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Comment by tomc1985 | Hacker News Reader

tomc1985

By my read y'all need more practice typing, not a fancy expensive ergo keyboard. Other than the occasional hand cramps this lifelong nerd doesn't have any of those problems on this old, mushy MS natural.

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I thought so too untill I started having RSI/CTS issues. I've since switched to a 'fancy expensive ergo keyboard'. And it fantastic, I'm about as fast as I was on a traditional qwerty, but with less errors. However most importantly I have far less RSI/CTS complaints when typing on my redox than I do with a non-split (even ergo non-splits). My arms are in a far more natural position and so is my wrist thanks to the tenting and tilting I can do with the redox.

So if you are typing a lot, I would recommend getting an ergo before you start having issues.

For reference I could type about a paragraph in one go on a regular keyboard, now I can type an entire page before I start having pains/cramps.

Jumping in to chime in on this. I developed issues a few months ago, then swapped over to the ergodox, and my daily pains stopped. If you can't afford the ergodox, I also found the Microsoft Sculpt worked wonder. I picked up a used one on eBay and it's been great.

I use a Sculpt as my work keyboard and, while fantastic, have you had any issues with the range of the wireless transmitter? I feel like it doesnt go beyond a couple of inches unless it's plugged into a powered USB hub -- even then it still occasionally drops keypresses

Totally agree. I never realized this until one day it started hurting to do work which really took the wind out of my sails. Adjusting my setup to better compensate for eye strain and rsi related issues really helped.

Unrelated to parent topic, but related to your comment on eyestrain, I have found that using f.lux to change the color temperature of my monitors to match the fluorescent lighting in my office (with a color temperature of 4200K) to do wonders for alleviating eyestrain.

Changing the temp on my monitor and making additional adjustments to my workspace helped. However, thank you for the suggestion. I had previously known this as a mac only software.

Fully agreed. I am very thankful that I took typewriting classes when I was younger. I do not think it is a coincidence that I also do not have trouble with keyboards being difficult to type on, unlike 90%+ of the folks I work with. Just plain putting in the hours of practice on proper form may not be a very exciting answer, but I can't think of a more effective one.

I agree 100% with you on this. My first year of high-school we had a typing class on an IBM Selectric keyboard. Our teacher was a wizened old secretary that for a considerable portion of her career used a non-electric typewriter.

What has always stayed with me was her guidance on posture and form. The 'piano style'* on which she insisted is almost completely contrary to modern ergonomic teachings, and yet I can say almost 40-years later; still works and is effective.

I readily admit that I'm probably lucky too in that I don't follow that guidance to the T, I do however follow the basic form of it. This anecdote simply agrees with your statement.

*: 'piano style' wrists higher then knuckles, finger-tips hovering/barely touching home-row, back straight

> The 'piano style'* on which she insisted is almost completely contrary to modern ergonomic teachings

What? That seems to be exactly the current advice.

http://ergonomictrends.com/proper-ergonomic-typing-posture-a...

http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/ahtutorials/typingposture.html

(First two hits from a Google search.)

Which in its self is a better keyboard that 95% of computers are shipped with.

I tested using by high end gaming mechanical keyboard at work and my error rate went down a lot

It might be a consumer perception issue, either relating to the inexpensive (relatively) price or the Microsoft brand that keeps users away from the Natural versus other more complex designs.

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