So I wanted to prepare some options for one-handed typing that they can review. At first glance, it looks like solutions fall into one of three categories:
- Trainings on how to effectively use a keyboard with one hand
- Keyboard remappings on existing hardware to use alternative key layouts that favor the keys on the left side
- Specialty keyboards that are intended to be used with one hand. Some of these seem promising but also shockingly expensive.
Any thoughts on what solutions you've seen work / you might pursue in a similar situation?
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Ofc if you're not doing text based work this wouldn't apply.
autohotkey layout: https://github.com/hanmindev/mirrorboard
xkb layout: https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-ke...
https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-ke...
He does most of his typing these days with voice-to-text on his Android phone, and he's pretty adept with it. Otherwise he gets by pretty well with a standard Apple keyboard. He's not winning any speed awards but he does alright.
What I found best was
- a standard qwerty keyboard (I didn't want to be restricted to custom keyboards)
- A learning program called Five Finger Typist. https://www.spectronics.com.au/product/five-finger-typist-2-...
Basically I'm hybrid touch typing. Because I cover the whole keyboard as I type the chance for error increases the longer I type. I quickly glance to know where i'm aligned.
In hindsight I should have learnt to use the F and J notches more.
I have extensively remapped my IDE shortcuts to be easier to trigger.
I found the Learning Artsey book from Discord helpful and managed to get up to 15 WPM in about a week with regular practice. Still quite tedious for coding, but good enough for emails and IRC.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/5128
https://github.com/JeremyGrosser/qmk_firmware/tree/artsey_ma...
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/artseyio/artsey/main/layou...
Back in the day I switched to Dvorak and came across the "one handed Dvorak layout. This may be what you are referring to. I haven't tried it much but those layouts could be a temporary solution. I found Qwerty to be a lot easier to type one handed straight up because Dvorak tries to alternate hands between keys.
I recently discovered Talon, an open source app for voice control of basically everything on a machine that requires no typing at all. I saw some people are using it even if they can use their hands, as a power tool. It appears to be fully Python scriptable and also gives you some nice speech to text abilities too.
It allows you to specify a bunch of keywords for typing symbols and it looks like some people can do full coding quite quickly.
Perhaps this injury could be an opportunity to try something like this and become more powerful than before?
Best of luck and recovery to your friend.
Like OP's relative, I also could not use my dominant arm, nor have my arm in a position that would allow typing one handed on a regular keyboard. The twiddler was the only commercially available option that I was able to find that would allow me to type in this state. So, another recommendation of twiddler, but with the caveat that the original had several warts, and while they appear to be redesigned, they may still suffer from some of them.
The velcro strap to hold it to the hand, combined with the shape of the keyboard, allowed it to shift position while typing making it harder to use. Photos of the current models show they have a different shape now. Maybe this is less of a problem now? They are also wireless now, so there isn't a wire constantly pulling it out of position whenever you move.
The keyboard markings rubbed off completely after only a few weeks of use on my OG twiddler. Hopefully they have worked that manufacturing issue out for the current models.
Separate from that, when I've temporarily injured one hand/arm or the other, typing on a QWERTY keyboard wasn't that slow for me. Especially if I typed all-lowercase. Though my normal typing style has two hands moving around the keyboard a bit; I don't know whether traditional home-row typists would fine one-handed more difficult.
(Just be careful when Web searching about this topic at work, since it's bumping into an old euphemism joke on Reddit.)
If it’s human text (as opposed to code), one handed swipe style typing on a smartphone can get really fluid, and it’s relatively easy to get for someone who is a touch typer. I’d check on ways to use that as computer input if needed.
August Dvorak developed these "LH" and "RH" layouts for amputees. The layouts are well thought out IMHO. It feels like typing on a numeric keypad.
F would become J; S would become L, etc.
I was able to have a fairly decent input speed.
I wish I remembered why I did this. I think I had some tedious task that I couldn't figure out how to automate, that required me to have one hand on the mouse[1] most of the time, and swapping between keyboard and mouse all the time got tedious enough that I invested the time.
[1] Yes, the mouse. :)
edit: Ah, someone already made the same suggestion elsewhere here! I'm glad it's a popular choice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_keyboard_layout#One-han...
