Re: Staggered or not ???

I'll accept your Shenanigans if your wrists are parallel to each  
other when you type; that is, if you sit with your elbows together. I  
can't do that, it makes my shoulders hurt.

I'm rather wide, so my wrists lie at roughly a 45 degree angle to  
each other when I type. For me, a columnar layout would only work if  
it was split at a 45 degree angle in the middle. Otherwise columns  
make me do _more_ of that "horizontal jumping" (relative to my  
fingers) that you dislike so much.

Marcus

On Mar 14, 2007, at 5:12 PM, Keith Ratliff wrote:

>  "The stagger is important in that you can reach multiple letters  
> with the
> same finger. Moving those letters directly under a finger reduces
> efficiency."
>
> I'm calling Shenanigans.
>
> 1) In a "box" (columnar) formation, a finger has 9 keys next to it.  
> In a
> staggered, a finger has 7 keys next to it.
> 2) Proper typing skills teach that you shouldn't be jumping  
> horizontal rows
> anyway.
>
> --Keith
>
> On 3/14/07, Yatin Sethi <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>   Hi guys,
>>
>> I have always been reading on the staggered and columnar layouts but
>> haven't
>> got any better clarity.
>> There are discussions to support both the viewpoints. Few quotes:
>>
>> In favor of Staggered layout:
>> "The stagger is important in that you can reach multiple letters  
>> with the
>> same finger. Moving those letters directly under a finger reduces
>> efficiency."
>>
>> If the staggering of keys are supposed to have some benefit to  
>> your finger
>> movements, why is it then that the whole keyboard is staggered the  
>> same
>> way?
>> Doesn't it stand to reason that one side should be staggered the  
>> other
>> way?
>> After all, we don't have two right hands...
>>
>> Against Staggered layout:
>> "Today's keyboards descend in a straight line from yesterday's  
>> mechanical
>> typewriters. The reason the keys are staggered is because it gives  
>> the
>> typewriter engineers more space to place their levers. It too was
>> specifically designed to avoid the collision of the levers."
>>
>> "The staggered key arrangement is a bad thing because it forces your
>> fingers
>> to do a lot of diagonal reaching. When you strike the key down  
>> your finger
>> is thus in a particularly vulnerable position and at a mechanical
>> disadvantage resulting in more strain than is necessary."
>>
>> My only confusion that still prevails:
>> Which one is better: staggered or non-staggered .. and WHY ??
>>
>> We do see many new keyboards coming up with non-staggered layouts
>> (Typematrix 2030) and many other which are still following the  
>> staggered
>> layout. Any suggestions guys ??
>>
>> Regards'
>>
>> Yatin.
>>
>> --
>> Yatin Sethi
>> www.yatinsethi.com
>>
>> On 3/14/07, Chuck Esterbrook  
>> <[email protected]<Chuck.Esterbrook%40gmail.com>>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Pretty cool stuff, but too bad the Apple keyboards are still  
>>> staggered
>>> instead of columnar...
>>>
>>
>> On 3/13/07, nkmcalli <[email protected] <nkmcalli% 
>> 40yahoo.com><nkmcalli%40yahoo.com>> wrote:
>>>> Some follow-up about dvorak laptops. Check out these pix on Flickr.
>>>> It's step by step photos of a person moving the keys on their Apple
>>>> MacBook.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/69631394@N00/tags/keyboard/
>>>>
>>>
>>
>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
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