Do you fully depress keys?

[djones]

I've recently starting developing the skill of not depressing keys fully to register keys on my cherry brown board(s).  I never really developed this skill because the HHKB isn't very suited for it (b/c it' not tactile), and I don't like the buckling springs/white alps boards because they're too stiff, so when I use brown cherry boards I naturally banged at the keys.  I've found that by not bottoming out the keys and depressing the only enough to register the keys, I can type a little bit faster and I get less fatigue on my left hand/arms (which is the side I have more RSI problems).

However, I'm starting to think the cherry browns isn't the right switch for this style of typing because... well I'm not really sure why-- I think it's because it's not tactile enough, but I've tried the blue cherries but wasn't too impressed. Or it could be because the "distance to key registration" is too far or something... Or it could be because the cherry browns are just too heavy? What do you think?

Do you do fully depress the keys on your board? On which board? What type of key switch is best for this style of typing?

[CX23882]

With my G80-3000 (Cherry MX Blue), I just tap the switches so that they activate.  But I still find that I can bottom out on occasion so I think more practice is required for me.

With a Cherry Cymotion (rubber dome), I can tap the keys so that they activate and rarely bottom them out.

With a Dell USB keyboard (crap rubber dome), I HAVE to bottom out for the keys to reliably trigger.  Moving from either of the Cherry keyboards to the Dell results in lots of missed key presses.

[lam47]

Theoretically it should be a lot easier to do this on a linear switch than a tactile one.
With a tactile switch like the cherry blue as your finger approaches the click and activation the key builds in resistance. When the switch activates that resistance is diminished and naturally your finger falls through the rest of the travel.

I would of thought, (and personally find) that not bottoming the key would be harder on your muscles as they are doing a lot more by resisting the drop after the click. However heavily bottoming the keys is jarring to the ol finger bones and could lead to problems too. Finding the correct balance is best for hand health.

Or of course use non tactile and don't bottom them

[iMav]

One of the points of having tactile key switches is to provide feedback so that you can type without bottoming out...or, at the very least, without slamming your fingers to the bottom of the keystroke at full force.

I would say that this is easiest on the buckling springs...but I also rarely bottom out on brown and blue cherries (you just have to "flick" your fingers at those keys to actuate them.

Even if you do bottom out on a tactile switch, you should at least be getting enough feedback so that you are slowing up past the point of actuation (and not accelerating to the bottom of the keystroke...which can be damaging to you over the long haul)

[lam47]

Physics would go against that but I believe you of course.
I guess its all about developing the correct muscular response to the release after the click.

[bhtooefr]

I actually find it kinda difficult to switch between tactical keyboards (even just different Model Ms,) because the actuation point is different for every one, and I often bottom out, or miss keystrokes, because I'm not used to it.

[lam47]

One of the points of having tactile key switches is to provide feedback so that you can type without bottoming out...or, at the very least, without slamming your fingers to the bottom of the keystroke at full force.

I would say that this is easiest on the buckling springs...but I also rarely bottom out on brown and blue cherries (you just have to "flick" your fingers at those keys to actuate them.

Even if you do bottom out on a tactile switch, you should at least be getting enough feedback so that you are slowing up past the point of actuation (and not accelerating to the bottom of the keystroke...which can be damaging to you over the long haul)

Just been messing with a switch and you are 100% right. The tactile click has only a tiny bit more resistance than the travel following. The travel before the click is very soft by comparison.
It seems to have a progressive spring rate.
This is blue cherries anyway.
So yeah Physics on your side humbleness on mine

[Korbin]

I don't bottom out the keys at my cherry boards either. Cherry switches are perfect for this kind of typing. I guess thats why they recommend cherry switches for gaming.

I did notice that after I typed like this on my cherry boards I started to pick up the same habit on my HHKB even though the switch feels less "linear".

[iMav]

I do bottom out on short throw keys...like the black cherry ML's and the keys on the M4-1's.  But it's more of a light tap on these keys...so it's nothing like jamming your fingers, full force, into the mush that is the bottom of a keystroke on your typical Dell keyboard.

[wellington1869]

I do bottom out on every board I use. The only switches I think I could get used to not bottoming on, would be the white alps. I bottom out on everything else though. I suppose its bad form but I'm too used to it. Even with a click I rely more on the bottoming out feedback to tell me the switch has been pushed.

[Chloe]

I find Cherry ML switches a little easier to not bottom out on compared to brown MX, they feel a bit more tactile to me. I don't bottom out often on either and it makes such a difference to my typing experience.

