In general, the QWERTY layout, while undoubtedly suboptimal, doesn’t seem as bad as I had thought previously. But most people, and most programmers even, don’t type enough that switching would result in a significant productivity boost (80% confidence). Dvorak or Colemak, QWERTY seems somewhat slower for typing on the margin (80% confidence). ergonomics of design) and posture/positioning both seem more important (70% confidence).Īs for productivity, compared to e.g. I think key layout is a minor part of the ergonomic harms of keyboard use keyboard type (i.e. I still think it’s a risk, but not as large as I did before, though with lots of uncertainty (80% confidence interval would be 2%-20% chance of developing keyboard RSI over a lifetime for the aforementioned target group). I had a pretty strong prior, based on what I’ve heard from other programmers and on my own experience, that it often causes RSI.
#Bad typing microsoft ergonomic keyboard update
The evidence has made me update towards the risk of developing serious RSI from keyboard use being small. My current model on the RSI risk is something like this. For people who have disabilities that affect their typing, I assume special considerations, of which I know little, apply. For people who don’t touch-type, QWERTY is probably fine. the loss of an arm or that sort of thing). My target group here is touch-typing office workers, typing mainly in English, without disabilities that significantly impede their typing (e.g. I am in no way an expert on this I estimate I spent roughly 15-25 hours researching and taking notes, so there is still a lot that I’m uncertain about. But beyond reading popular articles about the topic, I never really looked into the evidence on key layouts and ergonomics and productivity – until now, that is!īefore we get to the good stuff, a word of caution. I have stuck with Colemak since then and have liked it and occasionally even recommended it to friends and colleagues.
This grab bag of interventions worked, my RSI got better and, though it still flares up sometimes, I now have it under control. This situation being obviously untenable, I took action: I purchased an ergonomic keyboard (Microsoft Sculpt), remapped shift to the space bar when pressed in combination with another key, started doing hand/wrist stretches and switched from typing on the QWERTY layout to Colemak. Some six or so years ago, not long after I had started working as a programmer, I developed a bad case of repetitive strain injury (RSI) and for a while couldn’t use my left hand for typing, but had to rely on my right hand and dictation. How Bad Is QWERTY, Really? A Review of the Literature, such as It Is
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