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Typing and Keyboards

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Re: Typing and Keyboards

#31

Post by ekropotin »

smokel wrote: post #2

What, an article on typing and keyboards, and no mention of Dvorak or Colemak? Let's have that eternal discussion again! Swap Caps and Ctrl, use Emacs or vi keybindings, and save your wrist from moving to the arrow keys!

I use Colemak DH for many years and Dvorak before that and I am of an opinion that alternative layouts are way overrated. I even somewhat regret inventing so much time in learning them. QWERTY is just fine!

The matter I want to preach about tho are split ortolinear keyboards. I believe absolutely every typist should use them. Conventional keyboards are just bad from ergonomics perspective and eventually it’d have a toll on your wrists health. And many of these keyboards stores key mappings directly on the chip so no need to mess with weird mapping software.

Having said that, my split keyboard is one of the best investments I did in my life.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#32

Post by Calazon »

tmtvl wrote: post #17
smokel wrote: post #2

What, an article on typing and keyboards, and no mention of Dvorak or Colemak? Let's have that eternal discussion again! Swap Caps and Ctrl, use Emacs or vi keybindings, and save your wrist from moving to the arrow keys!

If you swap caps for left control, do you swap return for right control? I've been taught not to type modifier + key with one hand. Dvorak + Emacs user here, by the way. In my opinion mouse use is okay, but I think a drawing tablet is better than a mouse.

Do you even use two hands for shortcuts like copy and paste?

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#33

Post by ebbi »

My journey went from using membrane keyboards (not knowing there was anything else available), to finding out about mechanical keyboards after watching a game streamer and his clacky keyboard, to going out and buying one...only to find out it was a membrane keyboard that was marketed as mechanical-like (!). After a few proper mechanical keyboards (trying to chase the 'thock'), then to low-profile, I'm now on a low-profile split mechanical keyboard, and I think this format is end game for me. The split helps a lot with ergonomics and just feels so natural, and the ortholinear setup just makes sense, despite the few weeks it took me to get used to it.

I was skeptical about the split keyboard, and living in an area that has no stores where I could try it out, I ended up buying a relatively cheap one from AliExpress. I swapped in my own switches and keycaps, and now it feels amazing to type on.

Being able to lean back on my chair while typing with each side sitting on the arm rest is amazing

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#34

Post by raincole »

How do people (especially programmers) actually type )_+={}\'"

I know the touch typing says they're all typed by pinky, but after so many years it still doesn't feel right for me. Why is the weakest finger in charge of so many keys?

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#35

Post by jasomill »

stavros wrote: post #5

Does anyone here use a numpad? What for? I made my own macropad[1] but I struggle to find a use, the only thing I use it for is CAD shortcut keys. Any ideas are welcome! [1] https://immich.home.stavros.io/share/GE_noaUx1_cayK9WDVvzutr...

I do when I'm using a keyboard that has one, for numeric input, but I don't do this often enough to prefer it to the smaller form factor of a tenkeyless keyboard.

My usual layout, left to right, is Magic Trackpad, tenkeyless keyboard, mouse on mousepad cut down to roughly the size of a Magic Trackpad (with a larger mousepad on hand for gaming and other precision applications).

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#36

Post by thomastjeffery »

ivraatiems wrote: post #12

I type 120 wpm using a bizarre method I acquired through trial and error as a kid. It uses mostly my thumbs and index fingers and has been described by observers as "disconcerting". But it works great for me, and about perfectly matches the speed of my thoughts. My typing teachers hated it. It's touch typing in the sense that I don't need to look at the keys, but it is definitely Not Right. It does mean that I can't…

The whole premise of "correct" typing on a traditional keyboard is absurd. It's trying to force good ergonomics into a system that is simply incompatible with it. You're better off either making yourself compatible with the system, or vice versa.

I type "incorrectly" on traditional qwerty keyboards, too. I also type "correctly" on my split ergonomic keyboard, using the workman layout. As far as I can tell, I'm not any faster with either; but I definitely enjoy using the ergonomic keyboard more.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#37

Post by jwiz »

Calazon wrote: post #32
tmtvl wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you swap caps for left control, do you swap return for right control? I've been taught not to type modifier + key with one hand. Dvorak + Emacs user here, by the way. In my opinion mouse use is okay, but I think a drawing tablet is better than a mouse.

Do you even use two hands for shortcuts like copy and paste?

I use ctrl-c and ctrl-v for those. Right hand presses right control with palm of hand (just below pinky). Left hand types the letter like normal.

I just kind of roll my hand to the ctrl key, I don't use a finger to press it.

Same thing with right-ctrl.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#38

Post by bee_rider »

raincole wrote: post #34

How do people (especially programmers) actually type )_+={}\'" I know the touch typing says they're all typed by pinky, but after so many years it still doesn't feel right for me. Why is the weakest finger in charge of so many keys?

I guess, having just tried it, I use my pinky for []. But, it is not so bad, realistically the actions are

    Hit [type whatever goes in here, hit ]
So it isn’t really a repetitive action or limited by the rate at which I can hit brackets I think even for programmers who use weird punctuation, a file should still mostly not be punctuation.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#39

Post by chirayuk »

raincole wrote: post #34

How do people (especially programmers) actually type )_+={}\'" I know the touch typing says they're all typed by pinky, but after so many years it still doesn't feel right for me. Why is the weakest finger in charge of so many keys?

I have "Shift space" remapped to underscore as that was my biggest annoyance. The rest I've made peace with (though not ergonomic).

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#40

Post by vunderba »

stavros wrote: post #5

Does anyone here use a numpad? What for? I made my own macropad[1] but I struggle to find a use, the only thing I use it for is CAD shortcut keys. Any ideas are welcome! [1] https://immich.home.stavros.io/share/GE_noaUx1_cayK9WDVvzutr...

Quite a bit - I have a bunch of custom shortcuts for musical notation (adding dynamics, expression, etc.) for rapidly entering music into my notation software.
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