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    Left or right spacing?

    • Started by MISTERCROW
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    • Registered: 10-Oct-2009
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    19-Nov-2009 23:24:08#1 Left or right spacing?

    Hi all. Which thumb do use for spacebar, left or right?

    I always used to use my right. However since learning to touch type, I use my left since some people on this forum were advocating it.
    I've been thinking about it though: maybe its not such a good idea. The left hand seems to do more than the right already. There are certainly more characters on the left side, right has some keys wasted on ; & , & . & /
    besides left has all the backspacing to do (A lot in my case :D ) and i feel that streching down for character B makes hitting space difficult.
    I was thinking of sorting it out before I get any good at touch typing (only rockin 45 wpm atm :( )

    Does anyone know what is correct? Are you supposed to use both, or is this impractical?

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    19-Nov-2009 23:41:59#2 Re: Left or right spacing?

    I just did some calculations from wikipedia's letter frequency page. It turns out that from just characters a-z the right hand is used 52%, that is 4% more than the left. So maybe it is best to stick with left spacing. It feels like right would be more comfortable regardless. Thoughts?

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    20-Nov-2009 09:55:35#3 Re: Left or right spacing?

    I've tried several times to use the left thumb for space. I can type at about 50 wpm with the left versus ~65 with the right. I'd say that it's worth becoming competent with both thumbs so that if fatigue sets in you can switch and give the dominant one a break. I've noticed that typing on a laptop can become quite uncomfortable due to the thumb hovering above the spacebar.

    By the way, I did ask Shai in one of my threads why he suggests doing this in the learning section, but the never replied. It would be interesting to know if he has more experience with alternating.

    "It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in." - Earl of Chesterfield

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    • From: Viken, Norway
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    20-Nov-2009 10:41:41#4 Re: Left or right spacing?

    I really doubt that your thumbs will get much tired. It's not the space characters that I feel when typing, that's for sure.

    I'd like a split thumb bar with the left-hand one used for Enter instead, which would take a bit of load off the right hand pinky and be really comfy and nice. But since I primarily stay with mainstream hardware (mainstream being buckling spring boards, hehe) and the good alternatives are expensive I won't get that any time soon. Instead, I use CapsLock+Space for Enter.

    Since doing the 'comfort shift' on my bottom row, I don't use the stretch for the old B key much. I'm very happy with that; I think it's an awkward stretch.

    Last edited by DreymaR (20-Nov-2009 10:43:35)

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    20-Nov-2009 14:50:37#5 Re: Left or right spacing?

    I used to use both thumbs (which is terribly inefficient), but after learning Colemak I started just using my right thumb. I have had to problems with it.

    My typing speed record: http://hi-games.net/typing-test/watch?u=493

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    • From: Chicago Area
    • Registered: 04-Nov-2009
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    20-Nov-2009 16:03:17#6 Re: Left or right spacing?

    I use whichever thumb happens to be closest, though I've personally observed that it's usually my right. The Kinesis keyboard kinda took this idea and ran with it, since with that keyboard, you can only use your right thumb for space unless you remap keys.

    But you ask a good question. Most people never really pay attention to which thumb they use for that. I wonder why we'd have a preference, and if not, why the space bar is so friggin' big. :p

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    21-Nov-2009 20:43:11#7 Re: Left or right spacing?

    The fastest combinations (for me at least) are when you type two characters on one hand then switch to the other.  Therefore what matters is how frequently letters appear in the last two letters of a word preceding a space or the first two letters of a word preceding a space--you can't merely look at letter frequencies to decide.  I am not 100% sure but IIRC right handed space is best.

    http://hi-games.net/typing-test/watch?u=2374

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