problem for my wife in the eleven years she had a white keyboard! Perhaps some people just don’t use their keyboards in those particular light levels? I know our laptops generally only get used in well lit environments…to be honest backlighting isn’t really a necessity for me - it’s only useful to know when the thing has actually shut down, or when it’s inexplicably refusing to go into standby again!
While that may be true for some groups, it’s definitely not true for me. I don’t have great low-light vision and find white text on a black background quite tiring to use, which is why I avoid anything that runs in in dark mode. I appreciate having an illuminated keyboard as it definitely helps usability compared to an un-illuminated one; however if a white keyboard was available I’d definitely be interested. Still find the keyboard I like best is on an old Eee PC where I swapped the black one out with one for the all-white model.
It seems that the clear keyboard has taken the place of the white keyboard with it’s bright colors and easy lightability, but will we ever get a clear keyboard with legends? With the clear keyboard being so bright and, well, clear, it should make inked-on legends easily readable in low-light situations and high-backlit situations alike.