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My wrists are straight when I type on a standard keyboard, placing my hands at an angle to each other. My fingers are "sprawled" across the three alphabetic ro
by colanderman 14y ago
My wrists are straight when I type on a standard keyboard, placing my hands at an angle to each other. My fingers are "sprawled" across the three alphabetic rows, and I have no particular discipline regarding which finger (or even which hand) hits which key.
Because of my typing style, it is very difficult for me to type on a non-standard keyboard. For example, on any split keyboard, fingers either hand will often strike the center divider in an attempt to strike a key which is in fact on the opposite side of the divider.
However, I credit typing in this manner with a near-total lack of keyboard-related RSI after 20 years of active computer use. (I have had issues with using a mouse, due mostly to grip stress, but switching to a trackball cleared those up.)
I've met at least one other person who types this way (and I haven't asked that many people) so I figure it must be common enough, especially among those who grew up with access to a computer (like I did). I don't know how easy it is to learn if you first learned home row typing.
- zach 14y agoI also type this way. I never took a typing class and evolved directly from hunting and pecking, to hunt-and-peck without looking, to typing in the way you describe — if I extend my fingers, my thumbs and index fingers form a triangle. I rarely type at the manic rate I see in home-row typists but have never had RSI symptoms in 18 years. I did cause myself temporary soreness by constantly using Ctrl-Z, Ctrl-X and Ctrl-C by holding Ctrl and doubling my left thumb under my palm. That was the one conscious adjustment (switching to my little finger for Ctrl) I have ever made, and once I started using Mac keyboards (Command instead of Ctrl), I switched back. I'm interested in your editor choice. I've always used CUA editors (currently TextMate) and recreational Emacs. Also, I have no interest in the Dvorak layout since I already get by being wildly inefficient. My only doubt is whether I'm missing the flow state in vi that is accessible to home-row typists.
- colanderman 14y agoI use JOE, a WordStar/Borland-esque editor that is heavy on the Ctrl key, purely out of familiarity with the interface. However I also grew up typing on an Apple //e, on which Ctrl is where Caps Lock is these days, and I have reconfigured all my keyboards since to have Ctrl where Caps Lock is. This has the nice side effect of alleviating the thumb-under-palm problem that the modern Ctrl position creates.
- davvid 14y agoMy fingers are "sprawled" across the three alphabetic rows, and I have no particular discipline regarding which finger (or even which hand) hits which key. I'm curious -- have you ever tried typing using two full keyboards, one for each hand? Your sprawl style seems like it might work well with such a setup. Before I got my kinesis ergo I was typing using two keyboards and I found it quite comfortable since I was able to place them apart from each other so that my arms stay nice and comfortable.
- colanderman 14y agoHm, that sounds very interesting. I imagine it might work and I will try it next time I have a second keyboard handy. It may even make backspacing faster for me (currently I backspace using two fingers rapidly alternating – I find this faster and more accurate than relying on autorepeats – being able to use four fingers should be an improvement).