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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Yotaka on Wed, 18 January 2017, 06:33:51

Title: WOULD THIS BE A BETTER NATURAL ANGLE KEYBOARD?
Post by: Yotaka on Wed, 18 January 2017, 06:33:51
How do you guys think about this? The key positions are based on the nature stretch angle of our Metalcapal.

[attachimg=1]
Title: Re: Would this be a better natural angle keyboard?
Post by: Jokrik on Wed, 18 January 2017, 06:35:45
oh wow
that looks interesting, I am currently using something similar but this one has more of a curvy stretch on the keys
Title: Re: Would this be a better natural angle keyboard?
Post by: 1391406 on Wed, 18 January 2017, 10:08:21

How do you guys think about this?

My hands don't curve inward to that degree in a resting position.

Title: Re: Would this be a better natural angle keyboard?
Post by: algernon on Wed, 18 January 2017, 10:31:42
While the main part of the keyboard looks okay, the keys that are not part of the curve, look painful to reach - especially the function key row. That row would be a lot easier to work with if it followed the same curve, in my opinion. You'd lose the aesthetics, but hey.

There are also a lot of keys on the right side, that make little sense to me: the arrow keys, and that whole cluster. You'd have to move your hand to reach them anyway, which pretty much defeats the ergonomic goal (in a similar way the function key row does).

The big ass spacebar, Enter and Backspace above are also things I dislike. A similar arrangement works fine on the TypeMatrix (for reference, I used one for 3+ years or so), where the layout is a matrix layout. If you have a curve like on this keyboard... I don't think they would be as comfortable. And having such a huge space bar means that your thumbs will have little else to do than smashing that one key, and that's a waste of a strong digit.

Not to mention that there is no possibility of tenting the keyboard, either. There is no wave, like on the Sculpt, yet, that is a very important ergonomic factor. (The Sculpt also has a similar curve, and has the function row curved too - for a good reason)

From an ergonomic PoV, I think TypeMatrix, Sculpt, ErgoDox, Kinesis (even the Freestyle!) are superior to this, for different reasons:

- TypeMatrix does not have any curves, but the function row is easier to reach.
- Sculpt has a better curve, and the middle is raised, making it more comfortable.
- ErgoDox is split, and allows adjusting the tenting/tilting, and also allows you to use your thumbs more efficiently.
- The Kinesis Advantage has a thumb cluster, and the key wells are superior to the curve. Though the function row there is similarly awful.
- The Kinesis Freestlye can be tented, and is split - a bigger gain than the curve in itself.

There may be other options, and other reasons, and while the layout may be an improvement over most, traditional keyboards, for those who want to improve their ergonomics, there are already other, better options as far as I see.
Title: Re: Would this be a better natural angle keyboard?
Post by: Yotaka on Wed, 18 January 2017, 20:07:39


Thank you, this is still in optimization. So we are here to hear more from you guys.

We focus on our typing area(picture below), that's true that functions are hard to reach,we are thinking of a way to solve this.

Each ergonomic keyboard has its focus point, we intended to make the typing area more comfortable that base the nature stretch of our metalcarpal.

 [attachimg=1]
Title: Re: Would this be a better natural angle keyboard?
Post by: Yotaka on Wed, 18 January 2017, 22:20:53
This layout was designed upon our hand's natural physiological structure and kinematic characteristics.

Our goal is to offer a relaxed typing experience.
Title: Re: Would this be a better natural angle keyboard?
Post by: Yotaka on Thu, 19 January 2017, 23:53:07
oh wow
that looks interesting, I am currently using something similar but this one has more of a curvy stretch on the keys

That's Great, and how do you feel about this curve?
Title: Re: Would this be a better natural angle keyboard?
Post by: nmur on Fri, 20 January 2017, 00:10:20
the greatest increase in typing relaxation with my ergodox came from tenting it.

a split keyboard is much more flexible when it comes to wrist angle and wrist rotation
Title: Re: Would this be a better natural angle keyboard?
Post by: tp4tissue on Fri, 20 January 2017, 15:46:18
I think there is some great confusion in the keyboard community..