Advice from when I learned Dvorak: post a picture of the keyboard layout at monitor height (I put it on my background) so you can figure out where the characters are without looking down.
I wrote it when I developed a Dupuytren Contracture on my hand last year, and find it very comfortable and efficient. It is my sole keyboard input now.
The wireless version has less of a gap, but you could always just get two of them and use the left half of one and the right half of another.
Feel free to reach out to me at justin (at) justin-c (dot) com, if you want to talk. I spent about 5 years working on custom mounting options for keyboards after getting a severe RSI, ultimately proven to be partially caused by a rheumatic condition.
Having a RSI myself, I find that I can provide very detailed instructions in regular english, for which voice dictation works quite well to Cursor (but any others should work too), then it will produce code that I have to edit very little. For most people this wouldn't be an efficient flow, but it greatly helps me reduce typing, thus is beneficial to me.
With something like that, I believe you could do well pecking around with one hand for edits without needing to do much typing.
On Mac, Karabiner-Elements is incredibly useful to remap things, such that you can enable things like mousekeys or otherwise that would keep from having to move (either) hand very much. It's also a way to do as others have shown on this post and do a mirror layout or add something analogous to layers without having to buy new keyboards.
It depends on what you're doing but the biggest help to me was the dictate button in outlook to draft email then just edit, probably a lot more use now with copilot etc. Your friend needs to be prepared for a significant drop in productivity at the computer and at home. Even simple things like making a sandwich or getting dressed will be difficult and slow, especially at the start.
Of the ones I've played with, I find the 7-key kind (4 fingers and 3 thumb positions) to be the most appealing, and I don't see them mentioned in the thread. Infogrip has sadly discontinued their commercial BAT offering, the "Spiffchorder" family ( https://www.chorder.org/wiki/doku.php/start ) use the same chord-set and are designed to be cheap and easy construction - I've made a few in different physical arrangements. I'm too qwerty habituated and never got _completely_ comfortable, but I've been up to tolerable a couple times.
My "normal" typing is mostly on conventional splits (Kinesis makes make some nice off-the-shelf options that just split and tent), largely to avoid shoulder issues. I recently tried a ortholinear split and... I'm pretty convinced they really don't have meaningful benefits.
Matias wrote an article [1] about it and then made it into a commercial product [2], but the concept should be possible on any programmable keyboard. Perhaps it would be possible with a AutoHotkey (MS-Windows) or Karabiner (MacOS) script otherwise.
There is a large scene for more-or-less DIY "ergonomic" mechanical programmable keyboards with various different physical layouts, but common themes are 1) that they are split in a pair of two physical keyboards and 2) that they have multiple thumb-keys for modifiers / Return / Space. You could build and program just one half of such a pair. Many years ago I programmed an ErgoDox with the HalfKeyboard layout, just to try it out, and that ErgoDox I had built on a budget from mostly salvaged vintage components.
[1]: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/One-Handed-Touch-Typin...
I can wholeheartedly endorse this method. I never measured it precisely, but I would say I was still upwards of 80% proficient in typing speed using this script with just one hand.
The nice part is that I can still type pretty quickly one-handed (maybe 50 wpm? Haven't measured in a while) and it's convenient sometimes.
https://www.maltron.com/store/p19/Maltron_Single_Hand_Keyboa...
They’re expensive, and the other options mentioned may be better, but I feel like they should be included for completeness’ sake at the very least.
Just in time...
Though a bit late to the party!!
I'm on the recovery path of my dominant hand boxer's fracture... A month and a few weeks to go yet for the cast removal...
Surprisingly got used to type with two fingers and minimal movement though have to place the external keyboard at an awkward angle.
My 2 cents would be to try out a few existing possibilities before investing heavily on alternates. Sometimes all such just-for-the-time-extensions (or should I call it contraptions?) do not have a useful after life after the utilization or in-need-of period.
I have had many injuries / broken bones (or at least 7 more times! (And please don't judge me based on this. I'm either that clumsy or those were freak incidents...)) and none that were created / acquired to help me out during those restricted movement periods have stayed with me...
Anyways, the mileage may vary... My short advice... Try for sometime (if you could get somethings loaned or borrowed) for a short / extended-short periods and invest...
