Stroke-Friendly Keyboard
I know it will get better with practice, but my typing annoys me!
I usually hit the right key, or one that a spell-checker will correct, but it is the caps lock, shift and control keys that are the problem. For example :-
- I sometimes hit the caps lock instead of shift and get everything in caps. That is very rude in an e-mail and one has to have standards doesn’t one!
- I do a lot of shift characters by using two fingers of the right hand, rather than shift with the left hand and and the character with the right. But thinking back, I’ve always done this to a certain extent, but really I shouldn’t as it’s ignoring getting the left hand back in good form.
- I sometimes, hold the shift down with my left hand and not release it for the next characters. So I end up having to retype a whole phrase or sentence.
- But the major problem is that as the control and shift are so close together, I sometimes use control instead of shift. As control with a character has a meaning in most programs like Word or Internet Explorer,I tend to get in a mess, with all sorts of unwanted actions being carried out.
These problems are caused because the keys are so close together on my laptop, but even on a 2005-vintage Dell keyboard, I get the same problems.
I thought about disabling the control stroke, but that would mean I couldn’t use control-C and control-V for cut and paste. Old habits die hard.
How about the shift, control and old keys being something like piano keys on the edge of the keyboard.
Has anybody got a better solution?
The Anonymous Widower 
I dont use a laptop, I use a desktop. I have similar problems, but since I bought an ergonomic, curved keyboard, I do it a lot less.
http://tinyurl.com/2v4nvru is a similiar one, I think it is a later model. YOungest daughter has one which she plugs into a USB port on her laptop. When I am using a different computer such as the one at church, with a normal keyboard, I find I really struggle with both comfort and accuracy.
Liz P
Comment by Liz P | June 21, 2010 |
I’ve never liked curved keyboards. My late son was a great fan and I found his computers so difficult to work.
Remember I’m a programmer by training and very pedantic, so case is very important to me and must be right. As I said in the post, I use control and all sorts of keys for various actions too.
Comment by AnonW | June 21, 2010 |
It took me about a week to get properly used to the curved keyboard, but if you are used to programming, and the stuff you are typing is programme languages rather than conventional text, I can imagine it must be quite difficult.
Mousing is more of a problem for me – both hands of mine are affected so switching hands wouldnt improve things, but pre-accident I used to do a lot on programs such as Photoshop, which require very good hand control. I dont get on with a laser type mouse at all, I use a wheel mouse, but still have trouble with anything fine, especially the lasso tool. Although that said, I dont know who is doing the cut outs for Manchester Evening News right now but they are appallingly badly done!
Comment by Liz P | June 21, 2010 |
Mice aren’t a problem! I’ve had some interesting replies in a programming forum, but what appears to be needed is a detailed keyboard driver that does whta is needed.
I’ll drearch the Internet for some shareware.
Comment by AnonW | June 21, 2010 |
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