What about when you’re on the go? Or can we presume split-keyboard users never leave the house
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A beginner's guide to split keyboards
41–50 of 260 posts
Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards
#42The 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?
I can speak anecdotally, at least. My shoulders are pretty wide for my frame. When using most laptop keyboards and many standard keyboards, I have to tuck my shoulders in and twist my wrists. This was causing some serious pain and tension in my neck, shoulders, and wrists, likely leading toward carpal tunnel. I made two different changes in succession that helped greatly (and I don't remember the order now): 1. With…
Another shoulder anecdote... I also really appreciated being able to open up my shoulders.
I was once amused by a friend that had never seen a split keyboard before - they were mostly delighted with having a place to put their coffee...
Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards
#43Learning the new layout can be vastly accelerated by doing typing practice slowly, instead of trying to do 100wpm and crashing out. Doing it slowly makes the same brain connections, and you can exponentially ramp the speed up once you get slow reps in.
Same principle as slow practice for music instruments.
Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards
#44So 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…
Ok, fellow old hacker here. I have a similar problem and I found that a lot of the hand pain was from mouse/trackpad usage. My hands have been a lot happier since going to a trackball because I don't do nearly as much gripping and pressing.
Also, a vertical mouse works wonders for similar mouse-related tendon issues.
Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards
#45I have both a ZSA Moonlander and Voyager. I've used the former for five years or so, and the latter as a travel keyboard for about a year. I'm super happy with them (obviously happy enough to buy a travel version).
I switched to Dvorak at the same time that I switched from row staggered keyboards (so five years ago), and I must say, if you're thinking about switching layouts like that, there is no better time than when switching to a wildly different keyboard. My Dvorak muscle memory is entirely tied to typing on a split, columnar keyboard, and my QWERTY muscle memory is entirely tied to row staggered keyboards. I have never used Dvorak on a row staggered keyboard, and I have never used QWERTY on my Moonlander or Voyager. I think that's helped with maintaining my ability to use standard QWERTY keyboards after not using them regularly for years.
Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards
#46I was looking into split ergos a while ago but was bummed by the audiophile-ness of the userbase when doing research. I don't have time or interest to learn new layouts or keymaps or whatever. Any suggestions of simple split mechanical keyboards with standard (row staggered) layouts that aren't a small fortune?
Probably not a great suggestion these days. Back when I first got carpal tunnel / RSI (1995), I was using an IBM model M - which I loved the feel of. I had a dream of cutting a keyboard in two and hanging two halves off my chair so I could drop my arms to my sides and type that way.
Anyway, after trying a couple of things, Microsoft Natural (the original with backtilt) saved my programming career. I still have "weak" wrists/fingers/forearms, but it's rarely painful enough for me to have to stop working. Adding in some stretches generally makes it so I can survive.
I can type on a normal keyboard for maybe 15 minutes and maybe an hour on a laptop before I just can't anymore. I can generally go most of the day on my Microsoft Natural. Retraining from a regular keyboard layout (took typing in high school - yes, I'm ancient) wasn't hard at all - it's basically the same.
Sure, it's technically not a "split" keyboard - it's still one thing. These days, I buy used examples off ebay, usually 3 at a time, and on some, the typing action is horrible - but I still have a couple of examples that are usable. And I had to find the right ps2->usb adapters for my work setup. If I ever totally run out, my professional coding days are probably done.
Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards
#47I was looking into split ergos a while ago but was bummed by the audiophile-ness of the userbase when doing research. I don't have time or interest to learn new layouts or keymaps or whatever. Any suggestions of simple split mechanical keyboards with standard (row staggered) layouts that aren't a small fortune?
Crazy suggestion, just connect two normal keyboards. Particularly if the left one is numpad-less you’ll get much of the idea for sure.
They might be a smidgeon further apart than might be ideal, there’s some ugly duplication… which happens to enforce a minimum distance… just get that shoulder opened up and start evaluating. It’s certainly likely to be more optimal than the status quo.
Might need Karabiner on macOS to keep shortcuts working.
Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards
#48My dream is to use this kind of keyboard with my MacBook on my lap. Has anyone tried this?
Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards
#49The issue with kinesis and all those nice small symmetrical keyboards is that not every alphabet is as short as English. Russian, for example, has 33 letters. So if you’re someone like that, you really want that ordinary macbook-like number of keys = larger non-symmetrical right half. — As for the ortholinear keyboards, I spent a few months with the latest kinesis but sold it eventually: not that comfortable. Just cl…
I love my uhk, I really wish the 60v2 had bluetooth. I really don't wanna fork over the money for a 80v2. :(
I have wired v1 and I really appreciate its wired way.
Every time I used wireless keyboards (microsoft sculpt, latest kinesis advantage), I had issues from time to time.
Come to think of it, only apple magic keyboard never failed me. Though I don’t have many hours with it.
Re: A beginner's guide to split keyboards
#50The issue with kinesis and all those nice small symmetrical keyboards is that not every alphabet is as short as English. Russian, for example, has 33 letters. So if you’re someone like that, you really want that ordinary macbook-like number of keys = larger non-symmetrical right half. — As for the ortholinear keyboards, I spent a few months with the latest kinesis but sold it eventually: not that comfortable. Just cl…
I've been inputting Devanagari with a 30% ortho keyboard lately using QMK. ऐसे अति मुश्किल नहीं है । I have an extra layer for nicher inputs just as I do with my usual Roman text. I'm not aware of any writing systems that normally require multiple layers. The most complex I can think of is Hangul, and they all should translate pretty directly to a smaller keyboard.
Any language that has more than 30-35(?) letters needs layers.
Even french and german need layers (shift or right alt) for all the stuff like ß or adding accents like é è ê ë