Hacker News Reader

Comment by luqtas | Hacker News Reader

you are right, i always considered the front of the keyboard what you considered the back, sorry for this (and by the way, i changed the link to a more generic one citing the variation of 90° -> 120° i typed of one easily finding by surfing the internet)

on the 2° paper, > Among the five tested mice, the 25° or 30° slanted mice caused lower muscle activity and more neutral working postures for ECU, Trap and PT muscles.

these muscles are also used during keyboard usage. slant angle is always suggested on ergonomic research, as our arms muscles are tensioned/twisted when using a flat keyboard/mouse... you can easily find research pointing slant angle on ergonomic keyboards but the research i pointed out is interesting as the author actually studied which is the optimal angle based on our anatomy (there's tension/forces on greater slant angles to maintain the posture, as there aren't surfaces to support our hand) and not on individual preference

View on HN

No worries! Just trying to save people from wrist pain. :)

And yes -- slanting the keyboard that way is usually called keyboard tenting. Also highly recommended, but difficult to implement in practice because it requires an even lower base for the keyboard, and there aren't many good accessories out there for it, sadly...

I'm still waiting for someone to sell a cheap kit for angling keyboards downwards and implementing tenting. It's kind of complex to do both at once...

I'd love an accessory that makes a keyboard completely flush with the surface it's on. I get this is hard because dimensions are different for each keyboard, but something that e.g. a Macbook fits into would be nice, given its standard size. Everyone's different but for me personally, I feel that would be a big ergonomic benefit. Supported by the fact that my current winner is the one coming closest to this ideal, being extremely low, maybe ~0.4cm from the surface.

Been toying with the idea of getting something 3d-printed, basically something just as high as a Macbook, that you can attach to the front of it, giving a flush surface. Even better would be carving a Macbook-bottom-shaped or external keyboard-shaped "recess" into a table to place it into.

Ever seen or heard of anything like this?

Ergodox has a design where the keyboard can sit on 3 adjustable legs, and you can get both a downward angle and tenting out of that.

The downside is that you really need to get your desk way low for your arms to naturally "droop" down over that. I have a motorized sit-stand desk I bought specifically after comparing specs on how low the desk surface can go, and the position that's low enough while seated is basically as low as my knees will let it go. A separate keyboard tray would be great but they rarely have room for the footprint and height of a tented keyboard with a touchpad in the middle.

Standing up, it's a lot easier to find a good height.

https://ergodox-ez.com/

Those legs look amazing.

I want to be able to buy them as an adhesive add-on for any (split) keyboard!

I don't think glue will hold them well enough. There's a metal thread in the keyboard for a reason. The angle is adjustable and tightening the nut locks the foot at that angle.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com