I have yet to find an acceptable way for cursor movement that doesn't involve analog input. The linked keyboard layout moved the inverted-T arrows and the extra six (insert, del etc) block to a position between the hands.
I can only imagine that it was to avoid having to move the hands off the home row. The keyboard's lack of a trackpoint means it's not the keyboard for me. Which is unfortunate, as the AVR USB uc series (they might be using one but the linked page is unclear) has a usb hid mouse profile available (http://www.fourwalledcubicle.com/LUFA.php)
...still, it actually looks like it would be a real pain in the ass to type on since the keys aren't staggered. Maybe it's something one becomes accoustomed to?
Insane. The home rows are a key too wide. A qwerty touch typist never needs to move a finger more than one key left or right from its resting position (try this -- it hurts!). This layout forces you to do so regularly to hit either control/shift modifiers or the cursor controls and/or backspace in the middle (gack: imagine having to move your wrist just to backspace over the "S" you just typed!).
Traditional layout may have its bugs, but that doesn't mean that anything novel is better.
I might be missing something, but I don't understand your complaints:
- You can still hit shift with your pinkies in essentially the same position as traditional Qwerty.
- There's a control key in the "correct" position, next to the A, which is less of a stretch than PC keyboards with control in the bottom corners.
- Yes, you need to move your hand to reach the cursor keys, but how is this worse than Qwerty (where you need to move it even farther)?
- Backspace is a thumb key on this keyboard and requires no finger movement, while on Qwerty it's one of the least-accessible keys.
- PC Qwerty keyboards do require you to move your fingers more than one key left or right. Depending on your exact keyboard model, how else do you type backspace, Enter/Return, Escape, right-bracket/right-brace, pipe/backslash, or equals/plus? (These are totally common keys for programmers, and backspace/enter/return are common for everybody.)
I've only recently been looking for a new keyboard for home because on my current (Microsoft Media Desktop 1000) all the function keys are tiny and packed together with no grouping (F1-F4 F5-F8 F9-F12). Coding is so much slower on it because I can't touch type/find the bloody keys.
And don't get me started on manufacturers who move the insert/delete/home/end/pgup/pgdn keys...
I ended up getting a Lenovo 73P4067 because it's one of the only manufacturers I could find who has a standard keyboard combined with wireless.
Maybe I'm just getting old, and set in my ways, but give me a standard keyboard any day.
Agreed!!! I was recently heartbroken when, upon receiving my new computer at work, I found that my tried-and-true PS/2 that I had been using for years no longer had a port to connect to. Switching to the new keyboard was not fun.
16 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 46.1 ms ] threadI can only imagine that it was to avoid having to move the hands off the home row. The keyboard's lack of a trackpoint means it's not the keyboard for me. Which is unfortunate, as the AVR USB uc series (they might be using one but the linked page is unclear) has a usb hid mouse profile available (http://www.fourwalledcubicle.com/LUFA.php)
...still, it actually looks like it would be a real pain in the ass to type on since the keys aren't staggered. Maybe it's something one becomes accoustomed to?
Traditional layout may have its bugs, but that doesn't mean that anything novel is better.
- You can still hit shift with your pinkies in essentially the same position as traditional Qwerty.
- There's a control key in the "correct" position, next to the A, which is less of a stretch than PC keyboards with control in the bottom corners.
- Yes, you need to move your hand to reach the cursor keys, but how is this worse than Qwerty (where you need to move it even farther)?
- Backspace is a thumb key on this keyboard and requires no finger movement, while on Qwerty it's one of the least-accessible keys.
- PC Qwerty keyboards do require you to move your fingers more than one key left or right. Depending on your exact keyboard model, how else do you type backspace, Enter/Return, Escape, right-bracket/right-brace, pipe/backslash, or equals/plus? (These are totally common keys for programmers, and backspace/enter/return are common for everybody.)
I've only recently been looking for a new keyboard for home because on my current (Microsoft Media Desktop 1000) all the function keys are tiny and packed together with no grouping (F1-F4 F5-F8 F9-F12). Coding is so much slower on it because I can't touch type/find the bloody keys.
And don't get me started on manufacturers who move the insert/delete/home/end/pgup/pgdn keys...
I ended up getting a Lenovo 73P4067 because it's one of the only manufacturers I could find who has a standard keyboard combined with wireless.
Maybe I'm just getting old, and set in my ways, but give me a standard keyboard any day.
/end rant