How bad is QWERTY, really? A review of the literature, such as it is
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How bad is QWERTY, really? A review of the literature, such as it is
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Re: How bad is QWERTY, really? A review of the literature, such as it is
#2The problem of RSI isn't QWERTY, the problem is putting all your fingers on the home row.
Type with your hands at an angle, and your wrists inline with your arms and palms. Problem solved.
Re: How bad is QWERTY, really? A review of the literature, such as it is
#3> In Pan & Schleifer (1996), subjects experienced more arm discomfort/pain/fatigue the more keys they pressed while doing a data entry task.[23] Finally, Feng et al. is a recent (2021) cross-sectional study that found that “prolonged computer use time and working without breaks were associated with presence of wrist/hand symptoms”.[24] But of course correlation is not causation, and there are many potential confounders here, e.g. maybe people who spend lots of time at the computer exercise little, and it is the lack of exercise, not computer use, that causes problems.
I generally agree with this. I've found that I have less wrist pain now that (1) I've gotten a better mouse and (2) I work out my wrists and forearm occasionally. I think the keyboard is a much smaller cause, especially since a lot of repetitive stress comes more from gaming and use of mice for me.
Re: How bad is QWERTY, really? A review of the literature, such as it is
#4I used to type using the Dvorak layout when I was in high school. I gradually lost the ability to type in QWERTY at all. When I took the GRE I learned it would have to be in QWERTY, so I just switched back. I used QWERTY ever since.
Re: How bad is QWERTY, really? A review of the literature, such as it is
#5The problem of RSI isn't QWERTY, the problem is putting all your fingers on the home row. Type with your hands at an angle, and your wrists inline with your arms and palms. Problem solved.
I use a fairly ergonomic low profile split keyboard, and have no issues with my wrists, but I have some mild RSI in my index finger, near the knuckle joint. I have been trying to figure out how to fix this for a while, and haven't really found a solution, other than to switch to an alternative layout which is not as hard on the index finger. Anyone have a similar issue?
Re: How bad is QWERTY, really? A review of the literature, such as it is
#6The problem of RSI isn't QWERTY, the problem is putting all your fingers on the home row. Type with your hands at an angle, and your wrists inline with your arms and palms. Problem solved.
That's what I've discovered in my own life as well. My 'home row' on a non-split QWERTY keyboard is 'AWEF' 'JKL'.
Re: How bad is QWERTY, really? A review of the literature, such as it is
#7The problem of RSI isn't QWERTY, the problem is putting all your fingers on the home row. Type with your hands at an angle, and your wrists inline with your arms and palms. Problem solved.
This position is how I've always typed, but I still had RSI problems. I switched to Dvorak with great, personal, success. If you watch a video of someone typing on Dvorak vs Qwerty [1], it's clear that the experience is very very different with any of these reduced motion layouts.
Re: How bad is QWERTY, really? A review of the literature, such as it is
#8> Colomak favor the right hand ... asymmetry.
Has anyone explored the effects of duplicating keys across hands?
Re: How bad is QWERTY, really? A review of the literature, such as it is
#9I switched to Dvorak in my 20's. I don't think i got faster, but my right-hand wrist which would irritate me and was one reason for the switch, definitely was more comfortable after, and hasn't given me any problems since.
That said, switching was a huge pain in the ass.... like horrible for the first two months, and i promised myself i'd keep typing in both. However, i eventually lost the ability to type in qwerty, after about two years, but i honestly don't care, i genuinely love Dvorak.
The biggest concern most people probably don't think about is keeping shortcuts like CTRL+X/C/V/S/F, which apple thankfully has a layout for "Dvorak-CMD-Qwerty." The shortcuts are very obviously put where they are so you can toggle them quickly. Many programs don't account for this layout, which is why I wrote an Intellij IDE key mapping for it: https://github.com/scoofy/Intellij-IDEA-Dvorak-QwertyCMD-key...
The layouts that i think don't get enough love, are the one-handed dvorak layouts designed for amputees.
The idea that, in the end, the author suggests yet another standard seems a bit absurd to me.
Re: How bad is QWERTY, really? A review of the literature, such as it is
#10The problem of RSI isn't QWERTY, the problem is putting all your fingers on the home row. Type with your hands at an angle, and your wrists inline with your arms and palms. Problem solved.
> Problem solved
Not at all! RSI is complex because it can involve a hundred muscles and tendons. People can have inflammation and pain even in wrists, shoulders and elbows due to keyboard use.
Reducing finger travel by using Dvorak can be very beneficial. Obviously it will do little for things like ulnar pronation.