Hi! my own preferences are roughly:
1) RH ~80% of the time (really dependent on whether I was already typing numbers with the RH or LH beforehand)
2) LH ~60% (it's a bit of a toss-up but the key is a 1.75 key width lateral stretch for the LH vs 2.25 keys for the RH which does feel like it matters to me!)
3) RH ~80%

This does depend on what I'm using the keys for! I have two main modes, in which keys 2 and 3 are used for either the Å and Æ letters or LBr/RBr, respectively. For letter use it's much as quoted above, but for brackets it's dependent on what I'm doing again! To produce an empty set of brackets I'll use LH then RH almost 100% to avoid the same-finger digraph. When using AltGr I'll hit these keys with the LH to avoid twisting the RH wrist. When hitting the keys unmodified RH takes keys 1 and 3 most of the time and key 2 about half of the time I think. :)

As you know, the two Wide mods I settled the most on were the one in which all keys are moved on the row they were - known as the Wide-RBr/1b mod (making it easier if you want to change key caps on some keyboards), and the one I use now with brackets in the middle and the slash at the old RBr key - known as the Wide-Slash/35 mod. I do like the brackets-in-the-middle because it's pretty and consistent. Not sure if it's ideal for hardcore coding or not but I feel it's okay for me.

Sorry, I didn't sort them by comfort but just listed them in ordered sequence. I'd say that key 2 is most comfortable, followed by 1 and 3. Yes, the stretch to 1 is a lot longer but the stretch to 3 is lateral which means opening the hand and I find that more strenous than moving it. The difference is small though.

OT: Yes, I got your message. And due to the problem I've written up in the Forum Mailer topic I couldn't reply to it. Seems we have to stick to forum "chat". ;)

Too bad, cevgar. All these mobile devices taking over more and more are certainly a challenge to the typing aficionado. Screen keyboards, for instance, are a source of abject horror to me. And word recognition software can't cope with me being multilingual, verbifluous and creative. Ugh.

Fine, keep your stunted Shift button my friend! ;) Interestingly, the ISO/Euro LShift button sits exactly at the same distance from the left pinky home position as the (non-Wide) RShift button from its home position! So it can't be that bad when you think it through. But I've mentioned that before, hehe.

More to the point though, is the problem of getting that keyboard you want: A 105-key board with US markings proved to be a rare bird indeed (in the end, Unicomp delivered - go them!). So to get that left wrist straight the US population have to do something else and unless you're happy with dislodging the Z position that is a challenge. I do maintain that the left hand wrist angle is the most important thing to improve and that alone will turn your old torture instrument of a keyboard into an ergonomic one!

Yes, ZXCVB shift is what you describe and you're right to swear by it! Yes, I require the extra key on the ISO/Euro keyboards like you say. However, I like to use the symbol key markings from the US keyboards and usually those two don't mix. So I just have to ignore the symbol markings on my keyboards - but that's not a good option for my kids when learning to type! So they can't use the standard Colemak but need to use a Norwegian "Keep Local Symbols" variant which in my opinion is inferior.

The issue of the Shift key distances is actually the reason the US still has that silly 104-key ANSI board! IBM made the extra key (the 102nd key at that time, since they didn't have the GUI/Menu keys then) and the new design caught on in Europe but the US users didn't accept the increased distance to the LShift and Enter keys so they kept their old design. :( I do agree about the Enter key distance actually - but the Wide mods fix that problem so everybody can be happy again!

(No, the Dutch haven't got a US-like layout. Their is pretty much as stupid as the Norwegian one, with symbols moved around haphazardly and parentheses on 8-9 instead of 9-0...)

The irritating thing is that this Shift issue could be very easily resolved if the keyboard manufactures took a hint from the Japanese keyboards (thanks for the hint spremino!) and would simply split the spacebar. Backspace and Shift on one thumb, Space and Enter/AltGr on the other. As far as I can tell that would be just about ideal, and doesn't even involve relearning your layout. Unfortunately, even the split/adjustable keyboards I've seen with a split spacebar usually use the same scancode for both keys, making it impossible to modify them separately.

Now, in defense of the ANSI board bottom row, honestly it isn't that awful for wrist position, just as long you aren't silly enough to tie yourself down to the 'proper' fingering. Personally I hit z with L.Ring, x with L.Mid, and cvb with L.Index. It is effectively the same shift as the comfort mod, well, except for the b, and doesn't involve moving anything.