Tough times and best wishes and speedy recovery to get back on feet and to a healthy normal!
This too shall pass...
My use case was shoulder surgery that kept my dominant right hand in a sling for two+ months, but I could use my fingers after a week or so, and much of my work is CAD.
It took only a few hours to completely get used to it, and I never went back to a mouse. While left-hand-only typing speed obviously went down, this was significantly mitigated by having a full function point-&-click device.
It turns out this setup is also really helpful when working in tight spaces where a mouse is near-impossible, such as airplanes or tight luncheon booths.
Even typing emails and multi-page documents left-handed was tolerable for 10 weeks, but if it had been longer, I probably would have looked into a chorded one-handed keyboard solution, as the learning cost would have been worth it.
I hope this helps, and good on you for helping your friend, and I hope they get well fast!
- A 25 key Macropad (really an external numpad) Something like this, for around $50 USD https://www.dhgate.com/product/25keys-macro-keyboard-kit-pro...
- The keyboard supports QMK, the customizable open source keyboard firmware
- I programmed my own layout using the Frogpad style layout others have mentioned. Its central feature is that it is what's known as a "chording keyboard" in which you hit multiple keys at the same time, like a piano chord, to trigger different letters.
- The reduced keys on the keyboard mean I can comfortably produce any character at normal speed with one hand without moving my wrist in a way that would cause RSI.
If you want more info or a copy of my QMK config let me know.
There are other options, but hardware solutions are really expensive
One of the left thumb keys "flips" the board so that the left half behaves like the right half. In my experience it's not hard to learn to type like this. Here's my layout: https://configure.zsa.io/moonlander/layouts/oLyWr/latest/0
Bonus of using a Moonlander in this case is that you can unplug the unused right half and put it away if you don't need it.
I have one too & really enjoyed playing around with the layout editor. It makes it really easy to try out a new layout and revert changes. Expensive, but you're getting a ton of unique features for a niche market.
My coworkers have also recommended superwhisper for speech to text
The layout/project is a bit niche, but I can vouch that it works, even if slowly at first (I am mostly right-handed but ordered a left-handed one and it's become quite natural to use, although I will fumble some keys and symbols on occasion).
You can order something like a Keychron keyboard (they have many models that support VIA/QMK and full keyboard remapping) and implement the same layout, or something more "natural" like a mirror layout.
IMO - if possible just peck-type(like an old lady who is learning to use a keyboard) or use text to speech/AI & editing where possible - like in emails. They shouldn't be using the left arm/hand much right after surgery anyway. If they're programming definitely not as easy but still doable.
It was annoying, certainly, and while I did get faster typing only with my left hand, I of course never got close to full speed. But it was fine, I survived, and I don't think it would have been worth spending the money, as well as the time to learn a new keyboard setup.
Remember that a one-handed keyboard (or some other arrangement) isn't going to bring you back up to full speed immediately. It's probably going to take a few weeks to learn, and you might not even get back up to full speed at all.
1. https://goodsnooze.gumroad.com/l/macwhisper (dictation + transcription)
2. https://carelesswhisper.app (does dictation only, and does it really well; cheapest)
3. https://superwhisper.com (both local and hosted models + lots of bells and whistles, but much higher pricing)
https://tipykeyboard.com/en/produkt/tipy-keyboard-black-en
However, if your relative is employed and needs to type for the job, then there's a good chance the employer will pay for it if it means they can work more efficiently during these months. Another option, which however is much less likely to succeed and will probably take much longer, is to try to get this through health insurance.
I have a tap strap, but I use it mostly as a remote control for my TV, not as a primary input device. It probably works, but I'm not good enough with it to have the kind of error rate I'd really like.
Android has a Morse input method which would be entirely suitable for one-handed text input and there are certainly solutions for using an android phone as a keyboard, but I don't know how it'd handle things like arrow keys.
But with all the AI around these days, the error correction is a lot better, and I'd expect more OSes can be fully voice operated within 5 years.
