When is Apple going to fix the glaring inconsistency of the fn key?

[lorikeet]

Apple has a reputation for attention to detail, but I have no idea how this travesty made it through the design process unchanged. All of the other modifier keys (control, option, command) have the key's name at the bottom, and the icon on the top right. However, when the fn key was given the globe key some years ago, it was inconsistent with this pattern: the key's name fn was shoved into the top right and the globe icon on the bottom left.

Perhaps the original justification was that in the menus, it was still marked as "fn" rather than with the globe icon. Now that "fn" name has been de-emphasized from the OS and the documentation (as far as I can tell) in favour of the globe icon, surely it is well past time that the function key become like its neighbors? Something like this:

Note that "control" is not abbreviated "ctrl", "option" is not abbreviated "opt", etc. Hence, there's no reason for "function" to be abbreviated to "fn" any more either. Thoughts?

 

[redheeler]

That key serves two functions, while the others serve only one. That's why it's intentionally different.

In your mockup the globe looks like simply the icon representation for "function" which isn't the case, it means something different from "function".

 

[lorikeet]

Although it originally serves two functions, Apple has deliberately blurred the lines. For example, under the "View" menu, full screen is now marked globe F, even though entering full screen has nothing to do with changing languages/emojis. I expect this trend to continue.

It's also entirely within precedent for Apple to combine the functions of different keys to blur their origins. For example, the return key in 99% of use cases also acts as an enter key, but Apple hasn't felt the need to mark the word or symbol for enter on the return key on the laptop keyboards.

 

[Pakaku]

I don't have a newer MBP, so I looked it up. The globe key-combos seem to do with the main keys of the keyboard, so I can understand why the globe would be on the same row as the text of the other keys, below the Fn text, which is associated with the Function row above the main keys.