Keycap Profiles ^
Of those the most common ones in pre-built keybaords are OEM and CHERRY. SA is also not to rare for custom keybaords and DSA as well as XDA are gaining traction for custom keybaords, but still less used than all prior mentoined ones.
Keycap profile article - Switch & Click
Physical Layouts ^
The Physical key laout is not indicative of if the keycap print is QWERT or QWERTZ.
The most common physical layouts are ANSI and ISO. And in Japan JIS is also quite common.
Visual Layouts ^
Keycap Types ^
The keycap material is either made of PBT or ABS plastic. Note that not all keycap types are avaiable with both materials. ABS is limited to Laser-etched, Pad-printed and Double-shot.
PBT Plastic (Polybutylene Terephthalate)💜:
- Louder
- Matte (More vibrant)
- More expensive
- Less durable
ABS Plastic (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene):
- Quiter
- Shiny/ Glossy
- Less expensive
- More durable
Laser-etched keycaps have the legends embeded into the plastic using lasers, making the permanent.
- Will never fade
- Looks sharp
- Any color legend possible
Double-shot keycaps have the legend and keycap made seperatly and then fused together.
- Will never fade
- Looks sharp
- Any color legend possible
Backlit keycaps can either be Laser-etched or Double-shot, but use transparent plasitc instead to allow for light to pass through.
- Light shines through legends
- All attributes from either
Laser-etchedorDouble-shot
Dye-sublimated keycaps are created by printing the legends on special paper and then merging them onto keycaps using high heat.
- May fade a little over time
- May look less sharp
- More complex designs possible
- Legend must be darker than keycap
Pad-printed keycaps are created by stamping the print onto the keycap They are a worse version of Dye-sublimated keycaps.
- Will fade quite quickly
- Cheapest
- Legends can be felt
- May look less sharp
- More complex designs possible
- Unique designs
- Most expensive
There are also Pudding keycaps which have transparent plastic on the sides and mostly come as Backlit keycaps.
- Light shines through legends and sides
- All attributes from either
Laser-etchedorDouble-shot
