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