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Typing and Keyboards

lzon.ca

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71–76 of 76 posts

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#71

Post by jweather »

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?

parens are third and fourth finger

=+ is my palm (weird keyboard I know)

[]{} I used a modifier key to put them on O and P directly below () (columnar keyboard)

-_ and \| are actually pinky

I don't feel like any particular finger is overloaded. Dvorak helps a lot with that IMHO.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#72

Post by jweather »

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...

I have a similar sized macropad that I use extensively with AutoHotKey for application-specific shortcuts like clicking on buttons that don't have a keyboard shortcut, or scrolling two panes of a window simultaneously. All things that I could bind a key combo to, but I like having a dedicated button for.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#73

Post by JoeBOFH »

amadeuspagel wrote: post #70

If you're aware how much knowing to touch type improves your experience of using a desktop, you should also learn to glide type on your phone.

I used to love swiping to type on mobile. Then I switched to iPhone. The issue there is if you have swipe enabled, it messes with the hit box of keys and you end up typing a lot of garbage if you type to fast when not swiping.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#74

Post by sumo89 »

bonyt wrote: post #13

I'm a fan of scissor switch keyboards, which I think makes me a bit odd - I got used to them from laptops and now I have an MX Keys Mini that I really like. I like the short travel and the tactile nature of them - I tried a slim mechanical (Nuphy Air75) but it still slowed me down considerably and was uncomfortable. I touch type but not home-row, so maybe my chaotic typing style doesn't work on heavier keys.

Yeah same, even after years of gaming I still prefer laptop style short travel keys. Slim mechanical are good but still not quite the same. The official apple separate keyboards are my favourite but currently I use a keychron k1.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#75

Post by backscratches »

opan wrote: post #9
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!

>no mention of Dvorak or Colemak? Let's have that eternal discussion again! I prefer Workman. Used to use Dvorak. Did not see much point to Colemak or its Mod DH variant by the time I was open to switching again, Workman set out to solve those issues in its original design. To anyone coming from Qwerty these days (Workman only came out in 2010), I would just recommend skipping over Dvorak and Colemak. You can find ev…

Colemak objectively better than workman for same finger bigrams. Also installed by default on more computers.

Re: Typing and Keyboards

#76

Post by backscratches »

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…

I have opposite opinion, that using an alternative layout on a standard keyboard is a greater improvement that a split keyboard. Coming from someone who uses colemak on a split column staggered aka as ergo as it gets. When I have to use my laptop keyboard its not so much worse.
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