geekhack
geekhack Community => Ergonomics => Topic started by: TopreFan333 on Mon, 27 October 2014, 10:33:37
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Just browsing posts here about different switches, key travel, actuation points, etc — and it made me remember learning to type in middle school in the '80s. We had manual typewriters — pretty nice ones — and were taught to stroke instead of hit or tap the keys. The idea was that you actually move your finger in a sort of U-shaped stroke which as it bottoms out, causes the key to strike the paper.
Any experienced typists out there have any advice on what kind of motion you're supposed to make as you type on a quality mechanical keyboard? I guess we all default to this stabbing motion, but with contoured key caps, I wonder if some sort of arc might be better.
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What you describe is how you type on a manual typewriter. On which you could push a key too softly: the arm would raise, but the letter would not (or maybe just barely) hit the paper. So, you needed a firmer strike and, as you say, the strike needed to be longer. You had to keep your fingers slightly longer on the key, you had to keep pushing a little bit longer. And make sure that you applied an even pressure, to get the letters typed evenly.
This in contrast to the electric typewriter. Which basically types just like a computer: you hit the letter or not, there is no "half pushed button".
I'd say that a mechanical keyboard is like an electric typewriter. Before the switch reaches the actuation point, nothing happens; but when it does reach the actuation point it "types the letter". There are no "half way printed letters", a letter is typed yes, or no. So, a mechanical keyboard is not like a manual typewriter. The typing style you need on a mechanical keyboard (on any keyboard actually) depends on the specific characteristics of the switch: the location of the actuation point (near the top, mid way, etc.), the needed pressure, the travel to the bottom and so on.
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My grandfather had an old mechanical typewriter since before time forgot. The thing was heavy and it was a pain to use. That is what I learned on and was forced to use to type reports in school. It sucked. I hated it. We even had "correcting" tape where you had to go over your mistakes exactly by typing the exact same mistakes with the correcting tape instead of the ribbon. It looked kind of like this:
(http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/UncleDearest/1950_s_REMINGTON_QUIET-RITER_TYPEWRITER_w_CASE_MANUAL.jpg)
Then, when I was in middle school and high school we had old Atari computers and Apple IIs. I learned real quick where the backspace was and aced the class. I felt typing was for "girls" and was a skill I would never have to learn. Then I joined the Army and had to use one of these;
(http://home2.fvcc.edu/~rayspeterson/military/images/teletypewriter%20ugc%2074.jpg)
That darn thing. Some of the keys you needed a hammer to actuate. Then we had one of these;
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSxMBt70r08JSw_2b335R8RqP4WIVfGrT7BARzHvByu1Tc327Rq1g)
Which was much nicer to type on. I swear, all I did was lift weights and type all shift. Couldn't just call someone, had to type it all out. To top it all off, everything we had to typed on everything else had to be retyped (transposed) to one of these;
(https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ89qeOyd_W0H7qj6UcWSFiF3V83USR7-gDNfHN9u1oLikoU7L1)
Then I'd go home and type on the crappiest dome switch keyboard ever. Why? Because internet. There was stuff on the internet, and I wanted to know all about it.
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I took typing as an option for my GCSEs. My school still had manual typewriters back then.
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I learned to type on a manual typewriter. What a joy it was to upgrade to a keypunch. There was still no backspace key. Drat.
Get off my lawn.