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Where do you keep your keyboard?
Obviously, if you have an all-in-one like an iMac or a traditional laptop, the keyboard is connected directly to the display. But if you have a desktop or a docking station — or even a Bluetooth keyboard for your mobile phone — there is some flexibility on where you place your keyboard.
I currently have an old (mechanical) Hewlett Packard PS/2 keyboard sitting on my desk attached (via a USB connector) to my laptop. The laptop sits off to the side and feeds into a much larger external monitor. I've tolerated this arrangement for a while but it is becoming apparent that this is far from the most ergonomic arrangement.
So, I am considering getting a keyboard arm. For those who have gone that route, how has that worked for you? What model did you get and how much did it cost? Did it flex under use or was it rigid and solid? Was there space for a mouse next to the keyboard? Do you have any suggestions on what to watch out for, either pro or con?
I'm in hopes that not only will I benefit from the collected experiences of the SoylentNews community, but that someone else we see a reply and choose to do something to improve their arrangement, too.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by hojo on Tuesday September 27 2016, @01:23PM
Fuck that ESDF nonsense!
Every FPS gets remapped to ASDF, then I use W for Use/Talk/Manipulate or whatever they stupidly had F mapped to.
Once you're comfortable on the home keys, why the FUCK would you scrunch up your hand to hit WASD or any other non-home series??!?
(Score: 4, Funny) by cykros on Tuesday September 27 2016, @06:12PM
JKL; is the true way, so sayeth the cult of Vi.
(Score: 2) by Marand on Wednesday September 28 2016, @06:38AM
Filthy vi heathen, embrace emacs as your saviour or be purged in the coming Hurdpocalypse! ;)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 28 2016, @08:45AM
A true vi user of course knows it's HJKL.
With the meanings of J and K being swapped compared to what intuition would tell you.
(Score: 2) by Marand on Wednesday September 28 2016, @06:01AM
Every FPS gets remapped to ASDF, then I use W for Use/Talk/Manipulate or whatever they stupidly had F mapped to.
I use ESDF because I don't usually need to press forward (E) and back (D) at the same time, and it's still easy and comfortable to hit E from the homerow. I use A for crouch or sprint (depends on game), and W tends to get mapped to some kind of interaction key just like you do. My left hand stays on the home row just like yours.
I once tried doing SDFC (using D for forward, C for back) thinking it made more sense to have forward on the homerow, but the D and C don't line up as well as ED, plus it's more comfortable (to me, at least) to extend the finger up to the E than to curl it in for the C. I tried, but disliked, having all the movement keys on ASDF because I find the A more useful as sprint or crouch. Easy to hold it down while moving that way.
Once you're comfortable on the home keys, why the FUCK would you scrunch up your hand to hit WASD or any other non-home series??!?
I think that's precisely why people use WASD: they don't use the homerow. Most people have no idea how to fucking type, so it never occurs to them to use the homerow for games. I've encountered people that didn't understand why keyboards have those little nubs on the F and J keys because they can't touch-type, so the idea of finding the homerow without looking at the keyboard was an alien concept, even after explaining it.
That's what happens when schools don't introduce typing classes until too late (my school only had a typing class in high school), if at all. Years of bad habits are hard to break. What helped me is I learned the basics of touch-typing from family when I was younger. Promptly ignored what I learned until years later when I got online, but it did help me long-term. :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 28 2016, @09:16AM
I'm not sure that touch-typing would really be that helpful to me. Sure, if I'd copy long text from paper, or from online sources that don't allow copy/paste, the extra speed it would give me would probably be worthwhile. As is, my text writing speed is still mostly limited by my thinking speed, not by my typing speed (especially since I tend to move back/forward in a text quite a lot, in order to make — and sometimes undo — changes to stuff I've already typed).
Note that, contrary to what many touch-typists believe, hunt-and-peck is not the only alternative to touch-typing. As every pianist can tell you, it is possible to hit the correct keys while using all your fingers and moving your hand.
On the positive side, not using touch-typing means that I've got a more natural hand position, so I probably won't ever suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome. Also, it means that I have generally no trouble typing unusual key combinations (try to type a backslash on a German keyboard layout [wikipedia.org] using touch-typing!).
(Score: 2) by Marand on Wednesday September 28 2016, @10:39AM
I'm not sure that touch-typing would really be that helpful to me. Sure, if I'd copy long text from paper, or from online sources that don't allow copy/paste, the extra speed it would give me would probably be worthwhile.
Being able to type without having to look at the keyboard is a useful thing for any sort of typing, not just when copying something else. It's not just about the speed, it's about the muscle memory and not having to mentally switch contexts every time you have to add some input. You're right that thinking speed will be the limit for character output in a lot of cases, especially with something like programming, but you can still benefit from the consistency of keeping the hands in a specific location because you develop muscle memory for the characters you need, so you focus more on what you're typing rather than how you're typing it.
As every pianist can tell you, it is possible to hit the correct keys while using all your fingers and moving your hand.
That's part of what you do while touch typing. Ideally, you minimise unnecessary hand movement by keeping the hands on the home row so that you only have to move your fingers, but that doesn't mean that moving your hands for far-away keys or weird combinations instantly disqualifies it as touch typing. When I decide to hit escape or type a ` I take that hand's fingers off the home row, but they still end up right back in the correct location without having to think about it or look at what I'm doing.
Also, it means that I have generally no trouble typing unusual key combinations (try to type a backslash on a German keyboard layout using touch-typing!).
Other than the slowdown that would be caused by unfamiliarity because I don't use that layout, I'm not seeing why that would be so horrible to type. Thumb on altgr, ring finger presses the ß; I can manage that while still keeping my index finger on the j. The { } [ and ] keys look like they'd be far more annoying, at least for programming. Even then, it's not any different than touch typing while using function keys or things like home and end. You can learn to hit those and still go back to the correct location without stopping to look at the keyboard, and it's still touch typing.
The thing I've noticed about touch typing (and possibly why you think you're better off without it) is people get too hung up on the precise rules of it and act like it's an all-or-nothing thing. I learned the rules, then figured out what to change to work better for me. There are plenty of places where I use the wrong finger or hand for a key (especially the numbers row), and some keys I'll use the correct finger some times and the wrong finger others, dependent on what other characters I've had to type (this happens mostly for the middle of the keyboard).
Despite my personal deviation from the "correct" way of doing it, what I'm doing is still touch typing, and I'm much faster at it than I was when I rigidly followed the rules I learned in school. (Not going to mention actual speeds because I'm not interested in seeing this turn into a pissing contest over WPM.) It's also a lot more comfortable for me this way, which has helped me avoid carpal tunnel.
Not trying to convince you to change what you're doing, mind. Your current habits are probably too entrenched for it to be worth the trouble of picking up better ones, and I gain nothing trying to convince you otherwise. Just seemed like you're a little confused about the subject so I wanted to respond with some info.