May 26, 2005

Do Your Hands Hurt When You Type? Get A New Keyboard

The last time I used the traditional flat keyboards that come with your computer was MANY years ago, as for years I've used Microsoft's ergonomic natural keyboard The pain in my hand left and I can now type for hours.

Associated Press reporter, Peter Svensson says it does not help reduce pain (I think it does) but does review a new crop of ergonomic keyboards.

He writes I decided this was a good time to test a new generation of ergonomic keyboards that break a rule of keyboard design you've probably never thought about.

Take a look at your keyboard. See how the rows are shifted so they don't line up in columns? That's a relic from the time the keys were attached to the levers of a mechanical typewriter. They had to be offset so the levers didn't collide, but that design serves no function on an electronic keyboard. It persists even on most "ergonomic" keyboards.

The offset rows cause a lot of unnecessary finger and wrist movement, according to TypeMatrix, maker of one of the keyboards I tried. Their keyboard, the EZ-Reach 2030 ($110 from the TypeMatrix Web site), has none of the standard features of other ergonomic keyboards: it's not contoured or split. In fact, it's so flat and small it looks like it might have been ripped from a laptop. The most unusual feature is that the keys line up in a grid.

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