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Comment by CWIZO | Hacker News Reader

I don't want to take anything away from Jeff, good for him for realizing his dream. But claiming that this is the best keyboard for programmers is an overstatement if I ever heard one.

Yes, it's mechanical, yes it has backlit keys and you can do some customizations. But where is everything else? Why are the keys still in the zig-zag formation? Why is the enter key so small? Why is the enter key on the right, where I have to use my pinky to hit it? Ever heard about ergonomics? Can I get one with DVORAK layout printed on? And so on and so forth.

If you want to create the best keyboard for programmers then create one that won't kill our wrists and hands.

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You can choose Dvorak, Colemak, QWERTY via dipswitches on the back. As well as Mac (Alt/Command), disable Windows Key, switch Caps Lock with Ctrl, etc.

It comes with a key puller, so you can easily swap the keys with whatever keycaps you like. WASD sells tons of different keycaps.

I love ergonomic keyboards too but for a mass market item we wanted to follow the classic standards everyone knows first and foremost. Perhaps if the base model does really well, we can come back with an ergo model.

Well if I can swap the keys then that's awesome!

I can appreciate that you are trying to appeal to the masses, maybe I was just expecting something more from a $149.99 keyboard. Or better yet, expected more from a keyboard primarily aimed at programmers (that was built by a programmer).

Anyway: I wish you the best of luck and a lot of sales so I can see what you can come up with in the ergonomics department (I'll stick with my TypeMatrix for now :).

Do note that you will need new keycaps to use Dvorak or Colemak. Each row of keys in a WASD keyboard has a slightly different height/slope, so you can't move the keys around between rows (without having all of your keys being different heights, that is). You'd have to order new keycaps with the correct letters AND the right height/slopes.

...or learn to touch-type, which anybody motivated enough to switch to Dvorak or Colemak is probably doing anyway.

can anyone confirm this is still the case with this new keyboard (keycap height thingy)?

You shouldn't expect anything less of Jeff Atwood. Every thought out of his head is apparent perfection for programmers, he's the only writer I know that makes people feel like idiots if they dare to do something differently to him. Take everything you read on Coding Horror with a salt lake.

He wants to make some quick money - not release something risky.

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