A bunch of good stuff.
I'd put myself in the category of serious touch typist and I like having a num-pad. I also think a serious touch typist needs to be able to leave the home row and get back quickly without getting lost.
I don't know if it's for psychological or for practical reasons, but whenever I need to enter numbers in for accounting purposes or I need to handle numbers in a spreadsheet, I naturally reach for the numpad. If I'm just typing in numbers into an email, I use the numbers in the regular part of the keyboard.
I'd like to see some options for the numpad on the left side too. I always find it odd to have to sit off center of the monitor or the desk because the keyboard is causing me to have to shift to the left in order to use it. It'd take some getting used to for me to punch numbers with my left hand, but I'd get used to it.
I think though, I COULD do without the numpad (even though I'd miss the enter key a bit), but never without the nav clusters. That is why I wish that UNICOMP would ditch their space saver in favour of a model M SS replica, (in black and grey like the customizer) - current "dream board".
I can see how ppl are saying, tenless = better posture cuz of using the mouse hand, but how many times are you typing on a document and flicking your hand off to the mouse? i'm typing this all up without even touching the mouse now.
Buy a ****ING Unicomp SpaceSaver already!
I doubt programmers even use the number pad; we use even weirder keys like the brackets, braces, semicolons, etc. more than numbers.
I have often read many programmers saying that they don't use the numpad. I may be different. I worked as a programmer for two and half years for a French company selling software to the French government. I can tell you that the everyone in that company were anal. When you submit your work and said it was done, it was better done right. The project leader would test it as much as he could, accepting to bug. Therefore, very often, we had to create data sample to test. It would have been a pain to type phone number and postal codes for multiple records using the number row.
I use the number pad when I have it and the top row when I dont.
I do have a shortcut that as standard uses the number pad for part of it and when I first got a tenkeyless I was amazed at how many times an hour I dumped my right hand onto the desk expecting to hit the button.
IIRC my dad never used the number pad, well not that I saw, but then they were quite a new thing with his computer use, I dont think that there were 104plus sized keyboard invented/around for more than half of his computer use.
I have often read many programmers saying that they don't use the numpad. I may be different. I worked as a programmer for two and half years for a French company selling software to the French government. I can tell you that the everyone in that company were anal. When you submit your work and said it was done, it was better done right. The project leader would test it as much as he could, accepting to bug. Therefore, very often, we had to create data sample to test. It would have been a pain to type phone number and postal codes for multiple records using the number row.
This can't possibly just be the programmer crowd that wants 10less, how about this, what if the number row was flipped to constant symbol instead, then we wouldn't have to deal with annoying SHIFT all the time. Maybe it's just me but i hate SHIFT, i even shift properly with the opposing pinkies as was taught in class. (I don't have any plans to get a foot pedal for it though)
The tenkey and cursor/navigation keys were placed there before people used computers with a mouse. If the mouse were there I think the numeric keypad or the navigation keys may have been placed on the left like very early IBM PC keyboards and those used with Sun workstations.I blame Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) ...
In conclusion: the location of the numpad was originally chosen so that the main typing area would be aligned with the center of the screen, but later this principle was abandoned.
That's too bad because that's my main issue with full sized keyboards. They create some interesting conflicts in how you can center yourself. Most keyboard trays don't account for the keyboard being off center and when you center your monitor, you get one side of your desk getting very cramped for space while the other side is wide open.
I wonder how natural this layout is? It's probably an FPS thing since the first thing I can ever remember doing on a computer was playing an FPS:
Yeah, you're right about the elbows. About the classic position, you might be right because it doesn't feel all too great
It's probably not obvious to most people, but DEC's peripherals groups didn't attract the best and brightest.
It could be because your desk is too tall or it could be because you're not tall enough or your chair is too low. It all factors in. There are definitely other setups that you'll like, but it might take a lot of experimenting to find it because you're looking for a setup that's not just good for your health, but good for performance and two huge reasons why people adopt preferred postures is for performance and to avoid pain.
In my case, I have a very adjustable chair, a very strong and adjustable keyboard tray, and a large 30" monitor. If I were doing FPS gaming, I can use all of these things in combination to give me the arm support needed for precise mouse control without having to adopt "bad" postures. If I only had a typical chair and a desk, I might decide the next best thing is what you have going.
Haha, oh no... I think I figured that out for myself after I typed on a DEC LK-201 for the first time. I still maintain to this day that they're the single worst keyboard I've ever had the displeasure of using...I don't know if I mentioned it on this board, but on the topic of DEC keyboards...
The layout was good by the standards of the day, and probably was what inspired IBM to make the 101-key layout we all know and love today.
are you sure that bigger monitor means more ergonomic*?
I think 30" is too much IMO
speaking of monitors, what do you think would be the best monitor size*?
what resolution should that monitor have*?
I'm quite concerned about monitors these days,
I'm wondering if I should have two monitors, if they should have the same size/resolution, etc
Here's my tenkeyless. Notice anything unusual?Show Image(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=11912&stc=1&d=1280565883)