Re: OT: clicky keyboards
On Dec 7, 2007, at 10:27 PM, Nate Duehr wrote:
Humbug. If you learned hot to type *properly* on a real IBM
Selectric (hint: you never pushed the key down past the "click",
certainly never to the stops), using a clicky keyboard today won't
cause you carpal tunnel any faster than a squish-box typed on
improperly will. The click was meant to simulate the action of the
typewriter ball smacking the paper for those of us who learned how
to type on typewriters.
Right, that's the real trick. The "click" is supposed to cue your
brain to stop increasing pressure on that key and start pressing the
next one. All good keyboards have some kind of tactile feedback
before the key hits its stop; the IBM "clicky" keyboards have a
sharper and more defined version of this than most.
I noticed the importance of this pretty early when I realized how
much faster I could type on an IBM keyboard than on a Apple or
Commodore. The keyboards on the latter two machines had no tactile
feedback -- the keys just bottomed out. (Although neither was as bad
as the rubber "chiclet" keys on the PC Jr. ;) )
To start with, real speed typists raise their hands off the board
(the long "wrist rests" on most modern keyboards, especially
laptops, simply didn't exist on typewriters -- people also didn't
use them on their laps!). Incorrect technique is far more "risky"
than using a "clicky" keyboard.
Uh huh. I'd go farther and say that those "wrist rests" they sell
for desktop keyboards are snake oil. Actually, they're worse than
snake oil. They actually encourage carpel tunnel syndrome, by
tempting people to place their wrists at a sharp angle. Your wrists
should be as straight as possible while typing.
I had wrist problems for a while, but it wasn't the fault of any
piece of hardware I was using -- it was my own lousy posture.
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