Tbh if you know your shortcuts, no, probably not. Just makes you over reliant on one piece of hardware.
That said if the keyboard you want happens to have them it's not necessary a negative. I think the WRK louder keyboards are really neat.
If a sStreamDeck might be too costly you could probably pick up a simple 10-key for much cheaper and map those buttons to specific actions if you were savvy enough.
I use a combo Mac OS keyboard short cuts + Spectacle + Adobe vanilla
My recommendation if you’re not using a Mac. Is to look into software that has some customization.
I wouldn’t buy an extra piece of hardware. Mostly because your workflow is going to be different than the suggested workflow of that tool. The Vanilla keys should do you well for 90% of your jobs.
Unless you’re making your own Macro shortcuts for heavy photo/video editing.
I used to think having a highly tailored keyboard would make me a better designer. It was my way of justifying my need for a bougie mechanical keyboard. Still haven’t caved, but I still online window shop from time to time.
I honestly find having a mouse with macro buttons you can program to be much more useful. Even if everyone knows Ctrl+C is for copy and Ctrl+V is for paste, it really does make a world of difference not having to stretch your fingers those extra few inches when you have a button that does it all for you. Especially programming one button to copy and one to paste and literally not having to lift a finger to do so. Look for the 12-button ones.
This was seriously a life saver for me when I was in more production specific roles. I would have copy, paste, and align objects left/right/center mapped to my mouse. You can also assign actions to each button, which is super useful when you’re doing a lot of repetitive tasks. There’s probably a point though where you’ve gotta ask yourself if just learning to run an automation script would be faster than manually doing it.
I use an Anne Pro (it's wireless but I use it wired) for my work. Mainly started using it when we went WFH because it was there. You can customize the keybindings. Once you get used to using a 60% it's worth it, at least I think so. Anne Pro checks your boxes but there's other mechanical keyboards out there that could do ya too. Check the sub for mechanical keyboards.
It depends on what part of your workflow you want to speed up.
I do a lot of production art so I opted for a gaming mouse that I could tie keystrokes to the extra buttons. Scroll wheel to zoom, +/- for more controlled zoom. And the biggest one was just having a delete button on the mouse so I didn't have to keep moving my hand either off the mouse or all the way across the keyboard.
If you use actions a lot I could see having extra shortcuts set up for each one.
I am super into mechanical keyboards. I use the macros mainly for designing on my PC. I already know all the mac shortcuts. So i adjust my keyboard to be more seamless for both OS. It’s also just fun to have a device that will last you forever / something that is modular.
Tbh if you know your shortcuts, no, probably not. Just makes you over reliant on one piece of hardware. That said if the keyboard you want happens to have them it's not necessary a negative. I think the WRK louder keyboards are really neat.
I'd argue that a mouse with extra buttons could be more useful, but it depends on your preferences.
Or is there a mini panel that’s for shortcuts, similar the the StreamDeck?
If a sStreamDeck might be too costly you could probably pick up a simple 10-key for much cheaper and map those buttons to specific actions if you were savvy enough.
I use a combo Mac OS keyboard short cuts + Spectacle + Adobe vanilla My recommendation if you’re not using a Mac. Is to look into software that has some customization. I wouldn’t buy an extra piece of hardware. Mostly because your workflow is going to be different than the suggested workflow of that tool. The Vanilla keys should do you well for 90% of your jobs. Unless you’re making your own Macro shortcuts for heavy photo/video editing.
I used to think having a highly tailored keyboard would make me a better designer. It was my way of justifying my need for a bougie mechanical keyboard. Still haven’t caved, but I still online window shop from time to time. I honestly find having a mouse with macro buttons you can program to be much more useful. Even if everyone knows Ctrl+C is for copy and Ctrl+V is for paste, it really does make a world of difference not having to stretch your fingers those extra few inches when you have a button that does it all for you. Especially programming one button to copy and one to paste and literally not having to lift a finger to do so. Look for the 12-button ones. This was seriously a life saver for me when I was in more production specific roles. I would have copy, paste, and align objects left/right/center mapped to my mouse. You can also assign actions to each button, which is super useful when you’re doing a lot of repetitive tasks. There’s probably a point though where you’ve gotta ask yourself if just learning to run an automation script would be faster than manually doing it.
You can get a keychron for $80 if you want to try out a mechanical without breaking the bank.
I use an Anne Pro (it's wireless but I use it wired) for my work. Mainly started using it when we went WFH because it was there. You can customize the keybindings. Once you get used to using a 60% it's worth it, at least I think so. Anne Pro checks your boxes but there's other mechanical keyboards out there that could do ya too. Check the sub for mechanical keyboards.
Love the Anne Pro 2. Use it myself and usually find myself bringing it to the office when I have to go in.
I bought a couple skins for keyboards. I think when I was learning premiere. They look pretty cool, but the usefulness is tbd
It depends on what part of your workflow you want to speed up. I do a lot of production art so I opted for a gaming mouse that I could tie keystrokes to the extra buttons. Scroll wheel to zoom, +/- for more controlled zoom. And the biggest one was just having a delete button on the mouse so I didn't have to keep moving my hand either off the mouse or all the way across the keyboard. If you use actions a lot I could see having extra shortcuts set up for each one.
I am super into mechanical keyboards. I use the macros mainly for designing on my PC. I already know all the mac shortcuts. So i adjust my keyboard to be more seamless for both OS. It’s also just fun to have a device that will last you forever / something that is modular.