Bad habits hard to break?? Do I need to? - General

boredguy8
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09-Jan-2008 03:29:13#1 Bad habits hard to break?? Do I need to?

Hey everyone! Quitting QWERTY (that's a lot less fun to type now!) cold-turkey. And doing the lessons reminds me I have some bad (but effective) habits. Do I need to break them? Observe:

1) My left hand tends to put z with a, but hitting x and c is done with the second and first fingers, respectively. Maybe I have fat fingers, but in order to get there, I have to slide my whole hand to, say, hit c with my d finger. The fingers naturally curl *inwards* (which makes n-m, e-, i-. o-/ all work fine), but for the left hand, we're suppose to reverse that curl?!?

2) I hit b with my left hand, not my right hand. The letter is equidistant from both index fingers!

3) I pretty much only ever shift with my left pinky. Evn with a shift-Q, I'll use my pinky and ring finger to make the combo (shift-A, Z: same).

4) I never hit space with my left thumb. Keep that thing out of the way!

So: do I need to get rid of these habits? Or are they fine?

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keyboard samurai
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09-Jan-2008 18:26:00#2 Re: Bad habits hard to break?? Do I need to?

I am no expert, but if you are having no trouble with accuracy, it's not causing you physical discomfort, and you are consistent, I see no need to change. Some bad habits I had were pretty easy to change because I played with what was suggested as better and found I like it better so I was motivated to change it. No fun changing something just because someone else says it's better.

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DreymaR
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09-Jan-2008 20:16:26#3 Re: Bad habits hard to break?? Do I need to?

1) I'm a boring guy who says this way too much, but: Get a 102-key board and do the Bottom Half-Row Shift. You'll love it like I've done and it solves your XC problem.

2) The BHRS also puts a symbol on the B key so you don't have to worry about it anymore. It's the hardest key to reach in the whole letter block IMO, and deserves no better.

3) I fixed this recently, and I felt good about it. I still slip back now and then, but I think it's a worthwhile thing to learn right.

4) Don't worry. Your right thumb is strong enough. Unless the left thumb gets sad, it's not a problem. ;)

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boredguy8
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10-Jan-2008 07:28:55#4 Re: Bad habits hard to break?? Do I need to?

The BRHS is a -great- suggestion (http://www.siteuri.ro/dvorak/ImprovedLayouts.aspx is a good website), but I'm on a laptop and I'm almost always mobile :/

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DreymaR
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10-Jan-2008 15:58:19#5 Re: Bad habits hard to break?? Do I need to?

Siteuri's way looks nice for those who don't have a 102-key board. I wonder what Shai thinks? Of course, having a Z on that huge CapsLock key isn't aesthetically pleasing but that may be too perfectionist.

One could use a script (in Windows, probably an AutoHotKey one) to make it a mobile solution.

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