Hey there,
I’ve been doing a lot of typing lately on my shitty old Compaq keyboard (it has a good build quality, but keys require relatively much force to be pressed) and I experience some discomfort in my fingers.
Would anybody suggest any specific keyboard or keyboard type that would help me ease the strain? I know absolutely nothing about keyboards lol!
Perhaps try Dvorak style? Once you relearn how to type it’s faster and more comfortable for fingers IMHO
That’s a good advice. I picked Colemak, though, we’ll see how it goes.
ColemakDH is my main rec since it has a lot of learning material online. If I had more time and could do it again, I’d probably go with Canary.
For a rec for keyboard, look into a Lily58 or Sofie for something if you are willing to build you own. You can find shops online that will build for you though.
Split column stagger has been a real game changer for me. I personally use a smaller board than what I me ruined but when you go smaller it gets weird and probably isn’t for everyone.
This is my first time actually learning about mechanical keyboards and I will most likely buy something that does not require macgyvering.
I am handy enough to make a simple wooden box, but that’s it - I never even got into soldering. It would be nice to learn something new in a spare time, but I’m not sure if that would be a good starting point. What do you think?
Honestly, if you don’t want to go down the rabbit hole(and please don’t… send help) then prebuilt is fine. If you aren’t that into tinkering, QMK and the other firmwares for custom boards can be a bit daunting.
As for soldering, I went from complete shit at it to decent enough that my last 2 builds went pretty smooth. I actually jacked up my first build from how bad I soldered it that it wasn’t salvageable. I just mark it up as cost of entry at this point.
As for a board to recommend though, I still think for long typing and such, look into split column stagger. The split allows you to have your hands, arms, and shoulders at more natural positions. The column stagger takes a bit of getting used to but once you do there is really no going back. Our fingers move up and down better than laterally so it really makes sense to me that column stagger should really be the default keyboard design.
For online stores, check out: https://falba.tech/, https://beekeeb.com/, and maybe https://keeb.io/ for some examples. (not affiliated with any of these stores btw)
Also shout out to [email protected]
Oh and take your time looking into it. It really is a rabbit hole. If you can manage it, find something you like and stick with it and get out while you can still afford food.