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Comment by jd20 | Hacker News Reader

I'd really love to see more data on whether ergonomic keyboards actually work. From what I've read, it sounds like the results are mixed: I kind of want to try a split keyboard like the ergodox or Kinesis, but I feel I tend to cross-over a fair amount when typing, and I wonder if a split keyboard would be less efficient.

I also overthink a lot about the position of frequently used keys like Cmd/Ctrl/Alt (on a Mac for instance), and what the optimal placement would be, and I feel like there's very little data about this topic.

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I find the motion of rotating the hands outward past the neutral position, such as to strike the enter key on a standard keyboard, to be extremely unnatural and the source of major RSI. I switched over to an ergodox ez out of necessity, and found that moving all frequently used keys to the thumb pads or to layers near the home row was extremely helpful. I think is because it eliminated those frequent outward flexes and ensured that the wrists remain almost always in a neutral position. I think the health benefits of keeping the wrists neutrally positioned while typing is uncontroversial.

I've been using an Ergodox for a few years now, and the big thing I had to get used to is not cross-typing y. I still do it with a laptop keyboard, but after a week or so I got the hang of it. In the interim, I made the key I would accidentally hit a dead key.

It's a layer key now and I don't hit it accidentally in a typical day.

The ortholinear layout was dead simple for me, I gather that's not true for everyone but one way or the other, your fingers get used to it all after a couple weeks.

I don't have any data on them actually working. But I feel a lot better standing, with my upper arms parallel to the ground, and hands shoulder-width apart, wrists slightly supinated. My shoulders stay loose and my neck and back stay straight. Any number of random aches and pains don't happen any more.

On my Kinesis Advantage I can type any letter whilst keeping my wrists straight, hands still and with much less finger movement than a regular keyboard. It completely cured my RSI and it hasn't returned in over 4 years. I realise this is anecdotal, but it's not really a surprise that a better key layout leads to less stretching and contortion and less RSI.

I seem to recall from about 20 years ago when I got my first Marquardt Mini Ergo, that the company producing them, and the magazines testing them, referring to the world record in fastest typing at the time was made on them, several times. It is split.

So the thing to do would be to compare on which devices these records, or yearly championships have been achieved.

Maybe there are lists? I tried to find them, but got overwhelmed.

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