Thumbs-Up layout(s)! Taking vertical keyboards for a test drive.
If you've been exploring egronamic keyboards online, going a little deeper than those "Natural" boards they sell in stores, you've probably run across some pretty... unique specimens. Some make us laugh, some make us drool and some make us scratch our heads in absolute confusion. For the last, I am of course referring to the SafeType, accordian style vertical keyboard.
Honestly, the thing looks so bad, it has to be good. Kinesis charges an extra 200 USD for the Freestyle Accent accessory that lets the Freestyle do the same thing. Who has the money to burn for that kind of experiment? Of course if you had two compact boards lying around you could probably work something out. Assuming you don't, I give you...
The Key-tar! (demo version)
If the image didn't load, try refreshing. It will make things easier, even if in retrospect the graphic isn't as clear as it could be. Oh, well.
For simplicity's sake, since this is only for test driving vertical ergonomics, I'm going to describe the easiest implementation. If you like the effect, you can move the rest of the board around easily enough, as I have done with my other layout suggestions. Getting a Key-tar with the fewest changes, as in the above image, basically means rotating the left hand letter keys 180 degrees around the S key (qwerty D). Do not mirror flip. The final layout should have the Q and B in swapped positions, and will have moved 14 letters. Again this is a layout independent mod.
Once this is all done, you still have to type with it. I probably don't have to explain this, but I will anyway. Handling is more like a chapman stick than a guitar, straight up and down instead of diagonal. (The other, perhaps more applicable names just didn't hold water. Keyman-stick? Key-aphone? O-board?) Hold it upright against your chest, Esc side up, resting the new 'bottom' (Enter side) on your right leg or between your legs, whichever is more comfortable with your board. With the keys facing away from you, use your standard home letters and play! -er... type! Whatever. For improved handling, I recommend replacing ESC with shift, F1 with Backspace, F2 with Control and then Control with Esc, Shift with F1 and Caplock with F2.
You're probably not going to break any speed records with this setup, and the ergonomics are still somewhat questionable. That having been said, it is pretty fun to use. Train your self up with KeyHero and let me hear any vertical keyboard success or horror stories you have to tell! I warn you that if they involve either PowerPoint presentations or laptops, I will probably laugh at you.
Cheap Test Drives: Footswitch, Maltron, Vertical Keyboards and The Wide Mod