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A beginner's guide to split keyboards

justinmklam.com

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Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#171

Post by precompute »

soufron wrote: post #2

The main question should be: are split keyboards any better than normal keyboard? When I gave it a look, the studies were on the side of split keyboards being the hardware equivalent of snake oil. But whatever. And maybe then: are keyboards the best input device in 2026?

Depends on the amount of effort you put into them, and the kind of work you do on the computer. Regular users should stick to regular keyboards. Power users (like programmers) can spend a few months with a split keyboard and customize their layout and come out the other side with a personal brain-computer interface (fingers + keyboard).

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#172

Post by FranklinMaillot »

GlenTheMachine wrote: post #4

So after almost 50 years of hacking, I'm starting to feel it in my hands. But I don't have any wrist problems -- no carpal tunnel. What I have is tendonitis in my fingers, primarily in my middle fingers and my right pinky (from slamming Enter several million times). I've had steroid injections into the tendon sheaths of my fingers a couple of times, which hurts like a bugger when it's done but definitely improves thi…

Maybe a low-profile keyboard with very-light actuation switches could help. Also choc keyboards have less spacing between the keys than traditional MX keyboards, which should required less finger travel.

Using a thumb key for Enter, would definitely help with your pinky.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#173

Post by flower-giraffe »

altmanaltman wrote: post #159
rgoulter wrote: post #60

Underdiscussed: The biggest difference these keyboards make: adding additional keys for the thumbs (replacing the unnecessarily large spacebar of traditional keyboards). This allows the hands to do more with the keyboard while resting the hands on home row. -- For users comfortable adding a bit of complexity for the benefit of increased expressiveness (e.g. vim users), having extra thumb keys allows bringing the full…

Yeah the thumb clusters are my favorite part of using my Kinesis Adv 360, and one of the only few things I miss when typing on a regular keyboard. Yeah the ergonomics are better but I can hit 150+ on both regular and split keyboards and never really had pain/issues with my wrists. Although I prefer the split layout more.

I’ve been using split boards since the original Microsoft Natural Keyboard, the one with the awful number pad. Then a Kinesis Advantage, then the 360. The DIY boards like a Lily58, Corne and a similar custom are mostly for travel.

Switching to split or ortholinear takes time. Doing both together is a significant and slightly annoying adjustment and takes a few weeks to feel normal. The payoff is when you lean into it. Home row mods so the home keys become ctrl shift alt meta when held, plus a thumb layer for navigation so you get vim-style movement everywhere, and a symbols layer for the stuff not on the top row.

Two thumb keys per side works well. Layer on both sides, enter on one thumb, space on the other. About 6x4 per side is the sweet spot for me. A function row on things like the Advantage 2 or Glove80 can be handy.

If you want to try it in steps, the Kinesis mWave is a decent bridge. Split but not ortholinear, full keyset so you don’t have to relearn everything at once, mechanical, runs ZMK, and in US pricing it’s very cheap for what it is, roughly $120.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#174

Post by gregnavis »

Intensive keyboard used caused me two problems: soft tissue overload in my palms and elbow pain. After trying Microsoft Natural 4000, Kinesis Advantage 2, I finally settled on ErgoDox EZ with Kailh Silver switches.

These switches don't require much force to activate, and I retrained myself to type lightly. This made the palm issue go away. For my elbows, physical therapy and foam rolling made the pain go away. I keep it away by ensuring proper posture when sitting: bending my elbows without turning my forearms inside (like the person pictured on the right in the article) and tilting the keyboard to minimize wrist rotation. I believe this helps minimize tension in the ulnar nerve. If you want to feel that tension then try a few reps of ulnar nerve flossing!

I optimized my typing further with a custom keyboard layout (see https://configure.zsa.io/ergodox-ez/layouts/60Q7r/pjzqDd/0):

1. Colemak as middle ground between QWERTY and Dvorak.

2. Command, Shift, Alt, and Control keys on both sides of the keyboard. I'm Polish and a standard keyboard layout forces you to use the right alt + letter to type diacritical characters (for example ą is Right Alt + a). This prevents you from typing with proper technique, but having two equivalent Alts solved the problem.

3. Hyper (Command + Shift + Alt + Control) and Meh (Shift + Alt + Control) on both sides of the keyboard. I use Hyper for system-level shortcuts (e.g. Hyper + A is Sublime Text; Hyper + Q is Sublime Merge; Hyper + Z is Ghostty) and Meh for application-level shortcuts (e.g. Meh + 2 is a two column layout in Sublime).

4. I have dedicated keys for (), [], and _, so that I can type them without modifiers.

5. There's a function layer with function keys from F1 to F24 - useful for switching panes in tmux!

6. A dedicated mouse layer helps me reduce my mouse use.

If you want to improve your workplace ergonomics I suggest taking an iterative approach and making full use of customization abilities in the software and hardware you own.

