I'm still waiting for someone to mass-produce the http://ergodox.org/ - here you can press all the modifier keys with your thumbs!
I recently got my keyboard
It's been sitting in my parts drawer for a while, I'm not sure how to part ways with specialty items like that.
The kinesis freestyle + vip accessory was my daily driver for years but it's a bit mushy and the build quality is questionable (I went through 3 boards, including one DoA). My new one is the Matias Ergo pro. Quite similar, but better in almost every way, except price.
Usually, I want to press Cmd + T when I'm in the browser, so my right hand is usually on the mouse. That's why I want to do it with a single hand.
(I've tried browser plugins that mimic Vim keybindings, but I still need to reach for the mouse a lot: browsing menus, etc.)
It's almost vaporware at this point, but I'm still waiting for AcidFire's Axios[0], which is based on the ergodox design but with very carefully thought out improvements (adjustable thumb clusters and built in tenting being the main two)
Fortunately, you can use Karabiner (https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/ - formerly known as KeyRemap4Macbook) to turn the application key into another copy of the command key.
I remapped mine to Ctrl and after some acclimatisation it was a lot comfier.
[2] http://blog.keyboard.io/post/77078804805/building-a-keyboard...
I tried the Truly Ergonomic keyboard and while it was innovative, it was hard to get used to the middle row and the build quality was not so good.
I ended up buying from WASD Keyboards and I absolutely love their product. Complete customization, a tenkeyless option, excellent build quality, the most durable key caps around, but familiar IBM style key placement.
This one seems to be something in between these two.
In my opinion, the most important ergonomic improvements are to buy a tenkeyless model and set the capslock to a backspace. Having a heavy keyboard with sturdy grips at the base is also important.
Exotic features like a split keyboard, matrix layout, and strange thumb controls are just annoying and non-standard. I also somewhat regret having switched to colemak, but not entirely.
This, on a standard Elcheapo rubberdome keyboard.
I even throw away the original backspace keycap.
The downside is I've quite alot found myself subconciously struggle understanding why the "backspace doesn't work" when hitting capslock on other computers.
Colemak using all fingers of the right home row for letters makes a lot of sense too. Kinda dumb that one of the main keys of the resting position is dedicated to the semicolon.
There's other errors, but unfortunately they aren't all fixable without re-engineering. The Truly Ergonomic keyboard arranges the Home/End/PageUp/PageDown keys into a much more logical arrangement, similar to the way the arrow keys are.
I noticed that the placement also encouraged me to use them much more for things like navigating webpages. They are actually really useful for that. I also would use that pad for gaming, instead of W-A-S-D. Filled the bill even better.
Truly Ergonomic's matrix layout also forced me to correct some of my bad typing habits, like using the wrong finger for C.
For the same reason I like the symmetry of enter and backspace on the home row, I liked the symmetry of those keys and also liked their placement of Delete opposite of Escape. And their placement of the backslash and forward slash next to each other, opposite the brackets.
But that middle row was just awful. Particularly the Enter key. Lots of accidental presses. Combined with poor build quality and it was very frustrating. Lots of key doubling, and missed presses. And the caps became worn down quickly.
I see that they have a PBT doubleshot option now, but I have a WASD v1 with custom printed ABS keycaps that are almost completely blank now. Just pointing out that it definitely depends which of their keycap products you get.
> Exotic features like a split keyboard, matrix layout, and strange thumb controls are just annoying and non-standard.
To each their own. A split keyboard with thumb clusters has been the most comfortable typing situation for me (in addition to a negative tilt which doesn't get a ton of discussion - if the front of the keyboard is level with your wrists and tilts down away from you, your hands are left in a much more natural resting position)
I think if keyboards originally were designed for thumbs to press Ctrl and Alt, in addition to Space, it would be the standard, and it would make sense.
As of now, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V are so standard that I wouldn't want to switch, and am glad that even Colemak doesn't force me to.
But pressing Ctrl+C requires much less hand movement than pressing a traditional backspace. If minimizing hand movement is the goal then backspace is the biggest offender. It is also one of the things that tends to skew the results for Colemak in studies regarding hand movement, making it appear better than it actually is.
Colemak would've been a better standard. But it is not the standard. Don't learn it. Just learn how to type correctly on QWERTY and get a keyboard with the features I mentioned.
But it doesn't really matter for my in any way. It's a great keyboard, I love it and would definitely buy it again. Highly recommend.
My only complaint with the Freestyle is that it doesn't have mechanical switches but it's still quite pleasant to type on imo.
[1] http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/shop/freestyle2-for-pc-us/
[2] https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzAsjQaobJuoQllYbTVGYlc2b2s...
https://github.com/melling/ErgonomicNotes/blob/master/keyboa...
http://matias.ca/switches/click/
But the config looks beautiful.
My dream keyboard would be something like this: https://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/katy-keyboard-or-k80cs-k...
(disclaimer: I'm an investor in Keyboardio.)
That's a feature fee manufacturers build in but damn is it useful.
I love my Advantage. My only wishes are that it would be wireless and have room for Cmd, Ctrl, and Alt on both sides.
I didn't know they were updating it though, cool! Got mine a year or so ago.
Whether you approve or not is a separate question...
Matias hasn't made them suck any less than they always have.
They are absolutely a step down if you're looking into keycaps customization.
Bad: No pointing stick, thumbable trackpad or other means of mouse-pointer control, so you still have to move your hand over and back between keyboard to mouse every time you need to switch between typing and pointer movement.
It also completely solved all the pain I was having in my arms and wrists so while I miss the key feel of my mechanical keyboard a little bit I wouldn't go back.
Something like this might be interesting though.
It took me a week or two be able to touch type comfortably, and now I can switch back and forth without too much trouble.
