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hamlettaI'm trying something drastic.
I’ve had lots of problems with my wrists earlier this year (carpal tunnel issues that may require a surgery sometime in the future). Recently, this has escalated (or maybe it’s totally unrelated) when I developed severe pain in my shoulders. I’m trying to have it diagnosed because it maybe anything from tendonitis to fibromyalgia. I’ve had some blood test done and trying to get an MRI so hopefully they’ll figure out what it is.
In the meantime, I dug out my Kinesis split keyboard to stop things getting worse. I love the keyboard but I stopped using it because, even though comfortable, somehow it made me type slower. See, I never learned to type. Growing up in Poland that just wasn’t something we did. I taught myself to type only when I started to work, but I’ve always been very slow.
So now, with the pain and the need to use a keyboard that makes me even slower, AND hearing *somebody* (you know who you are) mention they type 110 wpm… Then, serendipity: I stumbled on this blog post from Tobias Buckell about his experiments with keyboards and keyboard layouts. The $300 keyboard he’s using looks positively alien, though I’m not sure it’s that much better than the split keyboard I have. But I got really intrigued about shifting to a different layout.
I decided to give Colemak a try. I can immediately see how much easier it is on my wrists; it’s miles more natural on the fingers. But damn, converting is super hard. I'm doing exercises, but I first have to unlearn the old layout... After two days, my typing speed is... 10 words per minute. Honestly, it takes 5 mins to type up a tweet... I tried to participate in a slack convo and it was hard…
I’m really not sure if it's a good idea or if I'm just wasting my time. BUT I've decided I'll keep up with the exercises till the end of the week. if by then I can't type any faster than I'm going to reassess. Updates forthcoming!
I’ve had lots of problems with my wrists earlier this year (carpal tunnel issues that may require a surgery sometime in the future). Recently, this has escalated (or maybe it’s totally unrelated) when I developed severe pain in my shoulders. I’m trying to have it diagnosed because it maybe anything from tendonitis to fibromyalgia. I’ve had some blood test done and trying to get an MRI so hopefully they’ll figure out what it is.
In the meantime, I dug out my Kinesis split keyboard to stop things getting worse. I love the keyboard but I stopped using it because, even though comfortable, somehow it made me type slower. See, I never learned to type. Growing up in Poland that just wasn’t something we did. I taught myself to type only when I started to work, but I’ve always been very slow.
So now, with the pain and the need to use a keyboard that makes me even slower, AND hearing *somebody* (you know who you are) mention they type 110 wpm… Then, serendipity: I stumbled on this blog post from Tobias Buckell about his experiments with keyboards and keyboard layouts. The $300 keyboard he’s using looks positively alien, though I’m not sure it’s that much better than the split keyboard I have. But I got really intrigued about shifting to a different layout.
I decided to give Colemak a try. I can immediately see how much easier it is on my wrists; it’s miles more natural on the fingers. But damn, converting is super hard. I'm doing exercises, but I first have to unlearn the old layout... After two days, my typing speed is... 10 words per minute. Honestly, it takes 5 mins to type up a tweet... I tried to participate in a slack convo and it was hard…
I’m really not sure if it's a good idea or if I'm just wasting my time. BUT I've decided I'll keep up with the exercises till the end of the week. if by then I can't type any faster than I'm going to reassess. Updates forthcoming!
no subject
Date: 2019-11-08 02:25 am (UTC)I'm going to see if there's any place here where I could try it...
no subject
Date: 2019-11-08 02:34 am (UTC)