Mechanical Keyboards

I switched from ISO to ANSI a few month ago. I touch type and I need German umlauts. Just as a background. This required me to find a layout that supports umlauts. I went with EurKEY. Overall, switching was easy. I do need a larger AltGr for umlauts but overall, switching was no big deal. I do like the shape of the return key on ANSI and that there are fewer keys right to my right pinky (on the home row). Typing umlauts is slightly less convenient, especially when capitalized, but not by much. Switching between ISO and ANSI and at the same time German layout and EurKEY is easy for me. Side note: I switched for the same reason (keycaps) and for writing code.

This keyboard supports QMK, you can create macros for whatever keys you’re missing. You can also swap characters if you like. @Waldhuette

I switched from the Italian layout to ANSI for the same reason, bought a Keychron and wanted more choice in keycaps.

Honestly it wasn’t as difficult as I thought, it was like learning how to drive a different car after using the same one for years: some buttons are in different places but the thing itself works the same way.

I made the switch from ISO DE to ANSI US and I got used to it pretty quickly. I mainly switched because of the better layout for programming.

Main reason is the much better choice of keycaps that will be available.

That's the problem with this hobby. I'm really used to ANSI ES and it's a pain to get spanish keycaps. My solution was go for 40% and forget about what's printed on keycaps.

I switched from iso to ansi a month ago. It has been easy, for the most part. I have to regularly use both ansi and iso (working laptop) and so far I'm having no problem mentally "switching" between layouts.

The only thing I'm having some difficulty in are the dead keys, especially for the ' and the é, which are pretty commons in my language.

I use US ANSI keyboards from time to time. Enter key and the keys behind it used to be quite some deal before I started adapting to it. Haven't heard of EURkey yet, so I went with us-international. One thing that bothered me there though: There is no uppercase ßẞ.

Another German software dev here, I switched from ISO-DE to ANSI with EurKey a couple months ago. Not on a Keychron but on a NuPhy which looks and feels better to me.

Overall I'm quite happy with the switch and will only buy ANSI layouts going forward.@Waldhuette

Made the switch a few years ago for exactly the same reason m, it’s been so much easier to get boards and keycaps.

It takes a little bit of getting used to but I’d say after like a month you’ll get used to it, main problem for me now is using ISO boards I tend to miss enter now lol

Makes one wonder, why did ANSI become the de-facto standard in the mech keyboard community? Is it because of higher purchase power of US enthusiasts, or something else?

From a volume standpoint, wouldn't ISO make more sense?

I switched from UK ISO to US ANSI last year, because of the far better choice of key caps. I missed not having a £ key, so I used Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator to map Alt+3 to £.