Disclaimer: I daily drive, including write code, on a Ferris Sweep.
Each of my 4 thumb keys are tap for space, tab, enter, and backspace. But I hold one of those keys and I enter a dedicated layer for navigation, a 10-key number pad, a custom symbol layer, and my media and F-keys.
It does take a bit of getting used to but the trade off is holding an extra key compared to having to lift my hand off of home row and moving to arrows, number row, number pad, etc. I basically never have to look at where my hands are and still retain 100% functionality of a full size board.
Disclaimer: I daily drive, including write code, on a Ferris Sweep.
Each of my 4 thumb keys are tap for space, tab, enter, and backspace. But I hold one of those keys and I enter a dedicated layer for navigation, a 10-key number pad, a custom symbol layer, and my media and F-keys.
It does take a bit of getting used to but the trade off is holding an extra key compared to having to lift my hand off of home row and moving to arrows, number row, number pad, etc. I basically never have to look at where my hands are and still retain 100% functionality of a full size board.