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?

  • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
    1·
    8 months ago

    1. Yes, but not by that much. I learned to touch type on a regular keyboard and switched to an ortholinear recently, it takes me a couple of seconds to switch back and forth but it’s mostly painless.

    2. Yes, and no. I learned colemak when I decided to learn touch typing, and I think that that’s the best opportunity to learn because you’re already learning as new way to type so a new layout comes easy. That being said I question whether that was a good decision, I don’t know how much of the improvements I see in ergonomics come from the layout and how much is from touch typing.

    3. I don’t think it would make a difference, you’ll still have to adapt to switch back and forth between ortholinear and staggered.