I can't bear to type on rubber dome or laptop keyboards now. They feel so wrong, partly because they actuate at the bottom of the stroke.

I find it harder to not bottom out on linear switches because there is no tactile feedback. In a way these feel more of an effort because I am trying to listen for how far I've pressed the key. It is not enough to only see new characters on the screen.

[djones]

One of the points of having tactile key switches is to provide feedback so that you can type without bottoming out...or, at the very least, without slamming your fingers to the bottom of the keystroke at full force.

Yea, I understand that, but I always thought that this was more applicable to the white alps (which has a very strong tactile-ness and an almost immediate actuation) than the keyboards I seem to like (browns, hhkb, thinkpads, etc).

For buckling or blue, I'd think it'd be a bit awkward since the distance to actuation is about half the distance to the bottom, once you click and register the key, you're only ~1mm from the bottom.

I did notice that after I typed like this on my cherry boards I started to pick up the same habit on my HHKB even though the switch feels less "linear".

I wonder how you manage this because with the HHKB, if you press hard enough to depress the keys at all, it bottoms out with almost no further force.

[wellington1869]

 I always thought that this was more applicable to the white alps (which has a very strong tactile-ness and an almost immediate actuation) than the keyboards I seem to like (browns, hhkb, thinkpads, etc).

I thought this too. White alps is prolly the only board where not bottoming out is a realistic option for me. The actuation is immediate and the feedback cant be ignored. On nearly every other board including buckling springs I do bottom out and am not comfortable if I dont. On White alps, typing is really like the sensation of "floating".

[xsphat]

I've tried the whole not bottoming out thing in the past but I feel like such a priss I just can't go on. So I end up typing the way I like to and it suits me just fine. I find that I don't bottom out at full force anymore, so maybe some of this sunk in.

[alpslover]

I thought this too. White alps is prolly the only board where not bottoming out is a realistic option for me. The actuation is immediate and the feedback cant be ignored.

i find i can't help but bottom out on alps click tactiles.  because of the force necessary to get past the tactile point, and the way the force curve falls off after it, the keys feel like they 'drop away' and it becomes difficult to not bottom them out.  if i consciously try to feather them, i end up typing much slower and making more mistakes.

[wellington1869]

i find i can't help but bottom out on alps click tactiles.  because of the force necessary to get past the tactile point, and the way the force curve falls off after it, the keys feel like they 'drop away' and it becomes difficult to not bottom them out.  if i consciously try to feather them, i end up typing much slower and making more mistakes.

thats interesting, thats exactly the problem I have with Buckling springs when I try not bottoming with them. The initial force is way too high and the resistance drops away after that.

i havent spent a lot of time with white alps (just tried them out in a store for about 10 minutes) so maybe that would happen for me with them too. But when I was trying them out I thought the initial actuation force was much, much lighter than BS. (I guess thats why I could envision not bottoming). In the store anyway I wasnt bottoming much when typing at a fast clip. My fingers really felt like they were "floating on air". (in a good way).

[Eclairz]

i find i can't help but bottom out on alps click tactiles.  because of the force necessary to get past the tactile point, and the way the force curve falls off after it, the keys feel like they 'drop away' and it becomes difficult to not bottom them out.  if i consciously try to feather them, i end up typing much slower and making more mistakes.

I'm with alpslover I will bottom out an alps almost automatically due to the nature of the switch's tension.

For cherrys it has usually got nothing to do with the key switch type whether it is black blue or brown, the more important thing is what type of mood i'm in, if im really at it i just love bottoming out the keys just to here the noise it makes, if im calm i start to float over the keys and contrary to belief i think its easier to float over blacks since it has higher tension throughout the keystroke, whereas browns are so light that bottoming them out is alot easier than you'd think.

So in this sense the blues are the most difficult to bottom out since i get the machine gun sound while typing without the need to bottoming them out.

ML Cherry keyboards are heavy in tension like blacks but also give way half way through the stroke and it feels more like black and white than mx browns. In this sense ML Cherrys are probably the more clearer type of tactile switches.

One cherry keyswitch i have yet to try is the white mx cherry switches which are basically brown switches with a high tension, I guess this would contend with the cherry ML for the best quiet cherry tactile switch.

Concentration and mood is key to floating over the board or crashing into it, just have fun and avoid rsi

[wellington1869]

ya my mood affects my typing style a lot, too.