4 ms·

I also type unorthodoxly and quickly. Hands held diagonal (wrists straight), no particular finger-letter assignments. Closer to playing a piano. 33 years typing

I also type unorthodoxly and quickly. Hands held diagonal (wrists straight), no particular finger-letter assignments. Closer to playing a piano. 33 years typing like this, going strong. I can't think of any benefit of home row typing other than it's easy to teach in a prescriptive manner.

dawnofdusk 1y ago
>I can't think of any benefit If you want to minimize the time it takes to travel to a particular key, it makes sense to keep your fingers at the "center of mass" of the keyboard... which is the home row.
- meta-level 1y ago
  Also f and j are marked and you can find them blindly
  - horsawlarway 1y ago
    You can find lots of ways to orient yourself, though. Space and Caps-lock are enough to orient me on any keyboard I've used for more than a minute or two. Space and Enter orient on the right hand. Basically - if my left pinky is touching the line between caps lock and shift on the left side of those keys, and my thumb is touching the bottom of the space bar, I know exactly where my middle fingers are resting. With the added bonus of not contorting my wrist and fingers into a very uncomfortable space. I have very large hands, and the "Proper" finger placement would be a guaranteed RSI injury for me.
    - rudimentary_phy 1y ago
      I type (mostly) correct, but this is true. I'm still using one of the first keyboards I ever bought and the f and j keys have become worn down, so I seem to have learned ways similar to what you're describing. Different keyboards with macros or weirdly formatted buttons throw me for a loop with this method though, while the f and j keys guarantee correct positioning.
- colanderman 1y ago
  My fingers naturally rest on... (checks) Q-E-F-V N-J-I-P. That is, sort of like a V diagonal spanning the entire alphabetic region. Which coincidentally puts them on or 1 key away from every letter except X, Y and Z. But they move all over while I type anyway.
mattlondon 1y ago
Same here with diagonal hands and straight wrists. I sometimes wonder "why" I haven't got RSI but I assume it is because typing the "wrong way" allows you to keep your hands in a natural comfortable position, rather than the awkward positioning for wrists elbows shoulders and fingers required to do it the "right way". That and chiclet keyboards being so much more comfortable to use than big chunky keys
- colanderman 1y ago
  I also credit straight-wrist typing with having not developed any keyboard-related RSI symptoms over 33 years. (Mice, on the other hand! Gripping a mouse started to cause me crazy wrist pain 20 years ago. Been using a trackball ever since.) Opposite to you though, I find "desktop" keys (or I should say, keys with travel) preferable to "laptop" keys. Bottoming out each key on every stroke on a Macbook for years started giving me weird typing-spelling issues (some sort of precursor to focal dystonia? dunno). Keys with long travel prevent that for me. (Or maybe it's just because that's what I learned on – Apple //e keyboard.)
- _dain_ 1y ago
  >rather than the awkward positioning for wrists elbows shoulders and fingers required to do it the "right way". Biggest improvement to my typing QOL was getting one of those split keyboards[1]. I can rotate the two pieces independently so that my forearm-wrist-hand-fingers system form a straight, relaxed line, both pointing a little towards each other. This is much more comfortable than the outward-splaying pose that most single-piece keyboards force your wrists into. I'm convinced this will reduce the risk of RSI and other hand injuries as I age. Stops me from hunching and constricting my chest too; it allows for a better upper back posture and deeper breathing. Secondary benefit is being able to remap the keys, particularly punctuation, into more reachable places. [1] Moonlander Mk1, but really any split one will do.
horsawlarway 1y ago
Similar here. I grew up playing multiplayer games on PC, and my natural resting spots sound similar to yours: straight wrists, left hand defaults closer to a-w-d than a-s-d-f. I avoid most pinky use outside of modifier keys, and there aren't strict finger-letter assignments. Middle of the keyboard gets hit by whatever hand makes it more likely to alternate nicely while typing a word. Main benefit I see is that I know a lot of folks my age now complaining of RSI when typing, and I don't seem to have any of that (mouse related - yes, keyboard - no). Funny since I didn't really make much association, but I also was learning to play piano at the same time I was learning to type. Gaming was a lot more of an incentive to learn how to type quickly back in the days where you could only communicate with text chat.

