Ergonomic, Divided Keyboard

Discussion in 'Gadgets & Tech Talk' started by Ken Anderson, Jul 23, 2022.

  1. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,454
    Likes Received:
    42,934
    divided-keyboard.jpeg

    Is this something that you could see yourself using? I am thinking of buying it (on Amazon) for my Windows PC. For years, I used a keyboard like the one pictured below and found that it was comfortable for typing, so the one above seems like it might be similarly comfortable. I quit using my ergonomic keyboard because I was jumping back and forth between an iMac and a MacBook, so I needed to get used to the smaller keyboard on the MacBook, which is the same size and configuration as the standard Apple keyboard.

    ergonomic-keyboard.jpeg
     
    #1
  2. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
    Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Mar 6, 2018
    Messages:
    11,252
    Likes Received:
    20,809
    I have never found the so-called ergonomic keyboards helpful for me. Maybe because I am not a good typist/keyboarder.
     
    #2
  3. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
    Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2018
    Messages:
    20,438
    Likes Received:
    42,653
    I've never found them helpful, either. I used to like a gel wrist pad to support my "mousing" wrist, though.
     
    #3
    Don Alaska likes this.
  4. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,454
    Likes Received:
    42,934
    I don't think I'd want to test today, or since the arthritis came, but I used to be able to type more than a hundred words a minute, and carry on a conversation while I was typing.
     
    #4
    Don Alaska likes this.
  5. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    24,454
    Likes Received:
    42,934
    If I were 20 again, I think I'd try one of the non-QWERTY keyboards, such as the DVORAK. At nearly 71, I'm not going to learn a new way of typing, though.

    dvorak.jpeg
     
    #5
    Don Alaska likes this.
  6. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
    Staff Member Senior Staff Greeter Task Force Registered

    Joined:
    May 29, 2020
    Messages:
    22,930
    Likes Received:
    32,688
    I recall the early ergonomic split keyboards that were like the second pic in your first comment, and may have test-driven one a coworker had, but not to any great extent.

    At some point I got tired of reaching over the right-hand keypad (like you see on your DVORAK keyboard) in order to use the mouse, and got a different set-up that I used for years and years. I am right-handed.

    First, I got a left-hand keyboard, which moved the keypad to the left:
    Left hand keyboard.jpg Then I started using a trac ball butted up against the right edge of the keyboard:

    tracball.jpg

    So now I could sit centered behind the lettered part of the keyboard as I typed, and use the tracball without moving my arm around/picking up & putting down the mouse when I ran out of cord or reach/etc. I did not have to lean or move much to do anything. I really like tracballs, although after years I developed a knot on the knuckle of my thumb. It was not painful, but it was noticeable.

    I had already been using a dedicated extra keypad off to my left because in the 70s I used an adding machine/calculator extensively at work and taught myself to rapid-enter data with my left hand so I would not have to keep putting down my pencil to use the machine and then picking the pencil back up to write down the results. I lost the ability to data enter with my right hand.

    So getting a proper setup where I could stay centered over the keys and not lean one way or the other in order to type, "mouse" & data entry was as ergonomic as I needed to get to save my neck, back & shoulders. I had sore wrist issues off & on, but that was mainly an issue of getting the seat adjust properly so I had the proper wrist angle and then adjusting my monitor height.

    Since I don't do data-entry anymore and I do most of my surfing on the couch with an external monitor on a stand, I now use one of these that sits on my lap:

    Logitech keyboard.jpg

    I still have a dedicated USB keypad in case I need it, like when I was Treasurer for a couple of non-profits.

    Speaking of ergonomic, back in the day when I was buying business cards & brochures, the owner of a small graphics shop was an early adopter of these:

    Ergonomic chair.jpg

    Mark loved it. I was never tempted.
     
    #6
    Last edited: Jul 24, 2022

Share This Page