No, I kept my laptop keyboard qwerty and I’m no worse a typer on it than I was before switching. I think I’d be worse at typing qwerty on the ergodox though since I’ve only used it with colemak.
sanswork
Dusty
I’m sceptical of boards with integrated wrist rests. I’ve moved away from using wrist rests, which were causing me a lot of carpal compression when not perfectly positioned, and this has really improved my typing ergonomics by not ‘pinning’ my hand at that point of contact. Of course, some people are able to use them only for rest (between bursts of typing), but not having the ability to remove them worries me. If they are separate, you can easily go through periods where you don’t use them at all (placing the weight of the arms further back, on the forearms or elbows).
1
Dusty
I think it’s hard to really reap the benefits of QMK and ergonomic layouts unless you commit to it at a certain level. If you are trapped between 2 worlds you will not fully experience the benefit of either, because some portion of your mental energy is always directed at making sure you stay in the correct layout. I wrote about that in my second link of the main post. With Ergodox specifically I think the thumb keys are quite specifically designed for people with large hands. Boards like Corne and Minidox have only 3 thumb keys, but they are 3 really good keys. Ergodox has a lot of keys, but not in positions that are well suited to regular use. I realize that small boards are not for everyone, but it’s really hard for me to imagine needing so many keys on a board that runs QMK. It’s different, of course, if the board is not programmable or runs less powerful firmware.
0
sanswork
I type mostly at a standing desk with the keyboard slightly below parallel with my elbow so I don’t actually hit any wrist rests.
1
adkron
I use a keyboardio and love it. The thumb keys in one arc allows them all to be reached and usable. I created an Elixir pipe key, but I need to spend more time with my layout. The numbers I moved to the home row on another layer. The original number keys are shortcuts for switch tmux windows. My wrist pain went away completely. I love the keyboard. If you want to know more let me know. I also have a discount code for it. I get no kickbacks.
3
shihou
Here have some good mechanical keyboard options:
I have a keychron K2 V2, which I recommend. it’s very solid and comfortable.
1
stefanluptak
How do you Colemak typists use VIM? I got myself a ZSA Voyager keyboard and thought I could try Colemak while learning to touch type properly. Previously I was able to do around 100WPM on MacBook keyboard with QWERTY using maybe 7 fingers or so. I am now at around 17WPM with Colemak. I feel like I will soon want to switch to VIM too, but I am not sure if it is a good idea and the whole Colemak+VIM combo isn’t bigger pain than it is a gain because all the remaps and tweaks needed. Maybe I should just stick with QWERTY while using the Voyager and my life will be much simpler. What do you think?
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Dusty
Remapping is not the answer—once you start, it never ends. Basically, there is only one issue with Colemak and (Neo)vim, and that’s the position of HJKL. You need a solution to that problem, and then you can leave everything else untouched. For me, the solution was home-row arrows in a layer. I put them in JKL; position, because I’ve never liked giving the index finger double-duty with HJKL, but either way works.
2
stefanluptak
Thanks a lot. I am doing that too now. And what do you mean by the double-duty of index finger?
0
Dusty
I meant that I use all 4 fingers for my arrows, in their home positions, whereas standard Vim bindings use index for both left and down, making use of only 3 fingers and requiring a movement out of home position for left. That’s what I meant by JKL; position, rather than HJKL.
1