I also made a special belt for my keyboard: each half had it's holster and I was able to type standing with my arms and wrists completely straight. This helped a lot with alleviating elbow pain.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#175

Post by ihagen »

wodenokoto wrote: post #114
powersnail wrote: post #106

Whenever split keyboards come up, ulnar deviation is mentioned, and non-split keyboard users are depicted to be using the keyboard like this (image from the post): https://www.justinmklam.com/posts/2026/02/beginners-guide-sp... I don't know if it's just me, but I don't use the keyboard like that. I know the illustration is said to be exaggerated, but still. There is no need to squeeze your hands in front of the keybo…

All typing guides I’ve seen recommend keeping fingers on home row. If you do that you end up pretty close to what that drawing shows. Homerow centric posture is imho the main cause of keyboard related pain.

Many years ago, I was lucky enough to discover a keyboard training program called Stamina. The author suggested using a more ergonomic hand position: instead of placing your fingers on ASDF and JKL;, you place them on SDFV and NJKL. This way, your hands rest in a position similar to what you would use on an ergonomic keyboard. In addition, the characters on these keys are more frequent, so your base typing speed should increase (especially for cyrillic layout). It was over 20 years ago, and I wonder why nobody uses it and everyone still uses that uncomfortable orthodox hand position.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#176

Post by SebastianKra »

powersnail wrote: post #106

Whenever split keyboards come up, ulnar deviation is mentioned, and non-split keyboard users are depicted to be using the keyboard like this (image from the post): https://www.justinmklam.com/posts/2026/02/beginners-guide-sp... I don't know if it's just me, but I don't use the keyboard like that. I know the illustration is said to be exaggerated, but still. There is no need to squeeze your hands in front of the keybo…

Maybe it's related to finger length. On the home row, my index finger is somewhat stretched and my little finger is bent.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#177

Post by Orygin »

harperlee wrote: post #123

I'm mildly interested in keyboard ergonomics and efficiency, but every time I read threads like this I can't really see me spending $200+ on a keyboard when there are quite functional versions at $10 (and I know that the vast majority of the world is typing on either those or a laptop keyboard). To me it reads too much like an audiophile discussion about whether the materials of the cable affect sound, or just people…

Mechanical and Ergonomic keyboard prices suffer because they are niche and way lower volume. The switches are not that expensive if you use common ones, but if you want some special keycaps, prepare to fork some good money. Most of them are made in very low batches and most of the expense is in the molds you have to make. Your $10 keyboard is probably so mass produced that literal millions have been manufactured. Versus custom-ish keyboard designs that are made for at most a thousand buyers.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#178

Post by Stratoscope »

wodenokoto wrote: post #114
powersnail wrote: post #106

Whenever split keyboards come up, ulnar deviation is mentioned, and non-split keyboard users are depicted to be using the keyboard like this (image from the post): https://www.justinmklam.com/posts/2026/02/beginners-guide-sp... I don't know if it's just me, but I don't use the keyboard like that. I know the illustration is said to be exaggerated, but still. There is no need to squeeze your hands in front of the keybo…

All typing guides I’ve seen recommend keeping fingers on home row. If you do that you end up pretty close to what that drawing shows. Homerow centric posture is imho the main cause of keyboard related pain.

It's really quite easy to keep your fingers on the home row and avoid bending your wrists. I've done it for decades without any wrist problems.

It's even easier than the bent wrist position. Take a look at your hands. What is the shortest finger? Your pinky.

The straight wrist position lets you put your pinkies on the home row without the unnatural stretching that the bent wrist requires.

Try it: Keep your wrists straight and start by placing your index fingers and pinkies on the home row. Then let your middle and ring fingers settle into place.

You may notice that your middle and ring fingers arch higher than the index fingers and pinkies. That's fine!

Then start typing. If you're used to the bent wrists, the keys above and below the home row may not be where your muscle memory is used to. Keep at for a while and your fingers will re-learn where the keys are. Just don't let yourself slip back into the bent wrist position, and you will be back up to speed in no time.

Here's a comment from years ago with some crude ASCII art illustrating the difference:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20663540

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#179

Post by leni536 »

cduzz wrote: post #75

I'm not sure why nobody mentions this, but for windows and linux, you can fiddle with a "split keyboard" by using two keyboards. You can put your right hand over the right part of the right keyboard, the left and over the left part of left keyboard, and ... type away. It just works, and usually it is free, almost everyone I know has a pile of keyboards somewhere. Irritatingly, this doesn't work by default on the mac…

Do ctrl,alt and shift work across keyboards?

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#180

Post by sumibi »

This article doesn’t mention my absolute favorite split keyboard : the Keyboardio Model 100. The killer feature for me is the palm keys that are very ergonomic, in my opinion, and I’ve never found another keyboard that offers them. The sculpted keycaps are also nice.
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