Shai said:* It moves more keys than the Colemak layout.
Colemak moves more than two keys.
Shai said:* At least in some keyboards, pressing Ctrl and Alt becomes very uncomfortable to type.
Do you mean only Control-z?
Shai said:* Typing the key in the B position also becomes uncomfortable.
Only because B stays where it started.
Shai said:* If you switch to a straight-key keyboard (e.g. TypeMatrix, Maltron, Datadesk Smartboard, Kinesis) you'll have to relearn typing.
This is better (smaller footprint more ergonomic) than straight and works perfectly on hexagonal keyboards (true I haven't see a perfect hex layout but the standard is close enough). And it requires no additional hardware just like Colemak :)
Shai said:* The index finger now needs to type 7 letters, which means more load and more same-finger.
I count six.
Shai said:The layout that was suggested beforehand makes more sense to me, although I still think that most users would be better off with the standard Colemak
Q/W/F/P G
A/R/S/T D
X/C/V B Z
The above still leave the left hand at an awkward angle.
And only two keys need to be memorized, the rest are accommodated by using the same comfortable inward slant that the right hand is benefits from on a standard keyboard.
Here's how it works finger by finger:
Left pinky goes from:
q
a
z
to:
z q
a
(it no longer touches the bottom row unless you leave shift in the old position)
Left ring goes from:
w
r
x
to:
w
r
x
Left mid from:
f
s
c
to:
f
s
c
and Left index from:
p g
t d
v b
to:
g
t d
v p b
The index finger still has six keys but only one on top, I moved the p instead of g because it's used less and I left the b where it was for the same reason).
This change turns a standard keyboard into something more comfortable than most ergo-boards. I think this is because most ergo-boarts leave the stager as is. And with out altering the stagger as I did above, the left hand will always be at an awkward angle in comparison to the left side.
Last edited by sorenk (05-Aug-2007 15:46:57)
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