4 ms·

Thanks for the write-up. I'm going to look into the Healios -- I've been wanting a heavy, mechanical, keyboard but I'm in an open office environment and don't

by mdip 7y ago

Thanks for the write-up. I'm going to look into the Healios -- I've been wanting a heavy, mechanical, keyboard but I'm in an open office environment and don't want my co-workers to hate me. On the fatigue side, it might be less of an issue than you expect after you get used to it. In fact, I noticed that while my fingers are more tired when I use a "heavy-switch" keyboard, my posture is better and my wrists hurt less. I suspect that I'm positioning my wrists "more correctly" on the heavier keys because it's necessary in order to still type at the same speed on them[0]. I think the main thing is to be consistent. I used to play piano and for about two years after I moved in to my first apartment, I had to switch to a (non-weighted) electronic keyboard due to budget/space. When I returned to a regular upright, I couldn't actually play a lot of the music I had learned on the synth because I wouldn't apply enough pressure to result in a sound. After about a month of regular practice, I ended up replacing the electronic keyboard with a much more expensive one with weighted keys and never went back. [0] And as much as I try to be really careful ... adjusting my typing posture, consistently, would be about as difficult as adjusting the way I walk, consistently. It's second-nature and burned into my brain. I'd only adjust if I received a consistent reminder, like missing keypresses.

jrockway 7y ago
I also find it hard to type on light switches. I feel like heavy switches save me from a situation where my brain wants to type a letter, but upon feeling the start of applying force, it thinks "that is not the letter you want". On light switches, the key is registered before the feedback loop executes completely. (I'm on a light keyboard right now and probably hit backspace 10 times typing those sentences.) For me, the biggest thing to make typing feel comfortable was to not use weak fingers constantly. I touch type, on qwerty, and certainly don't mind using my pinkies to press qazp;/, because they don't come up very often. But getting enter, backspace, and programming symbols off the pinkies made a huge difference for me. That is why I recommend keyboards that use QMK or similar; you have the power to move keys around and really get what's good for you. (I also like the Ergodox because of the four extra keys activated by your pointer finger, and the four big thumb keys for enter, space, and modifiers. Having said that, I think the Ergodox layout is generally not that great; the small keys around the big thumb keys are nearly impossible to press. I use them for arrow keys, insert, delete, pg up, pg down... and never press them. I use C-n/C-p/C-b/C-f for movement, don't use the delete key, and have a macro for shift-insert. If those keys were removed from the board I wouldn't be sad at all. They are just a waste of space and ~$10 worth of keyswitches.) Edit: one other note, I'm actually using Roselios, not Healios: https://zealpc.net/collections/switches/products/roselios_sakurios https://zealpc.net/collections/switches/products/roselios_sa... My understanding is that they are exactly identical except for the color of the stem. I am not sure why people care about what color their keyswitches are... I just bought what was in stock ;)
- mdip 7y ago
  > I feel like heavy switches save me from a situation where my brain wants to type a letter, but upon feeling the start of applying force, it thinks "that is not the letter you want". I've run into this, myself, but never thought about it being related to the resistance of the switches. However, I'm convinced that's it after thinking about it. Related to this is the most annoying thing I run into with my basic keyboards is over-stretching for CTRL+V. I always catch myself about 1/4 of the way into pressing the key and instinctively adjust. On my mechanical with decent resistance, my finger bounces off the `B`, lands on `V`, and everything is fine. On my laptop keyboards, which have a varying degrees of "too short of a distance" between pressed and not pressed (even my Thinkpad), this almost always results in the CTRL+B being hit immediately before the CTRL+V (lovely bookmark pane, now go away!)
  - jrockway 7y ago
    C and V are definitely in weird places on staggered keyboards. Most "touch typists" even use the wrong finger for C because it's in such a strange place. You might like an "ortholinear" layout, which puts everything in a finger's column in an actual column, making it very clear which finger is responsible for which keys. Typing C/V/B feels a lot better, especially C. The downside of trying an ortholinear keyboard is that there is some significant adjustment time. I think it took me a about a month to switch from a normal staggered 60% keyboard to an Ergodox EZ, and I have a lot of trouble going back to a non-ortholinear layout. People on Reddit assure me I am an idiot, though, so maybe it's just me. I bring it up because the layout really does help with that lower row, and if you are explicitly noticing mistyped keys there a lot, it might be worth trying it out. You will never be able to use a laptop again, though, so it might not be worth the cost.

by mdip 7y ago

jrockway 7y ago

I also find it hard to type on light switches. I feel like heavy switches save me from a situation where my brain wants to type a letter, but upon feeling the start of applying force, it thinks "that is not the letter you want". On light switches, the key is registered before the feedback loop executes completely. (I'm on a light keyboard right now and probably hit backspace 10 times typing those sentences.) For me, the biggest thing to make typing feel comfortable was to not use weak fingers constantly. I touch type, on qwerty, and certainly don't mind using my pinkies to press qazp;/, because they don't come up very often. But getting enter, backspace, and programming symbols off the pinkies made a huge difference for me. That is why I recommend keyboards that use QMK or similar; you have the power to move keys around and really get what's good for you. (I also like the Ergodox because of the four extra keys activated by your pointer finger, and the four big thumb keys for enter, space, and modifiers. Having said that, I think the Ergodox layout is generally not that great; the small keys around the big thumb keys are nearly impossible to press. I use them for arrow keys, insert, delete, pg up, pg down... and never press them. I use C-n/C-p/C-b/C-f for movement, don't use the delete key, and have a macro for shift-insert. If those keys were removed from the board I wouldn't be sad at all. They are just a waste of space and ~$10 worth of keyswitches.) Edit: one other note, I'm actually using Roselios, not Healios: https://zealpc.net/collections/switches/products/roselios_sakurios https://zealpc.net/collections/switches/products/roselios_sa... My understanding is that they are exactly identical except for the color of the stem. I am not sure why people care about what color their keyswitches are... I just bought what was in stock ;)

mdip 7y ago
> I feel like heavy switches save me from a situation where my brain wants to type a letter, but upon feeling the start of applying force, it thinks "that is not the letter you want". I've run into this, myself, but never thought about it being related to the resistance of the switches. However, I'm convinced that's it after thinking about it. Related to this is the most annoying thing I run into with my basic keyboards is over-stretching for CTRL+V. I always catch myself about 1/4 of the way into pressing the key and instinctively adjust. On my mechanical with decent resistance, my finger bounces off the `B`, lands on `V`, and everything is fine. On my laptop keyboards, which have a varying degrees of "too short of a distance" between pressed and not pressed (even my Thinkpad), this almost always results in the CTRL+B being hit immediately before the CTRL+V (lovely bookmark pane, now go away!)
- jrockway 7y ago
  C and V are definitely in weird places on staggered keyboards. Most "touch typists" even use the wrong finger for C because it's in such a strange place. You might like an "ortholinear" layout, which puts everything in a finger's column in an actual column, making it very clear which finger is responsible for which keys. Typing C/V/B feels a lot better, especially C. The downside of trying an ortholinear keyboard is that there is some significant adjustment time. I think it took me a about a month to switch from a normal staggered 60% keyboard to an Ergodox EZ, and I have a lot of trouble going back to a non-ortholinear layout. People on Reddit assure me I am an idiot, though, so maybe it's just me. I bring it up because the layout really does help with that lower row, and if you are explicitly noticing mistyped keys there a lot, it might be worth trying it out. You will never be able to use a laptop again, though, so it might not be worth the cost.