Ivor Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Philip Newton [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] wrote
>
>> Especially since you *will* have to remain familiar with QWERTY as you
> will
>> have to use keyboards that are not your own at some point (typing on a
>> co-worker's machine; on a computer whose keyboard driver isn't working; at
>> an Internet caf�; whatever -- it's bound to happen).
>
> I quite agree. I have enough difficulty adjusting to the miniature keys on a
> laptop.
>
> At one previous employer, I remember a few supposedly ergonomic keyboards
> which were QWERTY, but split in the middle into two halves at an angle. I
> found these keyboards impossible to use. The guys that had adapted to these
> keyboards soon regretted it, as they were stuck if they had to use anyone
> else's machine, or if the keyboard ended its useful life. I think that there
> is a pile of a half dozen of these weird keyboards gathering dust in a
> cupboard in this company.
I have a Maltron ergo keyboard which does the split thing and I use
the custom Maltron layout. Which works surprisingly well. I found that
when trying to use it in QWERTY mode initially my 'flat' habits would
occasionally trip me up. (I use the 'wrong' finger for 'c' (I should
use my second finger; I use my index finger) and because of the layout
of the ergo, with keys more in actual columns, I had a really hard
time typing cs.
But when I switched to using a custom layout, I relatively quickly
developed a new set of habits because my fingers didn't try and work
the 'old' way. And it I can still type quickly on a flatty as well. I
only get occasionally confused when I'm trying to type quickly on any
other split keyboard. My fingers tend to think they're on the maltron
and I start trying to type spaces for es and the like.
--
Piers
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a language in
possession of a rich syntax must be in need of a rewrite."
-- Jane Austen?