I've learned two more things on Japanese keyboard layouts: there are two versions available, one targeting  English typists who want to type Japanese as well:

http://www.keyboardco.com/keyboard_imag … _small.jpg

and one targeting Japanese typists who want to type English as well:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ … e91ubk.jpg

Note the difference in the lowest row.

@DreymaR: regarding key engravings for the US layout, another alternative is to buy stickers.

I wonder how they press CTRL along with other modifiers, then.  To me, CTRL keys on the sides of the space bar, followed by Alt, is the best approach.  Even if you don't use your thumbs, you can still use fingers other than your pinkies.

Would you please contribute to my poll? Thanks ;-)

Thanks for the hint pinkyache! I never even considered hitting Ctrl with my palm. It is do-able with the side of the hand more than the palm, but considering I have to move my hand up, then hit the relevant keys (zxcv) with a thumb it hardly seems worth the effort. Might make sense for those MK-Types I was proposing a couple of years ago...

While I love the Japanese Thumb Shift keyboards, there is a problem with them. Namely, the Japanese keyboards are Japanese keyboards, and if I am reading things right, not even standard there. It is like opening up the whole "should I switch layouts" nonsense all over again. Unless you plan to haul your keyboard around with you everywhere, or have you laptop modified or hack your mobile... well, you are SOL then aren't you.

Japanese keyboard layouts are not less standardized than Western ones.  I'm typing this on a Lenovo Thinkpad, and its keyboard does not mirror a desktop keyboard closer than usual.  By "usual", I mean that on a laptop keyboard you are guaranteed only the 4 rows above the space bar and the space bar itself.  Everything else is at the whim of the designers of the laptop.  Wait!  Beside the space bar, you are actually guaranteed only the 3 rows above it, because if you don't watch out, you might be robbed of the key on the left of the 1 key, if the designers deem it redundant.

If you want to touch-type modifier keys - I do - then you'll have to be selective when buying a keyboard, be it for a desktop or on a laptop.  On my Thinkpad, with the Wide Mod I use, I have got a key right under my right thumb, but I ignore it because if I didn't, then my fingers would start expecting to find a key that will not be available on a desktop keyboard.  And when it comes to quality desktop keyboards, the only keyboard models I've found to have a sane layout for keys on both sides of the space bar are the Unicomp keyboards.  A sane layout means that the Ctrl and Alt keys are aligned with the keys above them.

As said, there are two versions of Japanese keyboards: one for Japanese typists and another for English typists.  This is something I've learned from a reliable source, e.g. a Japanese man passionate about keyboards.

The advantage of a standard Japanese keyboard layout are that:
- you can retrofit a laptop with a Japanese keyboard;
- Japanese keyboard layouts are here to stay.

Neither advantage applies to a DataHand, or any other ergonomic keyboard I know.
That indeed is the reason I stayed away from them.

On the other hand, thumb-shift keyboards are indeed a specialty, therefore you are unlikely to find them in all shapes and sizes.

So, I looked into Japanese keyboards, and the only issue that stopped me from going the Japanese way was that I didn't find enough resemblance between Japanese desktop keyboards and laptop ones.  Enough resemblance, I mean, to touch-type blindly on both.

Cheers.

DreymaR, the world has less and less borders as years pass by.  I don't look at Japan as at an exotic country.  I don't live in Japan, so what?  If I wanted Japanese keyboards then I would get them.  Indeed, I had no issues in buying a Japanese keyboard a couple of years ago, to try it out.  Expensive, yes, but then I went for an expensive keyboard (a Filco).  An when I wanted an Unicomp keyboard from the USA, I got one, and I think I'll get another, for the reason explained above. No issue.

What matters for people who may consider using Japanese keyboards alone  is that the Japanese keep producing them, and the Japanese will.  This is not the case with the DataHand and other ergonomic keyboards, whose manufacturers could go out of business tomorrow.  Also, mice have been replaced by touchpads and trackpads, so yes, carrying around a DataHand would be an hassle.

I know it's an hassle to go against the flow, but life for a discerning user is an hassle anyway.  Some users give up earlier, some later.  Mainstream products never cater to demanding power users.  I guess that keyboard designers don't expect most people to touch-type nowadays, and I guess they're right, hence they don't care about misplacing some keys.

The amusing bit is when users get duped and think they are being offered better products, whereas they are being thrown cheaper ones.  In the realm of keyboards, this is happening with chiclet keyboards, that I've read so many people swear by.  It goes without saying that such people never tried the keyboard of a Thinkpad.  Actually, I considered the highly-praised chiclet keyboard on my netbook comfortable... until I got a Thinkpad.  For a desktop computer, even a Thinkpad keyboard is superseded by a mechanical one.