TKL Keyboard Tester for Tenkeyless Boards

An 87-key tenkeyless layout: full function row, navigation cluster and arrows, no number pad, so every key you have counts toward 100%.

Size
Keys
Shape
F-keys

Listening: press any key. Hold Esc for 1 second to release the keyboard (e.g. to use Tab).

Keys tested
0%
0 of 87 keys
Last key
–
press any key
Held now / max
0 / 0
keys at the same time
Key presses
0
No chatter found
EscF1F2F3F4F5F6F7F8F9F10F11F12PrtScScrLkPause~`!1@2#3$4%5^6&7*8(9)0_-+=BackspaceTabQWERTYUIOP{[}]|\Caps LockASDFGHJKL:;"'EnterShiftZXCVBNM<,>.?/ShiftCtrlWinAltAltWinMenuCtrlInsHomePgUpDelEndPgDn↑←↓→

Tip: click a key in the picture if your keyboard doesn’t have it, so it doesn’t count against the score.

Chatter (double-typing) detector

A worn or dirty switch can register one press twice. Type normally for a minute, then press any suspect key 20–30 times.

Rollover & ghosting test

Held now0
Most at once0
  • none
Best combination:
  • –

Hold down more and more keys (try ASDFJKL). If the count stops at 6 of these, the keyboard is 6-key rollover. Shift, Ctrl, Alt and Win don’t count toward that limit.

Timing tests

Put a flat hand on the keyboard so 4–8 keys go down at once, lift it, and repeat about 15 times, or drum your fingers across the letters. The keyboard sends each change with its next report, so the gaps between those key events step in whole polling intervals.

Polling rate
–
press keys together
Interval
–
average
Spread
–
standard deviation
Gaps
0
between key events

Press several keys at once to start.

Gaps between key events up to 10 ms, in 0.25 ms steps. A 1000 Hz keyboard makes peaks at 1, 2, 3 ms; 125 Hz at 8 ms.

Event log

EventkeycodekeyCodeLocationRepeatTime (s)Δ ms
Key events appear here.

The tenkeyless layout

A TKL (tenkeyless, or 80%) keyboard keeps everything a full-size board has except the number pad: the F1–F12 row, Print Screen, Scroll Lock and Pause, the six-key navigation cluster (Insert, Home, Page Up, Delete, End, Page Down) and the arrow keys. That’s 87 keys on an ANSI board. The picture draws exactly those, so the score doesn’t count 17 keys you don’t have. The list under this text shows the number-pad keys the layout leaves out.

Testing the keys TKL boards get wrong

  • The top-right three: Print Screen, Scroll Lock and Pause are rarely used, so a dead one goes unnoticed. Print Screen on Windows only sends a key-up; the tester counts it anyway.
  • The navigation cluster: check Insert and Delete, which some compact TKL designs move or merge.
  • The function row: many TKL boards put media controls on F-keys behind Fn. Press each F-key with and without Fn: without Fn it should light up as F1–F12 (unless the board’s Fn lock is on).

Chatter and rollover

TKL boards are often mechanical gaming keyboards, so chatter (a key typing twice) and rollover (how many keys register together) matter. The chatter detector and the rollover panel below the keyboard check both while you type.

What this layout leaves out

The keyboard above has 87 keys, and the score counts 87 of them. The tester’s full-size layout has 104. These are the ones this layout doesn’t draw; if you press one through an Fn combination, it appears under “Other keys detected” instead of lighting up the picture.

  • Number pad: all 17 keys

Keyboard TesterSomeone shared their result

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