The tech also exists to move things around with a hand e.g. https://youtube.com/watch?v=shnW3VerkiM
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKcV8_cPHll/
They made a one handed keyboard for someone who can't use their right hand. They also open sourced it on github:
* mattias half-qwerty or a similar half-dvorak layout (different from rh/lh dvorak)
* frogpad (a onehanded keyboard)
* twiddler2 (a chording one-hand joystick/keyboard)
* morse code with a mouse, keyboard or special keying device https://makoa.org/jlubin/morsecode.htm
https://github.com/grahamwhaley/pico_vband https://github.com/acecentre/morace
* shorthand augment these methods with bref or superwrite alphabetic shorthand so you have to type around 40% less https://www.reddit.com/r/shorthand/comments/esjhdk/bref_shor...
Also if you go down the youtube rabbit hole you will find many interesting 1 hand layouts.
Maybe it is possible to find one sold used. I think they are not available new anymore.
There different versions for left and right hand use.
The guy was able to type pretty darn fast with it, one handed.
Hope this helps your relative. Good luck.
DonHopkins on Nov 24, 2023 | parent | context | favorite | on: AI is currently just glorified compression
I love David MacKay's brilliant work on the Dasher text input system, which draws deeply from his work on information theory -- imagine Dasher integrated with an IDE and code search and Copilot and language model!
"Writing is navigating in the library of all possible books." -David MacKay
We just allocate more shelf space to the more probable letters.
Why isn't Dasher built into every operating system and mobile phone?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasher_(software)
https://dasher.acecentre.net/about/
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17105728
DonHopkins on May 18, 2018 | parent | context | favorite | on: Pie Menus: A 30-Year Retrospective: Take a Look an...
Dasher is fantastic, because it's based on rock solid information theory, designed by the late David MacKay. Here is the seminal Google Tech Talk about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpOxbesRNBc
Here is a demo of using Dasher by an engineer at Google, Ada Majorek, who has ALS and uses Dasher and a Headmouse to program:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvHQ83pMLQQ
Another one of her demonstrating Dasher:
Ada Majorek Introduction - CSUN Dasher
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvsSrClBwPM
Here’s a more recent presentation about it, that tells all about the latest open source release of Dasher 5:
Dasher - CSUN 2016 - Ada Majorek and Raquel Romano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFlkM_e-sDg
Here's the github repo:
Dasher Version 4.11
https://github.com/GNOME/dasher
>Dasher is a zooming predictive text entry system, designed for situations where keyboard input is impractical (for instance, accessibility or PDAs). It is usable with highly limited amounts of physical input while still allowing high rates of text entry.
Ada referred me to this mind bending prototype:
D@sher Prototype - An adaptive, hierarchical radial menu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oSfEM8XpH4
>( http://www.inference.org.uk/dasher ) - a really neat way to "dive" through a menu hierarchy/, or through recursively nested options (to build words, letter by letter, swiftly). D@sher takes Dasher, and gives it a twist, making slightly better use of screen revenue.
>It also "learns" your typical useage, making more frequently selected options larger than sibling options. This makes it faster to use, each time you use it.
>More information here: http://beznesstime.blogspot.com and here: https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=960
Dasher is even a viable way to input text in VR, just by pointing your head, without a special input device!
Text Input with Oculus Rift:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFQgluUwV2U
>As part of VR development environment I'm currently writing ( https://github.com/xanxys/construct ), I've implemented dasher ( http://www.inference.org.uk/dasher ) to input text.
One important property of Dasher is that you can pre-train it on a corpus of typical text, and dynamically train it while you use it. It learns the patterns of letters and words you use often, and those become bigger and bigger targets that string together so you can select them even more quickly!
Ada Majorek has it configured to toggle between English and her native language so she can switch between writing email to her family abroad and co-workers at google.
Now think of what you could do with a version of dasher integrated with a programmer's IDE, that knew the syntax of the programming language you're using, as well as the names of all the variables and functions in scope, plus how often they're used!
I have a long term pie in the sky “grand plan” about developing a JavaScript based programmable accessibility system I call “aQuery”, like “jQuery” for accessibility. It would be a great way to deeply integrate Dasher with different input devices and applications across platforms, and make them accessible to people with limited motion, as well as users of VR and AR and mobile devices.
https://web.archive.org/web/20180826132551/http://donhopkins...
Here’s some discussion on hacker news, to which I contributed some comments about Dasher:
A History of Palm, Part 1: Before the PalmPilot (lowendmac.com)
I came here to suggest Dasher to OP also.
