In August, I finally received my Piantor Pro, a new keyboard, and I decided to make the switch not only to a split keyboard, but also to Colemak DH - a new keyboard layout.
Why did I decide to do this?
1. Problems with ergonomics and typing comfort
For a long time, I had problems with the fact that I type a lot as a programmer, but I wasn’t completely satisfied with my current typing speed and comfort. It was around 45 words per minute, but it’s not even really about the speed. You have to understand that a different layout and new keyboard won’t help that much with speed. There are people who, using QWERTY on a membrane keyboard, type 120 words per minute.
The problem is different: keyboards are very high-profile for the most part, and their keys are located in one area. Try putting your hands on a QWERTY keyboard yourself in a way that’s comfortable for you. You’ll have to contort your hands at an angle of about 30 degrees upward and to the sides in order to touch-type adequately.
2. Portability
I got tired of the keyboard being very bulky and difficult to carry around with me. Even when I bought a wireless NuPhy keyboard, I still had this problem. It took up a whole quarter of my backpack and barely fit on the laptop surface (and this is despite being considered a very low-profile mechanical keyboard).
In contrast, the Piantor Pro - it has only 40 keys, and now I just constantly carry it in my pants pocket. When I need to leave home, I just need to toss a whole keyboard in my pocket, plug it in anywhere, and start working.
3. Proof that most keys aren’t needed
A split keyboard is a prime example of how standard keyboards are excessive. They have too many keys. I comfortably use 40 keys, and there are people who reduce this number to 32 and also feel great and type even faster than on QWERTY keyboards. This is proof that you don’t need more than half of the keys that are on your keyboard.
How does this work?
First, think about it yourself. If you press a key and hold it down, by default in any operating system, that key starts repeating. But when would you ever need to repeat a letter? Right, only for games.
Second problem: why are some keys on the keyboard needed at all in principle? Why do you need Caps Lock, Num Lock, Scroll Lock, Home, Pg End, Pg Down? I don’t have an answer to this question.
All these keys - Tab, Shift, Control, Option, Command, Window, Enter, Backspace - they have the opposite problem from letter keys. They’re only needed to be held down, because they only exist for key combinations. Consequently, you can probably guess where I’m going with this. If we have letter keys that only need to be pressed, and we have modifier keys that only need to be held, why not put the modifier keys right on the letter keys? And we save 10 keys on the keyboard.
4. Pointless key stagger (staggered layout)
As you can notice, the absolute majority of standard keyboards have a so-called staggered layout. This is when keys are slightly offset horizontally relative to each other.
In general, this staggered layout was only needed so that typewriters in the 60s wouldn’t have keys jamming when each key pressed a stamp onto paper to print a character. For this, it was necessary for levers to go from all the keys that would press the stamp to the paper.
When people started switching to computers, the first ones were Macs. They wanted to make a regular normal keyboard without offset, but then the product team was afraid that people would say: “Oh, unfamiliar keyboard, won’t buy” (and computers were then intended mostly for typing). So they decided to make it like before. And this became a fatal mistake.
Now billions of people who type on keyboards are used to this staggered key arrangement. You have to make an unnatural horizontal movement with your fingers for each key. Although our fingers aren’t designed for horizontal movement, but rather for either straightening or bending.
5. Unjustifiably large keys
Think about the Shift, Enter, Space keys. My main question is - why are they so big? Look at your keyboard, most likely on your spacebar you’ll have wear on one side. I, for example, always press space with my left finger, so obviously my wear is on the left. The question arises: why does the spacebar take up the space of six keys? I don’t have an answer to that.
The spacebar should be the same small key as a letter, but it should be in the most convenient place on the keyboard. And why does Enter need to be two rows? It only exists because the creators of typewriters decided: “Well, there’s some extra space left, I’ll throw Enter there.”
6. Important keys in inconvenient places
The same can be said about the Backspace, Enter, Shift keys and some modifiers. I don’t have an answer to the question of why such important keys as Enter and Shift are at the very edge of the keyboard. Because of this, to fix your mistake, you need to contort your pinky into a viper’s pose and sting Backspace at the other end of the keyboard. Backspace should be right next to the spacebar, as one of the most important keys for anyone who types anything on a keyboard.
7. The concept of layers
The next question arises: if we have three modifier keys, why not make more modifier keys? After all, we can control the keyboard, for example, to switch to symbols, switch to some other language, switch to some system keys like F.
Again, no one has an answer to this question, because for decades, even centuries now, this paradigm has been promoted that everything should be like on typewriters. I don’t see any sense in this at all.
Consequently, split keyboards, as a rule, are always customizable. Want 10 modifier keys? No problem. Split keyboards have a concept called layers. When you hold down a modifier key, you switch to another layer where the values of all symbols change to others that you set yourself. Of course, any normal person will get rid of useless F keys, volume control keys, arrows, symbols this way.
8. Underuse of thumbs
The next disadvantage of traditional keyboards is that we practically don’t use our thumbs when typing on a keyboard. Agree, your thumb on a standard keyboard is only responsible for the spacebar. And the second one does nothing at all. This is simply unfair to the health of your hands and your typing speed. Thumbs should be responsible for the most important keys. On split keyboards we have 4, 6, even 8 keys under our thumbs.
9. Work anywhere
I already mentioned that it allows typing in any conditions, and what became unexpected for me was the new ability to work in bed. I know this isn’t exactly a healthy thing, I certainly don’t work regularly in bed, but sometimes, for example, in a hotel, on a plane somewhere, when there’s simply no table to put a keyboard on - no problem. You can straighten your arms in bed, put the keyboard between your legs, and lying on your back calmly work in such conditions.
It’s like from the Wall-E cartoon, where people with split keyboards on the armrests of their chairs were lying down and typing. When needed, this is a big plus. For example, recently I lived in a hotel and worked like this for 3 whole days, with no decrease in productivity. This is an opportunity available only with fully split keyboards, where the halves are connected by cable or via Bluetooth.
Conclusions
Thus, we came to the conclusion that the QWERTY keyboard is simply a relic of the past. And a split keyboard with only 40-42 keys is more than enough for any person for typing.
I bought myself a split keyboard and completely got rid of 2/3 of the weight, size, finger travel distance. And, of course, increased my speed by a third.
For the transition, you’ll need to learn how new layers work and form your own layout, but then you simply never want to go back. It’s the same as switching on your phone from 60 Hz to 144, or, for example, switching from riding the bus to a Ferrari.
Few people know this is a problem because we’re all so used to traditional keyboards that keyboard manufacturers are still afraid to even remove the stagger. No one will use a laptop that looks strange. But I highly recommend everyone try it and realize how much this is night and day compared to old keyboards.
In the next post, we’ll talk about why I changed layouts.