Live data from Hacker News

A More Ergonomic Keyboard Strategy

blog.paulrugelhiatt.com

11–20 of 27 posts

Re: A More Ergonomic Keyboard Strategy

#11

I've done this and it works for normal typing. The downside is key combinations do not work across the keyboards (at least on Mac OS X). Example, pressing cmd on the left keyboard and p on the right keyboard will not trigger cmd-p.

Hmm that might be a configuration issue, my combinations work as expected. I'm in Vim pretty much the entire day so if key combinations didn't work this would be a non-starter

Re: A More Ergonomic Keyboard Strategy

#12
post #3

While this is pretty novel (I don't recall seeing anything exactly like this in the past 25 years), I doubt that it's truly more ergonomic than a standard keyboard on a desk that's at the right height and distance from you. With the keyboards at angles like that your hands are going to be pulled by gravity downward away from the keyboard at rest. Meaning you have to hold your hands in typing position. Additionally, t…

You can definitely type without injury on a standard keyboard if you place it relatively low, tilt it to a comfortable angle (the best tilt depends on the height of the table), and bring it in close to your body, especially if you are only typing some of the time. (That is, if you are a writer or programmer rather than a professional transcriptionist or data entry clerk.)

However, having your wrists be less pronated also makes a huge difference. The most neutral position for your forearms/wrists when your arms are in a typical typing position is only pronated slightly compared to a vertical (“handshake”) type orientation. Typing on a standard one-piece keyboard, such that the palms are facing downward, even in the best possible position, still puts a lot of static load on the relevant muscles, and encourages the typist to hold the arms out to the side with the elbows up, as a way of reducing that strain, which causes various other posture problems.

Re: A More Ergonomic Keyboard Strategy

#13

I've done this and it works for normal typing. The downside is key combinations do not work across the keyboards (at least on Mac OS X). Example, pressing cmd on the left keyboard and p on the right keyboard will not trigger cmd-p.

I'm pretty sure this problem is specific to Macs; other OSes allow modifiers from one keyboard to affect keys pressed on other devices.

Re: A More Ergonomic Keyboard Strategy

#16

I've done this and it works for normal typing. The downside is key combinations do not work across the keyboards (at least on Mac OS X). Example, pressing cmd on the left keyboard and p on the right keyboard will not trigger cmd-p.

https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/document.html.en#implicit

"When you are using multiple keyboards, modifier keys are shared with all keyboards."

Re: A More Ergonomic Keyboard Strategy

#17
post #8
post #3

While this is pretty novel (I don't recall seeing anything exactly like this in the past 25 years), I doubt that it's truly more ergonomic than a standard keyboard on a desk that's at the right height and distance from you. With the keyboards at angles like that your hands are going to be pulled by gravity downward away from the keyboard at rest. Meaning you have to hold your hands in typing position. Additionally, t…

Yeah I'm definitely not claiming novelty ( http://ohbah.com/mods/chairkey/images/cat.jpg ). Over the past year I've tried a number of different solutions, and actually alternate among this, a mechanical keyboard and various (optimized) desks (standing and not). The idea with this is that your arms will be pulled down (as you noted) but into the cushy arm rests, as opposed to your arms supporting themselves (if you ar…

I remember wanting an evolution keyboard mounted up to an aeron so badly back in the day but sadly I discovered them a year after they were discontinued. http://deskthority.net/photos-f62/ergonomic-keyboard-parade-...

I'm swapping between ergodox, kinesis advantage, and type matrix these days but always keeping my eye out for a better solution. Honestly the best thing I have found is a different keyboard, so these days I just keep cycling through them every few months.

Re: A More Ergonomic Keyboard Strategy

#19
I used to suffer from rsi issues due to keyboard usage and tried many things to fix it. In the end, the solution turned out to be a curved keyboard. I use a cheap Microsoft comfort curve keyboard nowadays, and have no issues anymore, except when I go back to a straight keyboard for a while. Sometimes the simple fixes are the best.
Post reply on HN