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Keyboard for a 7 year old kid?

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ksm123:
Can anyone point me to a keyboard with the following properties:


* Smaller distance between keys (i.e. 75 % of normal).
* ANSI layout in alpha section
* AltGr in its usual place on the right side of space
* Keys with some kind of tactile response, rubber domes allowed
* Available in EU or through AliExpress
* Reliable; every key-press registers on the first try, and no accidental doubles
I want to teach my son to touch type, but he simply does not have the reach for regular adult board yet.

Leslieann:
You won't get anything mechanical in that form factor because the switches tend to be the same size as the keycaps, they can't squish together any closer (or at least that much).

Now your second problem is you need something smaller, most of them ARE HORRIBLE.
Very few rubber domes are good, even scissor switch keyboards can be bad, but once you you get into odd sizes you wind up with non-standard parts and they cab be absolutely horrible and this can be worse for a child since it can take an inordinate amount of pressure to press them.

I'm no typing expert by any means but my advice is to let him grow into a normal keyboard because if he starts on something small it will throw him off later when he needs to change to a normal keyboard.

Darthbaggins:
I had my son start learning on a TKL, just moved him up to my CM Pro S so I could harvest the Otemu Blues from his $25 HCMan I got off of Amazon.

ksm123:

--- Quote from: Leslieann on Tue, 04 May 2021, 19:28:22 ---You won't get anything mechanical in that form factor because the switches tend to be the same size as the keycaps, they can't squish together any closer (or at least that much).

--- End quote ---

This is what I expected, going with Cherry ML would make spacing a little denser but only 5-6%, but any smaller is firmly in RD territory.
(on the other hand, I've used Sun's type 5 and type 6 keyboards, so I know that not all rubber domes are hideous).


--- Quote ---Now your second problem is you need something smaller, most of them ARE HORRIBLE.
Very few rubber domes are good, even scissor switch keyboards can be bad, but once you you get into odd sizes you wind up with non-standard parts and they cab be absolutely horrible and this can be worse for a child since it can take an inordinate amount of pressure to press them.

--- End quote ---

Unfortunately this coincides with my experience of netbook keyboards of 2007-2011 era. This is why I've asked for this forum's advice.


--- Quote ---I'm no typing expert by any means but my advice is to let him grow into a normal keyboard because if he starts on something small it will throw him off later when he needs to change to a normal keyboard.

--- End quote ---

I'm no expert too, but my experience with netbook keyboards suggests that it is much harder to adjust to layout differences than to slight scaling of keyboard (unless of course keyboards becomes too cramped or too large for particular typist).


--- Quote from: Darthbaggins on Tue, 04 May 2021, 20:01:21 ---I had my son start learning on a TKL, just moved him up to my CM Pro S so I could harvest the Otemu Blues from his $25 HCMan I got off of Amazon.

--- End quote ---

My kid uses Razer's Black Widow with MX Blue, but it was just a spare board laying around.

Volny:
I too question the value of pushing him to develop perfect muscle memory in something only for it to be thwarted a year or two later.

If you really want him touch typing at age seven (I don't know why, though perhaps you're hoping to cultivate a future speed typing champion and are trying to get him ahead of the pack early) then I would think that learning on a real keyboard might be best. It won't kill him to move his hands a few centimetres to reach the further keys. Surely the goal isn't to set speed records, but simply to teach him to use certain fingers for certain keys, which he can do whether his hands are stationary or moving.

Though I personally think you're doing great just for the mere fact that your 7 year old actually knows what a keyboard is.

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