I just got a ZSA Moonlander and I’ve been… on an adventure with it. Turns out my typing technique was total garbage so I’ve had to essentially start re-learning how to touch type. That, plus the ortho layout, plus the other ways my layout is now changed (special chars) has made the learning curve feel steep.

Going through all this has made me wonder some things about the long-term, and so I was hoping to lean on folks with more experience for some answers.

  1. Does learning to touch type on ortho (or a new layout w/ thumb clusters and such) mess with your ability to touch type on normal staggered boards? I still use my laptop when I travel and there is no shot I’ll be lugging around an ergo board.

  2. Is it worth going crazy with it and trying to learn workman or colemak at the same time? On some level I feel like it might not be that much harder, since it feels like I’m re-learning to touch type anyway.

  3. Would it be better to start with a keyboard that’s just split, but otherwise the same (Instead of ortho and alternative layout etc)? And maybe later move on to a crazier layout?

  • jrbaconcheeseEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago
    1. Absolutely; I type for shit on my laptop now, but I also switched to Colemak-DH in the last year. My keeb is an Atreus so I just take it with me now. It is totally worth taking it with me.
    2. I did it in phases. It took some time to get used to ortho, but while I was learning then I started moving individual keys around. Once I learned about whole new layouts, I moved to Colemak then DH. I’d recommend just switching now.
    3. I just went whole hog with a nice board, ortho, and new layout within about two months. In my past experience, the split was the least difficult to get used to.