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> Keeping your hand exactly at home position is largely over sold on that regard... It's a marginal benefit, but it's still a benefit. The more significant fa

> Keeping your hand exactly at home position is largely over sold on that regard... It's a marginal benefit, but it's still a benefit. The more significant factor than "qwerty vs colemak" is that the thumbs aren't able to achieve much with the hands rested on home row. They can hit spacebar; and to be useful for anything else, the hands have to move. Whereas, with keyboards like the Moonlander, the thumbs can reach 2-3 keys each. Albeit, regarding vim's 'hjkl', vim makes it very easy to quickly move around a single line, so h/l shouldn't be very common. For rapid vertical movement, 'easy motion'-style stuff is neat.

taeric 3y ago
My keyboard has a split spacebar, that I think is intended to let you do two different things with the thumb... I just don't see it being that beneficial. Is like thinking you could be a better pianist if only the keyboard was arranged in a different way. Almost certainly true at a very technical level. Hard to think that is the actual limiting factor for most people, though. Even on the piano, I found that I am better with certain fingers than others, but that it just doesn't make too much sense to worry about that at the beginning.
- rgoulter 3y ago
  For example, without having to move my hand, my thumbs can reach Esc, Tab, Backspace, and Enter as well as having to push space. That's a benefit from the thumbs being able to hit 2-3 keys each. I think that's much nicer than having to move the hand or stretch with the pinky in order to hit backspace. Whereas with the standard keyboard layout, you can't keep your hands rested on home row & reach those keys.
  - taeric 3y ago
    Certainly don't let some rando on the internet tell you that this isn't worth doing. I just also don't expect folks to believe that you get measurable gains from this. Outside of the joy it brings having set this up. Which is huge and not to be discarded.
    - rgoulter 3y ago
      Ah, I'm not necessarily arguing that "having a better keyboard will make you a more effective typist". I'm suggesting that "for keeping your hands on home row, it's much nicer if your thumbs are able to reach 2-3 keys each, than if your thumbs are only able to reach the spacebar". Maybe "whether it's worth having such a keyboard" is down to personal preference or whatever, sure.

taeric 3y ago

My keyboard has a split spacebar, that I think is intended to let you do two different things with the thumb... I just don't see it being that beneficial. Is like thinking you could be a better pianist if only the keyboard was arranged in a different way. Almost certainly true at a very technical level. Hard to think that is the actual limiting factor for most people, though. Even on the piano, I found that I am better with certain fingers than others, but that it just doesn't make too much sense to worry about that at the beginning.

rgoulter 3y ago
For example, without having to move my hand, my thumbs can reach Esc, Tab, Backspace, and Enter as well as having to push space. That's a benefit from the thumbs being able to hit 2-3 keys each. I think that's much nicer than having to move the hand or stretch with the pinky in order to hit backspace. Whereas with the standard keyboard layout, you can't keep your hands rested on home row & reach those keys.
- taeric 3y ago
  Certainly don't let some rando on the internet tell you that this isn't worth doing. I just also don't expect folks to believe that you get measurable gains from this. Outside of the joy it brings having set this up. Which is huge and not to be discarded.
  - rgoulter 3y ago
    Ah, I'm not necessarily arguing that "having a better keyboard will make you a more effective typist". I'm suggesting that "for keeping your hands on home row, it's much nicer if your thumbs are able to reach 2-3 keys each, than if your thumbs are only able to reach the spacebar". Maybe "whether it's worth having such a keyboard" is down to personal preference or whatever, sure.