Your keyboard layout is broken • Hacker News Board

Re: Your keyboard layout is broken

#41

Post by paulryanrogers » Sat, Jun 24, 2023, 3:36 PM UTC

_c3ag wrote: post #34

paulryanrogers wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because there must be a coordinated effort to change the default or at least increase the diversity of layouts. Otherwise it's like teaching esperanto, putting them into a very small minority for little benefit. Even as a technical user for decades I find it too burdensome to swim upstream with a niche layout, and I already have remapped copy-paste.

well, all we can do, is all we can do… if swimming upstream is that hard (and i agree that decades of professional usage on a X layout is hard to give up); at least when teaching someone you could say something: “here is the layout you should use! i know mine is different and i can type typewriter with one row in case i want to impress someone but yours is better, like minor chances of getting a RSI and general effic…

FWIW I did try an alt layout a while back. It was just too disruptive because it required changing so many shortcuts.

As more jobs come to benefit from shortcuts, QWERTY becomes more entrenched.

Re: Your keyboard layout is broken

#42

Post by ArchieMaclean » Sat, Jun 24, 2023, 3:56 PM UTC

dillydogg wrote: post #39

ArchieMaclean wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did this initially, but I believe it didn't work for all applications - some were still registering it as Caps Lock (e.g. VS Code IIRC).

Oh shucks, I should have known you would have tried it. Sorry, I was hoping I had a silver bullet for you.

No worries, worth a try!

Re: Your keyboard layout is broken

#43

Post by friend_and_foe » Sat, Jun 24, 2023, 9:04 PM UTC

I'm personally of the opinion that the social difficulty of switching layouts is too great and I'd compromise with an ortholinear split qwerty board, which should alleviate most of the problems associated with typing.

Re: Your keyboard layout is broken

#44

Post by jemmyw » Sat, Jun 24, 2023, 10:07 PM UTC

I started bringing my guitar into the office when I got pains in my hands when I was 25. They faded and haven't been an issue since. I don't know that it's playing a stringed instrument specifically, just having a way to exercise and move the fingers in a different way.

Re: Your keyboard layout is broken

#45

Post by sshine » Sun, Jun 25, 2023, 1:55 PM UTC

cout wrote: post #32

sshine wrote: post #28

There are several aspects to keyboard interfaces that the article does not catch: - The physical device: - The "key board": Keys that are aligned in straight lines are not aligned with your hands. - The wrist bend affects people differently and can cause strains - Physical design to lower wrist strain is an almost entirely separate research area than optimal keyboard layout. - The optimal physical input device (in te…

Race conditions are a good point. I remember on DOS I had a batch file DRI.BAT because I would often type DRI or IDR instead of DIR. Oddly I have no problem with ls and rarely type sl even though L and S are hit with different hands; either my typing has improved or there is something different about those key positions.

There is a Linux package called `sl` that launches a steam locomotive ASCII animation to annoy the typer. :-P I think the difference might be that three letters is less of a conscious and more of a motoric action, e.g. you get the first letter for free.

Re: Your keyboard layout is broken

#46

Post by nemo1618 » Fri, Jul 07, 2023, 1:43 PM UTC

alanbernstein wrote: post #36

nemo1618 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm skeptical that QWERTY causes RSI (or at least, causes more RSI than any other layout). I struggled with RSI for over a year and tried all sorts of things. Today I'm typing this comment on a QWERTY laptop keyboard in a position that would cause an ergonomics expert to faint, with no pain at all. Evidently the layout was not the problem.

What's the position? I use a steeply tented split keyboard for neutral wrist position.

Oh, I didn't mean to imply that it was a better position -- it is objectively atrocious. My hands are flopped over the keyboard with my wrists resting on the edge, and my right hand is skewed diagonally, with the wrist near the corner and the fingers on the home row.

It is not uncomfortable at all, and I can seemingly type as long as I want in this position without causing injury. The problem was in my head.