It's a trade-off for hand-movement distance vs having to use modifiers.
e.g. to type (), you hold Shift then type 89. That's probably easier than needing an extra row of keys for symbols, even if you use the symbols frequently.
e.g. to type (), you hold Shift then type 89. That's probably easier than needing an extra row of keys for symbols, even if you use the symbols frequently.
Yes, but in case of the function keys (which, as I said, I use to switch workspaces) I never press them while I'm writing text but rather before/after, so the distance my hands travel doesn't play much of a role.
Also, one-handed usage of these keys along with a mouse (think drag and drop) is important to me, which is another reason against resorting to a key chord.
I don't think that makes the keyboards bad; it's just they're better suited to usages where you can use both hands at once compared to one-handed usage.
For "using function keys a lot", I don't think having the function keys behind a modifier is slower or inherently worse than having extra keys for it. - If you prefer to have the extra keys and don't mind moving your hand, that's fine. - But since many of these keyboards are designed with "minimize hand movement" in mind, it's coherent for the designs to omit the row of function keys (and even the row of number keys).
There are a handful of designs which prioritize number of keys over reducing hand movement. e.g. BFO9000 https://keeb.io/products/bfo-9000-keyboard-customizable-full...