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I remember wanting to buy the Happy Hacker keyboard around 15 years ago or so, although I never did. I love this quote from their website: “Cowboys in the wes

I remember wanting to buy the Happy Hacker keyboard around 15 years ago or so, although I never did. I love this quote from their website: “Cowboys in the western United States leave their horses when they die. But never leave their saddles, regardless of how long they need to walk in the desert. Saddles are interfaces that are deeply adapted to our bodies whereas horses are consumable items. It should not be forgotten that computers are consumables nowadays, but keyboards are interfaces that we can use through our lives.” This resonates with me because I decided that I’d use a laptop-sized keyboard and trackpad for all my computing, even at my desk (which is 95% of the time nowadays.) The apple magic keyboard 2 (I think?) is nearly exactly the same size, layout, and key throw as the pre-2016 MacBook Pro scissor keyboards… and the Magic Trackpad does all the same gestures, etc. Which means I can switch to my laptop at any time and not have to re-adjust to different ergonomics, everything’s more or less the same. I just can’t wait for my M1 pro max to ship, because I can’t stand the butterfly keyboard having such a different key throw and I’ll be back to more or less parity again.

13of40 5y ago
> laptop-sized keyboard Interesting - I actually switched to a small keyboard about a year ago because I was getting shoulder pain from my right arm hanging so far to the side so I could work the mouse. The smaller keyboard forces both of my arms closer to my body, and the chronic pain I had in my shoulder for a year or two has disappeared.
- aikinai 5y ago
  I also use a small keyboard (Keychron K3) even on my desktop, but once in the past when I switched to a full-sized keyboard, I intentionally switched to left-hand mousing since the extra distance is only on the right side (with the numpad). I was also hoping the switch would help balance out my shoulders after years of right-hand mousing. It took a few days to get used to, but now I'm basically mouse/trackpad ambidextrous. I'm not sure if it helped my shoulder; I think maybe it did, but too many confounding factors.
- 3np 5y ago
  Funny. I feel less strain and pain in neck and shoulders with a split keyboard compared to “normal” due to shoulders being more open. I guess it just goes to show our bodies are different and there’s no universal ergonomically optimal solution.
- BeFlatXIII 5y ago
  My ideal keyboard would have buckling spring switches in the body of a Poker 2 for this exact reason. I can use a separate numpad on the far side of my mouse for extended numeric entry, but the far more frequent use of keeping my left over the keys while my right uses the rodent is made much less RSI-prone. When you had your shoulder pain, was it primarily at the very base of the shoulder blade? That's where it was for me before I moved to a vertical mouse.
  - 13of40 5y ago
    No, it was directly in the shoulder joint, like a rotator cuff injury.

13of40 5y ago

> laptop-sized keyboard Interesting - I actually switched to a small keyboard about a year ago because I was getting shoulder pain from my right arm hanging so far to the side so I could work the mouse. The smaller keyboard forces both of my arms closer to my body, and the chronic pain I had in my shoulder for a year or two has disappeared.

aikinai 5y ago
I also use a small keyboard (Keychron K3) even on my desktop, but once in the past when I switched to a full-sized keyboard, I intentionally switched to left-hand mousing since the extra distance is only on the right side (with the numpad). I was also hoping the switch would help balance out my shoulders after years of right-hand mousing. It took a few days to get used to, but now I'm basically mouse/trackpad ambidextrous. I'm not sure if it helped my shoulder; I think maybe it did, but too many confounding factors.
3np 5y ago
Funny. I feel less strain and pain in neck and shoulders with a split keyboard compared to “normal” due to shoulders being more open. I guess it just goes to show our bodies are different and there’s no universal ergonomically optimal solution.
BeFlatXIII 5y ago
My ideal keyboard would have buckling spring switches in the body of a Poker 2 for this exact reason. I can use a separate numpad on the far side of my mouse for extended numeric entry, but the far more frequent use of keeping my left over the keys while my right uses the rodent is made much less RSI-prone. When you had your shoulder pain, was it primarily at the very base of the shoulder blade? That's where it was for me before I moved to a vertical mouse.
- 13of40 5y ago
  No, it was directly in the shoulder joint, like a rotator cuff injury.