YES this is better than the standard staggered rows..

HOWEVER,  even with layout change, it has little to no ergonomic value, because the WRIST angle is the bottleneck..

If you have a split layout without tenting,  then you haven't improved keyboarding's largest deficit, which is wrist comfort.
Title: Re: Would this be a better natural angle keyboard?
Post by: Yotaka on Fri, 20 January 2017, 21:14:17
I think there is some great confusion in the keyboard community..

YES this is better than the standard staggered rows..

HOWEVER,  even with layout change, it has little to no ergonomic value, because the WRIST angle is the bottleneck..

If you have a split layout without tenting,  then you haven't improved keyboarding's largest deficit, which is wrist comfort.

Yes, you made a solid point. We do consider the tenting, and might make a tenting version in the future.
But for this standard version, we wanna produce a ergonomic keyboard for general users, that is why we keep most the layout and functional keys in the old ways and old position, so they can get easier to adapt on this.
Title: Re: Would this be a better natural angle keyboard?
Post by: hoggy on Sat, 21 January 2017, 00:07:06
I think there are some quite nice elements to the design. 

Would you consider splitting the space bar in two, one for space and one for enter?

It would be pretty cool if you could implement 'shift and space' so the space bar is a dual role key, shift if used with another key, but space on key up if no other key is pressed. 

I'd buy one for sure.
Title: Re: Would this be a better natural angle keyboard?
Post by: Yotaka on Sat, 21 January 2017, 01:57:13
I think there are some quite nice elements to the design. 

Would you consider splitting the space bar in two, one for space and one for enter?

It would be pretty cool if you could implement 'shift and space' so the space bar is a dual role key, shift if used with another key, but space on key up if no other key is pressed. 

I'd buy one for sure.


Thank you.

And actually there are so many people talking about split its spacebar, so now we are considering to split the spacebar and put the shift and Ctrl in the center(picture shows below). We will choose either standard or split later, depends on which one that most people prefer.

[attachimg=1]




Title: Re: Would this be a better natural angle keyboard?
Post by: Data on Sat, 21 January 2017, 19:49:23
It's a nice idea and appears to be well executed. It doesn't look like there'd be enough hand separation for me, but I'd have to try it out to be sure.
Title: Re: Would this be a better natural angle keyboard?
Post by: Yotaka on Sun, 22 January 2017, 21:29:25
It's a nice idea and appears to be well executed. It doesn't look like there'd be enough hand separation for me, but I'd have to try it out to be sure.

Thank You for giving this a try. You can really know how it feel when you get it on your hand.
Title: Re: Would this be a better natural angle keyboard?
Post by: hoggy on Mon, 23 January 2017, 12:21:36
If you increased the size 'north/south' then you could use standard key caps.  I'd guess that would make the board more desirable for the members here.
Title: Re: Would this be a better natural angle keyboard?
Post by: Yotaka on Mon, 23 January 2017, 20:59:35
If you increased the size 'north/south' then you could use standard key caps.  I'd guess that would make the board more desirable for the members here.

You mean bigger the size of F key row and the bottom row? Hmm, that's interesting. Might reduce the problem of "hard to get F row"?   Thank You, we might try to make it, see how it look at the design software first.
Title: Re: Would this be a better natural angle keyboard?
Post by: Yotaka on Thu, 02 February 2017, 20:36:39
the greatest increase in typing relaxation with my ergodox came from tenting it.

a split keyboard is much more flexible when it comes to wrist angle and wrist rotation

Yea. That's what we are going to do, we will have split keyboard later, especially for gamer.
Title: Re: WOULD THIS BE A BETTER NATURAL ANGLE KEYBOARD?
Post by: Yotaka on Tue, 14 February 2017, 02:09:01


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