As a side note, the piano is infamous for causing injuries. A lot of work has gone into mitigating them, but it's not an ideal platform by any means.
What we really need to do for PC keyboards is split the keyboard into two halves and get rid of the typewriter column stagger.
Sidenote, but I’ll also do one-hand 5-finger typing on a cellphone screen, because it’s faster than thumbs even with the input lag. Or I did, until I got hooked on word-swiping.
I know I’m biased from years of practice doing it this way, but I still kinda believe that most people don’t because they didn’t take a few minutes out of their day for a week or two to really focus on their hands as they input. Instead, they’ll focus on shifting around their hardware and software, even though rewriting your wetware really doesn’t take that long and is far more portable. I even suspect that the 60-key enthusiasts are actually just tricking themselves into this kind of focus as a kind of oblique strategy.
Two tricks that made all the difference: Float my hands, move from the shoulder.
After trying all sorts of keyboards and mice (and still loving them), I can now type comfortably on any keyboard in any weird position. Hell I do most of my writing on an iPad + Magic Keyboard combo sitting in my lap. Can type for hours like this with zero pain or discomfort.
The hard part was learning how to move my mouse from the shoulder instead of using finger or wrist movements. Keyboard was relatively easy.
Not really. It's the obsession with home row that creates wrist-twisting.
> What we really need to do for PC keyboards is split the keyboard into two halves and get rid of the typewriter column stagger.
I'm self-taught and instead use the edges of the keyboard to orient myself, and use my shoulders and elbows to move my forearm inwards from a very different resting positing. Not much wrist movement.
(for anyone curious, my usual resting keys are around shift/a/w/d/space and alt/l/p/[/] on a US qwerty keyboard, but it's not strict)
On every instrument I played, there are fundamentals that are required to get beyond the beginner level. Without proper form more advanced techniques can be harder to learn, and even worse can lead to injury. Louis Armstrong couldn't play trumpet at the end of his career because his lips constantly hurt. I would imagine there are pianists with wrist or finger injuries due to years of playing with improper form.
So on a computer keyboard, the things you want to optimize for are speed, accuracy and ergonomics. It's not like a piano. Expression is not a factor. Nobody cares if you type staccato or legato. Home row typing is the most common way to optimize for this, but not the only way.
I don't use the proper home row, but I did learn to type that way originally courtesy of Mavis Beacon.
1. A flat seat, without back
2. No wrist support.