dawnofdusk 1y ago

>I can't think of any benefit If you want to minimize the time it takes to travel to a particular key, it makes sense to keep your fingers at the "center of mass" of the keyboard... which is the home row.

meta-level 1y ago
Also f and j are marked and you can find them blindly
- horsawlarway 1y ago
  You can find lots of ways to orient yourself, though. Space and Caps-lock are enough to orient me on any keyboard I've used for more than a minute or two. Space and Enter orient on the right hand. Basically - if my left pinky is touching the line between caps lock and shift on the left side of those keys, and my thumb is touching the bottom of the space bar, I know exactly where my middle fingers are resting. With the added bonus of not contorting my wrist and fingers into a very uncomfortable space. I have very large hands, and the "Proper" finger placement would be a guaranteed RSI injury for me.
  - rudimentary_phy 1y ago
    I type (mostly) correct, but this is true. I'm still using one of the first keyboards I ever bought and the f and j keys have become worn down, so I seem to have learned ways similar to what you're describing. Different keyboards with macros or weirdly formatted buttons throw me for a loop with this method though, while the f and j keys guarantee correct positioning.
colanderman 1y ago
My fingers naturally rest on... (checks) Q-E-F-V N-J-I-P. That is, sort of like a V diagonal spanning the entire alphabetic region. Which coincidentally puts them on or 1 key away from every letter except X, Y and Z. But they move all over while I type anyway.

mattlondon 1y ago

Same here with diagonal hands and straight wrists. I sometimes wonder "why" I haven't got RSI but I assume it is because typing the "wrong way" allows you to keep your hands in a natural comfortable position, rather than the awkward positioning for wrists elbows shoulders and fingers required to do it the "right way". That and chiclet keyboards being so much more comfortable to use than big chunky keys

colanderman 1y ago
I also credit straight-wrist typing with having not developed any keyboard-related RSI symptoms over 33 years. (Mice, on the other hand! Gripping a mouse started to cause me crazy wrist pain 20 years ago. Been using a trackball ever since.) Opposite to you though, I find "desktop" keys (or I should say, keys with travel) preferable to "laptop" keys. Bottoming out each key on every stroke on a Macbook for years started giving me weird typing-spelling issues (some sort of precursor to focal dystonia? dunno). Keys with long travel prevent that for me. (Or maybe it's just because that's what I learned on – Apple //e keyboard.)
_dain_ 1y ago
>rather than the awkward positioning for wrists elbows shoulders and fingers required to do it the "right way". Biggest improvement to my typing QOL was getting one of those split keyboards[1]. I can rotate the two pieces independently so that my forearm-wrist-hand-fingers system form a straight, relaxed line, both pointing a little towards each other. This is much more comfortable than the outward-splaying pose that most single-piece keyboards force your wrists into. I'm convinced this will reduce the risk of RSI and other hand injuries as I age. Stops me from hunching and constricting my chest too; it allows for a better upper back posture and deeper breathing. Secondary benefit is being able to remap the keys, particularly punctuation, into more reachable places. [1] Moonlander Mk1, but really any split one will do.

horsawlarway 1y ago

Similar here. I grew up playing multiplayer games on PC, and my natural resting spots sound similar to yours: straight wrists, left hand defaults closer to a-w-d than a-s-d-f. I avoid most pinky use outside of modifier keys, and there aren't strict finger-letter assignments. Middle of the keyboard gets hit by whatever hand makes it more likely to alternate nicely while typing a word. Main benefit I see is that I know a lot of folks my age now complaining of RSI when typing, and I don't seem to have any of that (mouse related - yes, keyboard - no). Funny since I didn't really make much association, but I also was learning to play piano at the same time I was learning to type. Gaming was a lot more of an incentive to learn how to type quickly back in the days where you could only communicate with text chat.