3 ms·

This will depend a bit on the person but for me when I injured my right arm I found that my touch typing muscle memory worked surprisingly well with a toggle ke

This will depend a bit on the person but for me when I injured my right arm I found that my touch typing muscle memory worked surprisingly well with a toggle key to flip the left side of my keyboard to become a mirrored version of the right side. Each finger was still hitting the same key like it would if I was using my right hand to hit the key but on my left hand. This was fairly easy to accomplish on a QMK firmware keyboard (I was also already typing on a split keyboard so that might be part of the reason it was fairly easy to adjust). See https://docs.qmk.fm/features/swap_hands#swap-hands-action https://docs.qmk.fm/features/swap_hands#swap-hands-action

bryanlarsen 1y ago
Yes, I was just going to make this suggestion. If it's a temporary problem, you probably don't want a solution that requires extensive retraining to use. A mirrored keyboard takes advantage of existing brain wiring. autohotkey layout: https://github.com/hanmindev/mirrorboard https://github.com/hanmindev/mirrorboard xkb layout: https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-keyboard-layout-for-the-lazy/ https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-ke...
- jfengel 1y ago
  In a quick experiment, I found that utterly baffling. On zero practice, it was much faster for me to type with just my left hand. (Though it requires me to keep looking at the keyboard, because I'm leaving the home position.)
fouronnes3 1y ago
I am low key thinking about trying this without any disability, as a way of always keeping the right hand on the mouse.
- barbazoo 1y ago
  Foot pedal maybe? Or maybe a dedicated mouse button.
- bravesoul2 1y ago
  I like the idea. Don't you love those words like "creed" or "scare" that can be typed with one hand!
  - Valodim 1y ago
    Stewardess ;)
- komali2 1y ago
  Does your usual computer activity require a lot of mouse work? Ten years ago I went down this path when my coworker caught me adding bindings to my mouse buttons. He sat me down at his machine and showed me vim wasn't just an old fart text editor and that the bindings can be used in other editors. Ofc if you're not doing text based work this wouldn't apply.
- ahonhn 1y ago
  I stopped using a mouse when I moved from desktop to laptop computer because I found the touchpad is so much more convenient for keeping my hand near the keyboard. However, doing this for over 20 years means I'm now very stuck in my habit of needing touchpads with real buttons. All my attempts to get used to the awful buttonless modern touchpads have been an absolute nightmare so far :-(
  - HenryBemis 1y ago
    Doesn't a touch-screen make it easy? When I use my laptop I seldomly use the mouse nowadays. I scroll or tap/move the cursor with my finder on the screen, and I 'fine tune' the location with the arrows.
faizshah 1y ago
I had the same experience, my typing speed with two hands is 90-120 but with one hand i can still get 50-70. The hard part is punctuation but with AI these days you could try just prompting and let the AI deal with syntax for you.
- bravesoul2 1y ago
  That's a fast speed. I practice to get to 60 then said well, that's good enough!
- haiku2077 1y ago
  Right, you could run your text through an LLM that adds punctuation and then fix up the result manually. Would probably save time + fatigue
arjvik 1y ago
Randall Munroe talks about exactly this: https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-keyboard-layout-for-the-lazy/ https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-ke...
idahoduncan 1y ago
I have this set up using kmonad[1], and the following config. Many punctation marks are obviously missing, but I'm sure they could be added with a little thought. The mirrored layout is toggled by holding the space key. (defalias lhs (tap-next-release spc (layer-toggle ytrewq))) (deflayer ytrewq _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ bspc 0 9 8 7 6 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ p o i u y _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ret ; l k j h _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ lsft / . , m n _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _) 1. https://github.com/kmonad/kmonad https://github.com/kmonad/kmonad
- behnamoh 1y ago
  kmonad: written in Haskell config in Lisp Best of both worlds!
  - idahoduncan 1y ago
    It's also apparently cross-platform. Great project!

bryanlarsen 1y ago

Yes, I was just going to make this suggestion. If it's a temporary problem, you probably don't want a solution that requires extensive retraining to use. A mirrored keyboard takes advantage of existing brain wiring. autohotkey layout: https://github.com/hanmindev/mirrorboard https://github.com/hanmindev/mirrorboard xkb layout: https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-keyboard-layout-for-the-lazy/ https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-ke...

jfengel 1y ago
In a quick experiment, I found that utterly baffling. On zero practice, it was much faster for me to type with just my left hand. (Though it requires me to keep looking at the keyboard, because I'm leaving the home position.)

fouronnes3 1y ago

I am low key thinking about trying this without any disability, as a way of always keeping the right hand on the mouse.

barbazoo 1y ago
Foot pedal maybe? Or maybe a dedicated mouse button.
bravesoul2 1y ago
I like the idea. Don't you love those words like "creed" or "scare" that can be typed with one hand!
- Valodim 1y ago
  Stewardess ;)
komali2 1y ago
Does your usual computer activity require a lot of mouse work? Ten years ago I went down this path when my coworker caught me adding bindings to my mouse buttons. He sat me down at his machine and showed me vim wasn't just an old fart text editor and that the bindings can be used in other editors. Ofc if you're not doing text based work this wouldn't apply.
ahonhn 1y ago
I stopped using a mouse when I moved from desktop to laptop computer because I found the touchpad is so much more convenient for keeping my hand near the keyboard. However, doing this for over 20 years means I'm now very stuck in my habit of needing touchpads with real buttons. All my attempts to get used to the awful buttonless modern touchpads have been an absolute nightmare so far :-(
- HenryBemis 1y ago
  Doesn't a touch-screen make it easy? When I use my laptop I seldomly use the mouse nowadays. I scroll or tap/move the cursor with my finder on the screen, and I 'fine tune' the location with the arrows.

faizshah 1y ago

I had the same experience, my typing speed with two hands is 90-120 but with one hand i can still get 50-70. The hard part is punctuation but with AI these days you could try just prompting and let the AI deal with syntax for you.

bravesoul2 1y ago
That's a fast speed. I practice to get to 60 then said well, that's good enough!
haiku2077 1y ago
Right, you could run your text through an LLM that adds punctuation and then fix up the result manually. Would probably save time + fatigue

arjvik 1y ago

Randall Munroe talks about exactly this: https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-keyboard-layout-for-the-lazy/ https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-ke...

idahoduncan 1y ago

I have this set up using kmonad[1], and the following config. Many punctation marks are obviously missing, but I'm sure they could be added with a little thought. The mirrored layout is toggled by holding the space key. (defalias lhs (tap-next-release spc (layer-toggle ytrewq))) (deflayer ytrewq _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ bspc 0 9 8 7 6 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ p o i u y _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ret ; l k j h _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ lsft / . , m n _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _) 1. https://github.com/kmonad/kmonad https://github.com/kmonad/kmonad

behnamoh 1y ago
kmonad: written in Haskell config in Lisp Best of both worlds!
- idahoduncan 1y ago
  It's also apparently cross-platform. Great project!