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Typing and Keyboards

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Re: Typing and Keyboards

#51

Post by thatguy00 »

bee_rider wrote: post #38
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.

I have written many scripts with succinct wording. There were absolutely more non-alphanumeric character. Try Perl, it's fun.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#52

Post by thatguy00 »

ebbi wrote: post #33

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-pr…

My back and shoulders felt so much better when I mounted my spliit keyboard floating under my desk, halves shoulder width apart. Not just arms on the armrests, shoulders back against the chair instead of rounded forward. I can't go back. Nevermind that typing that way with colemak and hardly moving my fingers feels like magic.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#53

Post by thatguy00 »

istillcantcode wrote: post #41

Tangentially related to the lack of computer literacy in younger generations, but there are a lot of speed demons on their phones these days. I have high confidence that there are more people in the US that can type faster than 50WPM with the default Android or iOS keyboard than a physical keyboard. At this point I would bet on a cheap phone shaped USB touchscreen to use as a keyboard with a PC. It would be a cool Ki…

KDE has a phone connection program called KDE Connect that lets you use your phone as input.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#54

Post by thatguy00 »

harel wrote: post #45

Mavis Beacon thought me to touch type on my Amiga as a kid, and I'm grateful to her. In recent years I've been using a Logitech membrane keyboard. It's great for a membrane but mostly it's quiet. I work at night and that's a hard requirement. I'm looking for a mechanical as quiet as the Logitech and it's a struggle. Feels like there is a gap in the market for (really) quiet mechanicals.

There are definitely quiet mechanical switches out there. I'm pretty happy with my Kailh LP Whale silent tactiles. My old IBM style was so loud at night.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#55

Post by thatguy00 »

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...

Yep, trying to type a long number on the top row is super tedious to me. I just use a layer under my right hand for 10-key.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#56

Post by thatguy00 »

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 don't bother with a dedicated capslock key. I set it up so hitting left and right shift at the same time is caps lock. Also have an arrow layer under my right hand with home/end and pgup/pgdown within easy reach. Could never get used to vi cursor navigation.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#57

Post by thatguy00 »

ekropotin wrote: post #31
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 t…

Why ortholinear and not split column?

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#58

Post by tmtvl »

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?

Yes. And even considering the locations of C, X, and V on the QWERTY layout, I wouldn't type Control with any of those with one hand.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#59

Post by jpmitchell »

sanjiwatsuki wrote: post #47

I used to be a big keyboard enthusiast until I did a bunch of typing tests with many inexpensive keyboards. To my surprise, the data showed a statistically significant increase in my typing speed on several budget membrane keyboards.This disturbed me enough to fully convert back to membrane after all of these years. For an idea of the scale, I typed about 140WPM on the HHKB and about 150WPM on the budget membranes.

I've heard this anecdotally. I'm enjoying my current setup but I do hold open the possibility of going back to membrane one day.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#60

Post by jpmitchell »

lpghatguy wrote: post #44

I bought the same keyboard when I was a teenager as my first "real" keyboard! These days I have a ZSA Moonlander. I adore it! I love how easy it is to program it without any software installed and it's been phenomenal to customize it to fit me perfectly. I just changed all the switches out (in order to be quieter than my stock Cherry MX Brown switches) and replaced them with a set of Gazzew U4 switches. I'm _shocked_…

That was my impression too. I used to think I'd use nothing but MX Blues forever. The 'copycat' switches haven't just caught up, they've been innovating and Cherry seems to have given up.
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