Hacker News Reader

Comment by flylikeabanana | Hacker News Reader

Tenkeyless (TKL) keyboards are popular because you can keep your mouse hand closer to your keyboard. The tenkey is a easy thing to lose if you don't do much data entry.

As for writing code and playing games, I use vim keybinds everywhere and play games with WASD controls. So nav keys aren't particularly critical either.

View on HN

If it doesn't have the 10-key, then at least put the top number keys in the standard typewriter position. This keyboard has the number keys shifted to the left a bit by about a quarter key width, which will cause errors for touch typists that also touch-type the number keys.

For a long time, I used TKL with a separate numpad that I placed on the left of my keyboard.

Helped to eliminate some elbow pain I was getting from having my elbow cocked sideways.

This is my solution too, except I keep the ten-key to the right of my mouse.

I've been bothered for a while by these keyboards with non standard layouts. They tend to land on the budget side of the spectrum and are different for the sake of being different and cool. This means a lot of kids end up with these keyboards and as an adult will have to unlearn and relearn how to type.

most people spend too long all day hunching their shoulders because they're typing. They would be better off if they didn't bring their hands closer together. That's the whole advantage of split keyboards too.

Split keyboards are a much better way to accomplish that, though. Standard keyboards end up pushing the home row way off-center no matter what, which for me at least is uncomfortable for anything but short bursts of typing.

I agree unfortunately at the moment there aren't any wireless split keyboards in my budget and my history with keyboards is such that I consider them consumables and paying $300 for one is too much for me to consider.

I have my 'tenkeys' on a layer activated by extra thumb buttons. For me pressing a button is faster than moving my hand. It does mean that you need both hands to use the tenkeys, which does eliminate some use-cases.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com