The 40% Keyboard
tbf-rnd.life
The 40% Keyboard
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Re: The 40% Keyboard
#2If you’re going to go small you might as well go all the way and get a 30% keyboard like the Gherkin. Very portable and not too bad as long as you’re willing to work with layers.
Re: The 40% Keyboard
#3If you want even better ergonomics, add tenting, concavity, and move the modifier keys + return/backspace to the thumb cluster (which should be shaped and angled so you're not moving your thumb laterally to hit it). The Dactyl-Manuform[1] is a good example of these things.
Re: The 40% Keyboard
#4Getting a (read: multiple) 60% keyboard really changed my life. It makes a lot more sense for not offsetting the mouse way to the right or the keyboard to the left (as you would with a full size). As well, not having to strain my wrist to hit arrow keys got rid of any pain I had. It's awesome having everything under my hands. I'll definitely follow this 40% project.
Re: The 40% Keyboard
#5I recently moved to a 60% keyboard (Drop Alt with Clear switches) and really like it.
I find the look of these 40% keyboards very appealing. But I also don’t want to have to relearn to type or customize every keyboard I ever purchase in the future. If those barriers get reduced I think they could be very intriguing. Ortholinear keyboards are especially interesting...
Re: The 40% Keyboard
#6Getting a (read: multiple) 60% keyboard really changed my life. It makes a lot more sense for not offsetting the mouse way to the right or the keyboard to the left (as you would with a full size). As well, not having to strain my wrist to hit arrow keys got rid of any pain I had. It's awesome having everything under my hands. I'll definitely follow this 40% project.
This. Ater having a "centered" keyboard without all those numerical keys, I began to wonder how keyboards still have the same layout even if not everybody uses those nubers on a daily basis.
Re: The 40% Keyboard
#7Call me cynical, but I think a lot of the small style keyboards I see around the office are more of a fashion trend than anything.
I remember when the insistence was on number pads, and how dare they be removed from our laptops and desktop keyboards.
Fast forward a few years and I was made fun of at a programming job for preferring a full keyboard with a number pads. I guess programmers are too cool to enter in dollar amounts into Excel.
Now the trend is for brightly multi-colored keys, which are often unlabeled [1], and basically an otherwise standard rectangular keyboard which has no obvious ergonomic benefit over a full 100+ key keyboard.
[1] This makes no sense because the colored keys imply you enjoy looking at your keys and their unlabeled nature implies that you don’t need to look at your keys while you type. i.e. a fashion trend.
Re: The 40% Keyboard
#8I use a 40% keyboard (the planck ez), and I have to say I really enjoy using it. Typing english is about the same speed at this point, but I'm still lagging a bit behind in programming, mostly because my brain still confuses layers and shift. The thing I love most through is that I no longer curl my left pinky under my hand to hit shift, and my pinky doesn't hurt all the time.
Re: The 40% Keyboard
#9I recently moved to a 60% keyboard (Drop Alt with Clear switches) and really like it. I find the look of these 40% keyboards very appealing. But I also don’t want to have to relearn to type or customize every keyboard I ever purchase in the future. If those barriers get reduced I think they could be very intriguing. Ortholinear keyboards are especially interesting...
You don't have to customize everything you buy in the future. Even after getting a 40% (Mitosis) I can still type just fine on staggered keyboards.
I recommend going to column stagger rather than ortholinear.
Re: The 40% Keyboard
#10If you’re going to go small you might as well go all the way and get a 30% keyboard like the Gherkin. Very portable and not too bad as long as you’re willing to work with layers.
Anywhere you know of that sells them (mostly?) assembled?