Shift Happens: a Book About Keyboards

53 8 4 years ago

kfogel• 4 years ago

WANT. Marcin Wichary has been researching everything about keyboards, everything adjacent to everything about keyboards, and everything adjacent to everything adjacent to everything about keyboards for over a year now. I've been looking forward to this book ever since I first heard that he was working on it.

jjcm• 4 years ago

Marcin’s depth of knowledge of any and everything keyboards is legendary, but he’s also a delightful human being in person.

I have the pleasure of working with him over at Figma and he’s legitimately one of the friendliest people there. He has that warm excitement of someone truly passionate about these things - it’s a delight to talk with him about all things type since his love for the craft is truly contagious.

intrasight• 4 years ago

Nice. I signed up for the preorder.

The first keyboard I used was an IBM Selectric on which I learned to type in a high school typing class. Great keyboard. Another aspiring software geek suggested the class. I am so glad I took his advice.

The next keyboard I used was the DEC VT100. Again, a great keyboard.

The third keyboard I used was on my Mac 128K. An okay keyboard.

The fourth keyboard I used was an IBM Model M. An outstanding keyboard. I am typing on it now ;)

jdlyga• 4 years ago

There’s three schools of thoughts about computer keyboards.

1). People who don’t care about keyboards and just use whatever is in front of them.

2). People who love mechanical keyboards with big clicky keys and a medium-high amount of travel.

3). People who love scissor switch laptop style keyboards with flat, clicky and responsive keys with low travel.

justsomehnguy• 4 years ago

Somewhere along them are two other types of people:

those who mess with the layout for no apparent reason

those who wants to take a long, long talk with the first group. Especially after losing the content of the clipboard for Nth time, because someone had a bright idea of placing PrtScr in the place of ContextMenu key

komali2• 4 years ago

I think you're missing 4). the obsessed, which can be broken down into

4).A: are building keyboards from kits and programming custom layouts 4).B: are spending hundreds on ebay for prior-era keyboards, or, on modern rebuilds of them

lukas099• 4 years ago

I think there are a lot of people who don’t know they care but actually do and would get really upset if you placed anything out of the ordinary in front of them.

jxf• 4 years ago

Putting aside the book itself, the website is an excellent masterclass in marketing. I don't think I've ever seen a book launch announcement page that is this impressive in its appreciation of subtlety, nuance, and the user's engagement.

Shift Happens: a Book About Keyboards

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