ErgoMechKeyboards
Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards
Rules
Keep it ergo
Posts must be of/about keyboards that have a clear delineation between the left and right halves of the keyboard, column stagger, or both. This includes one-handed (one half doesn't exist, what clearer delineation is that!?)
i.e. no regular non-split¹ row-stagger and no non-split¹ ortholinear²
¹ split meaning a separation of the halves, whether fixed in place or entirely separate, both are fine.
² ortholinear meaning keys layed out in a grid
No Spam
No excessive posting/"shilling" for commercial purposes. Vendors are permitted to promote their products/services but keep it to a minimum and use the [vendor] flair. Posts that appear to be marketing without being transparent about it will be removed.
No Buy/Sell/Trade
This subreddit is not a marketplace, please post on r/mechmarket or other relevant marketplace.
Some useful links
- EMK wiki
- Split keyboard compare tool
- Compare keycap profiles Looking for another set of keycaps - check this site to compare the different keycap profiles https://www.keycaps.info/
- Keymap database A database with all kinds of keymap layouts - some of them fits ergo keyboards - get inspired https://keymapdb.com/
view the rest of the comments
I tried using shift on my thumb as the hold action for space, but I was not a fan. The problem for me actually things like the end of sentences. I tend to still double space between sentences, so this meant every sentence was tap-tap-hold on the same thumb for space-space-capital. Even worse, I was testing a layout where you did exclamation point with that same thumb by chording the layer button and shift, so such a sentence would have 4 sequential uses of the same thumb!
Now, I actually keep a dedicated pinkie shift key, but the other modifiers are on the thumb. My thumb keys are space (live alone) and all things I rarely roll though (delete, backspace, enter, tab, escape), so on all the ones you don’t roll through, I’ve put the modifiers without any delay: The moment you press them the modifier activates, and then on release it deactivated, then sends the key tap if less than the tap time. This lets you go really fast without misfires.
One thing to remember: in English, the space character is about twice as common as the letter e. It is, by far, the most commonly pressed key, so you probably shouldn’t overload it!