Ask HN: Re-learn home row/proper/more ergonomic typing fundamentals?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32209378

5 12 4 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I have a weird claw-type typing method where I use the majority of my left hand and mostly my thumb/pointer on my right hand. I have a solid WPM and low error rate but one thing I was informed was that I am very heavy on my key presses, even with a mechanical keyboard (Cherry MX Browns).

Has anyone successfully re-molded their typing habits to be a bit more ergonomic?

OrangeMonkey• 4 years ago

I lost both of my shoulders in an accident a long time ago. Couldn’t even drive for 9 months and years of pt.

Putting my hands together on a regular keyboard wasn’t possible. I bought a split keyboard where I could move them as far apart as I needed and it worked great.

One minor problem - I found that after all these years I’ve been using the wrong fingers on a few keys. Oh the pain it was to break that habit - but I did and I feel like I’m faster and better for it.

Long story short - break your shoulders and it will probably work out fine for your keyboarding skills.

slipperlobster3• 4 years ago

My goal is to buy a split keyboard - I currently have a Gen1 Das and a generic mechanical keyboard but my team lead mentioned I was typing like he used to (heavy, deliberate) which caused carpal tunnel and switching to a split keyboard helped.

downrightmike• 4 years ago

vimtutor

slipperlobster3• 4 years ago

I know (and use) vim regularly, it's more typing ergonomics.

yuppie_scum• 4 years ago

This was something I actually worked on during the pandemic as I put together a standing desk, better ergonomics, etc. I had been a pretty bad hunt and peck typer, especially with my right hand. (Left hand was maybe more accustomed to staying put due to WASD).

For correction, I think it has come down to making a conscious effort to position my hands correctly and not move my wrist/elbows. It was slow WPM for at least a couple days, but I quickly built confidence and have really gotten more efficient. I sometimes slip back to my old style but I can usually correct that pretty quickly.

For some reason it’s very satisfying when you do start typing correctly, almost like playing the piano or something.

slipperlobster3• 4 years ago

What's weird is I'm not a hunt-and-pecker, I've got some weird claw grip thing going on and I can still type ~95+wpm with minimal errors.

I think I just need to consciously force myself to reset to home row (or something). Hearing someone else go through it definitely helps.

AnimalMuppet• 4 years ago

I used to type very heavily (due to some really stiff keyboards years ago). I have had some success at re-training myself to type more lightly, but a bit too late. I have a bit of arthritis starting to develop in at least one finger.

So, yeah. Learn to type more lightly, or you may pay the price.

How did I re-train myself? By sometimes consciously focusing on typing with a lighter touch. And by noticing sometimes that my hands hurt, and using that to trigger focusing on typing more lightly.

runjake• 4 years ago

I learned how to properly touch type in my 40s. I’ve been programming and using computers since I was about 8.

I’m really glad I learned how to touch type, despite being quite a quick hunt and pecker.

So yes, it can be done. Learn the same way everyone else learns it.

kadoban• 4 years ago

Yeah. I learned better typing ergonomics by switching to dvorak layout.

Something in the brain keeps them separate. I was able to basically start over with good form. To this day, when I type in qwerty, I hunt-and-peck, when I type dvorak I use proper form and technique. I _cannot_ use hunt and peck in dvorak or proper form in qwerty, it's quite odd.

axyz• 4 years ago

Using a split keyboard helped a lot in that sense, even though when writing in a hurry is still hard to not go back to some level to wrong habits. I think it helps to find occasions where typing speed is not a must (e.g. anything that is not real time chat) and accept the speed loss while getting the muscle memory build up.

What i am really struggling, and maybe somebody has some advice here, is touch typing for programming. Writing words is not a problem, but many frequent symbols are so far away from the home row that even with a small keyboard are hard to reach and find precisely (especially (,),-,_,+,=,&,$,@).

Do you stay on the home row and stretch your finger like crazy? Or maybe temporarily move the hand to the upper row? Also for vim users... Never understood how to deal with auto brackets/quotes: when you get to the point where you need to go past the closing one, either you have to type it defeating the time saving of auto-insertion, or you need to do some kind of dance like using arrows or something like ESC + A

goosedragons• 4 years ago

"Proper" typing as I was taught had you stretch. The right pinky is supposed to handle stuff like ")", "[" etc. I think this probably fine in non-programming uses where those keys are pretty rarely used but I feel like it has resulted in me getting pain in my right hand during typing. I now use a Kinesis Advantage 2 and have programmed it so common symbols are on the keypad layer on much easier to hit keys. I essentially have a "symbol shift" and it's something I wish more keyboards and laptops would have. This has pretty much eliminated my pain problems.

ravoori• 4 years ago

I found klavaro to be useful for purposes of learning touch typing. Never got past 60wpm, but this is good enough in my job

Ask HN: Re-learn home row/proper/more ergonomic typing fundamentals?

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