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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

#191

Post by bobchadwick »

yoavm wrote: post #121
taikon wrote: post #119

Shameless plug but I'm a doctor who made an ergonomic split keyboard called the TAIKO-01 ( https://taiko.taikohub.com ). It's split in two so you can position them at shoulder width. It's angled so your wrists are in more natural positioning (reduced pronation), and curved to prevent finger overstretching (finger joints have arc-shaped range of motion). It's injection molded and hot-swappable. I've been working on th…

Looks great! What do you use for mouse though? I wish more split keyboards had some integrated pointer control (touch / trackball / thinkpad-like-stick) so I didn't need to move my hand all the time.

I've started using this: https://mouseless.click/. It looks insane, but it's amazing and I almost never find the need to use my trackpad.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#192

Post by duskdozer »

gammalost wrote: post #100

I do not buy the whole ergonomic portion for most split keyboards. It feels like a justification after the fact. That said I used to use a lily58 and for me it was great. I have a lot of papers, notes and books on my desk. A small easily movable keyboard meant that i could have something between the keyboard halves, writing and reading without issue

I think a lot of the benefit comes from being able to shift each half as needed. I find myself slightly moving or angling one half or the other fairly often

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#193

Post by duskdozer »

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?

It seems pretty obvious to me that it can't be worse, considering you could still put the two halves in exactly the same position as if they were attached.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#194

Post by davidee »

bobchadwick wrote: post #190
jbstack wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't already know about it, I recommend https://www.keybr.com/ for learning new keyboard layouts. It introduces letters one at a time and waits until you hit a threshold speed before introducing the next one. If you commit to doing 15-30 minutes a day consistently, you can get to an acceptable speed more quickly than if you try to learn in an ad hoc way.

I'm in the same boat as OP. I've used keybr and https://monkeytype.com/ , and while doing the exercises, I get pretty close to the speed and accuracy I had using a standard keyboard and qwerty, but I get much worse on both fronts when typing in the real world.

Have you added back in capitals/punctuation symbols? keybr defaults to only lower case words, but there are some options worth enabling to bring speed up:

From the preferences:

- Unlock a next key only when the previous keys are also above the target speed. (This will force you to practice keys that are problematic in context, it's frustrating but very helpful for reinforcement learning. For example, I struggle with B, C, V on my split because I don't use the “correct” fingers for those keys on a standard keyboard.)

- Add capital letters

- Add punctuation characters

- Add words to lessons (move it to the max)

Regarding getting much worse in the real world; IMO this isn't discussed enough. When you're relearning muscle memory, it's a very different beast to copy what you see (focused only on where your fingers are) as opposed to focusing on your thought and your fingers just “go there”. I, too, have found my speed plummet at first; at some point I decided to just go cold turkey and suffer being rather slow – trading it for eventual mastery.

In my case, because I was such a phenomenally sloppy typist, sometimes what felt slow was likely just as quick as a result of making fewer mistakes on the new split layout where my behaviour was forced to be better.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#195

Post by davidee »

incr_me wrote: post #33

I resent the idea of an absolute standard of ergonomics or typing technique. I often use my left thumb to key z/x/c/v/b. I often reach with my left index finger to key y/h/b. During certain chords, my hands often cross over the split. I tried multiple split keyboards over the period of 2 years and never grew out of these habits. I always wished, at the least, that some of the middle keys were duplicated between the t…

Thanks for sharing. One of the challenges (always has been probably) with our heavy "influencer" culture is we tend to gloss over that what works for me, might not work for you and vice versa.

I recently switched to a split columnar layout but not for solely for ergonomics sake - I do the same things as you but with my right hand handling b, g, t, and my left hand moving over to accommodate (with "incorrect" fingering for c, and variable fingering for the whole of the left side).

My choice to move to a split was primarily motivated by a need to reset my typing style and a hatred for where the escape key sits on a keyboard (not forgetting the waste of space that is the spacebar.)

It would be neat if someone would make a zmk / qmk keyboard with five thumb keys where the space bar is. Might be the sweet spot for most.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#196

Post by jbstack »

bobchadwick wrote: post #190
jbstack wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't already know about it, I recommend https://www.keybr.com/ for learning new keyboard layouts. It introduces letters one at a time and waits until you hit a threshold speed before introducing the next one. If you commit to doing 15-30 minutes a day consistently, you can get to an acceptable speed more quickly than if you try to learn in an ad hoc way.

I'm in the same boat as OP. I've used keybr and https://monkeytype.com/ , and while doing the exercises, I get pretty close to the speed and accuracy I had using a standard keyboard and qwerty, but I get much worse on both fronts when typing in the real world.

Well, I don't see these sites as a complete solution. They're a way to get you from zero to "I can actually manage to write something, even if it's a bit awkward and slow". Once you cross that threshold, you make the switch and you learn by doing until you improve to an acceptable level.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#197

Post by bkienzle3 »

This is indeed a deep rabbit hole. Creating your own can be pretty rewarding, but it's a massive time sink. I've made two so far, with a series of blog posts about one of them (https://bkienzle.com/posts/creating-a-custom-split-keyboard-...). This is my current daily driver: https://github.com/bkienzle3/zen_kb

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#198

Post by d4v3 »

Wow, I wish I read this guide months ago when I was trying to research split keyboards. It would have been a lot easier to see what the options are. I eventually settled on the nocfree keyboard and have been relatively happy with it. It definitely helps by letting me split the keyboard very wide and open up the shoulders and back (slightly wider than shoulder distance). It feels like everything these days is trying to squish our shoulders/back into a hunched position. As someone with back issues, I have to mindful of my posture. Split keyboard + adjustable standing desk is great for the scapular area and the lower back for me

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#199

Post by alexpotato »

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…

Sometimes you are forced into the ulnar deviation for other reasons.

For example:

- I have long arms (6'3" fingertip to fingertip)

- I have bad vision (20/40 is best I can get even with glasses)

- B/c of the above I like to have the monitor close to me (or I sit closer to the monitor)

- For a long time (5 years) I worked on a trading floor with a desk with very limited depth so my wrists were often turned inward

So I ended up getting a split keyboard (Kinesis Freestyle) so I could spread my hands farther apart so I didn't get the ulnar deviation.

Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards

#200

Post by coldpie »

russdill wrote: post #35
incr_me wrote: post #33

I resent the idea of an absolute standard of ergonomics or typing technique. I often use my left thumb to key z/x/c/v/b. I often reach with my left index finger to key y/h/b. During certain chords, my hands often cross over the split. I tried multiple split keyboards over the period of 2 years and never grew out of these habits. I always wished, at the least, that some of the middle keys were duplicated between the t…

Curious if there are any split keyboards with "overlap", eg, the center of the keyboard is duplicated on both sides

It's an ergonomic keyboard, not a split keyboard, but I have a Feker Alice 98 (highly recommended!) and it's got two B keys, one on either side of the ergonomic divider. Threw me for a loop when I first saw it. I only use the left one. :)
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