Experience of Chorded Keyboards ?
October 5, 2011 8:35 PM Subscribe
Anyone have experience of using a Chorded Keyboard in place of a conventional QWERTY type keyboard ?
A keyset or chorded keyboard (also called a chorded keyset, chord keyboard or chording keyboard) is a computer input device that allows the user to enter characters or commands formed by pressing several keys together, like playing a "chord" on a piano
I'm interested in these devices to give my wrists a rest from time to time or maybe even all the time if the experience was a good one.
If you use or have used one would you let me know what you think ? Also specific model recommendations would be good.
I'm a software developer so strange key combinations are an important part of my keyboarding life.
I am able to touch-type at a reasonable rate in QWERTY-land and being able to that, after some learning, would be important to me.
A keyset or chorded keyboard (also called a chorded keyset, chord keyboard or chording keyboard) is a computer input device that allows the user to enter characters or commands formed by pressing several keys together, like playing a "chord" on a piano
I'm interested in these devices to give my wrists a rest from time to time or maybe even all the time if the experience was a good one.
If you use or have used one would you let me know what you think ? Also specific model recommendations would be good.
I'm a software developer so strange key combinations are an important part of my keyboarding life.
I am able to touch-type at a reasonable rate in QWERTY-land and being able to that, after some learning, would be important to me.
I'm a big programmer with big hands, and I use one of these. It's not chorded, but the relatively wide separation between the left and right sides, the straight columns in which the keys are arranged, the fact that DEL/BACKSPACE/SPACE/RETURN are under your thumbs, and the overall shape of the board (wrist rests are essentially built-in) is quite comfortable. With normal keyboards I always feel like I'm imitating a squirrel or a T-Rex. Granted it ain't cheap.
posted by Rat Spatula at 6:20 AM on October 6, 2011
posted by Rat Spatula at 6:20 AM on October 6, 2011
I played around some with a Twiddler, oh, 12 years ago and had friends using them extensively doing wearable computer research. I can't recommend it; hard to learn, slow (40 wpm), and made my hand really hurt. Chords are exactly the wrong thing for RSI.
I can second the Kinesis recommendation if you are looking to give your wrists a break. The use of the thumbs is the big improvement, particular for chording with shift and ctrl.
posted by Nelson at 8:48 AM on October 6, 2011
I can second the Kinesis recommendation if you are looking to give your wrists a break. The use of the thumbs is the big improvement, particular for chording with shift and ctrl.
posted by Nelson at 8:48 AM on October 6, 2011
I have been touch typing for years, since elementary school when my handwriting was so bad my teachers let me use a computer to type up homework during class. I am a software developer, cutting code to earn my keep, thus text input devices are serious business.
After so many decades on classic keyboards, I finally decided a few weeks ago to start making the switch to using a chorded keyboard.
Why? The reasons are simple, a well designed chorded keyboard reduces hand strain and stress by reducing overall hand motion. In addition, some chorded keyboards have specialized ergonomic features. Most QWERTY keyboard were not designed with consideration of the properties of the human hand.
Once I decided to make the switch, I was left in the same boat you are now. The amount of information on the internet is minimal. Chorded Keyboards seem to be a serious niche.
The chorded keyboard seems to have its origins in the stenotype, though they are very different. A stenographer can input several syllables at once, even whole words. I thought about potentially looking for an older stenotype, but they are extremely expensive, and I am not really sure how well they interface with PCs.
As mentioned in the wiki article above, Douglas Englebart was probably the first person to think about the potential for using chorded keyboards as input devices. Unlike stenotypes, chords on many chorded keyboards correspond directly to keys on a keyboard, allowing the input of things like punctuation, and for things like the arrow keys, shift.
Douglas' vision can be seen in the third clip on this site, around 1:55 in.
His original device is five key. Also, it never really took off.
The microwriter, a five key handheld word processor, also existed for a time. The co-creator of the microwriter would go on to create CyKey, which looks quite nice. The chords seem somewhat intuitive.
There is also a company called ekatetra, which makes a twelve key device. I really like that this particular chorded keyboard can be used without any wrist pronation, it is held with just the fingers in a comfortable position.
There are others no doubt. The only chorded keyboard I have used is the BAT, by infogrip. The BAT is 7 keys, 3 for the thumb, one for each finger. The chords are logical. Within a few days I can type at about 10wpm. The really nice thing about the BAT, it is angled which reduces stress and hand fatigue.
The experience of chording is very different from typing. Chording feels more like playing a piano than typing on a keyboard, text and symbols flow from my finger tips, and my hands do not feel tired or worn. Now, disclaimer, I have had my BAT for a week, and this message was typed on a QWERTY keyboard(my speed for typing formatted proper, grammatical text is too low right now to be able to type something like this up in a few minutes).
Which brings me to my final point, chording takes work. The letters and symbols are not there right in front of you if, for example, you forget which number key shifts into an asterisk. With time and practice, accuracy will definitely come. I have one BAT for each hand, and I bet max typing speeds are probably really high IF someone puts in the time and effort to master the chords.
One last thing, the BAT is straight up USB, and requires no software to work.
posted by satori_movement at 9:19 AM on October 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
After so many decades on classic keyboards, I finally decided a few weeks ago to start making the switch to using a chorded keyboard.
Why? The reasons are simple, a well designed chorded keyboard reduces hand strain and stress by reducing overall hand motion. In addition, some chorded keyboards have specialized ergonomic features. Most QWERTY keyboard were not designed with consideration of the properties of the human hand.
Once I decided to make the switch, I was left in the same boat you are now. The amount of information on the internet is minimal. Chorded Keyboards seem to be a serious niche.
The chorded keyboard seems to have its origins in the stenotype, though they are very different. A stenographer can input several syllables at once, even whole words. I thought about potentially looking for an older stenotype, but they are extremely expensive, and I am not really sure how well they interface with PCs.
As mentioned in the wiki article above, Douglas Englebart was probably the first person to think about the potential for using chorded keyboards as input devices. Unlike stenotypes, chords on many chorded keyboards correspond directly to keys on a keyboard, allowing the input of things like punctuation, and for things like the arrow keys, shift.
Douglas' vision can be seen in the third clip on this site, around 1:55 in.
His original device is five key. Also, it never really took off.
The microwriter, a five key handheld word processor, also existed for a time. The co-creator of the microwriter would go on to create CyKey, which looks quite nice. The chords seem somewhat intuitive.
There is also a company called ekatetra, which makes a twelve key device. I really like that this particular chorded keyboard can be used without any wrist pronation, it is held with just the fingers in a comfortable position.
There are others no doubt. The only chorded keyboard I have used is the BAT, by infogrip. The BAT is 7 keys, 3 for the thumb, one for each finger. The chords are logical. Within a few days I can type at about 10wpm. The really nice thing about the BAT, it is angled which reduces stress and hand fatigue.
The experience of chording is very different from typing. Chording feels more like playing a piano than typing on a keyboard, text and symbols flow from my finger tips, and my hands do not feel tired or worn. Now, disclaimer, I have had my BAT for a week, and this message was typed on a QWERTY keyboard(my speed for typing formatted proper, grammatical text is too low right now to be able to type something like this up in a few minutes).
Which brings me to my final point, chording takes work. The letters and symbols are not there right in front of you if, for example, you forget which number key shifts into an asterisk. With time and practice, accuracy will definitely come. I have one BAT for each hand, and I bet max typing speeds are probably really high IF someone puts in the time and effort to master the chords.
One last thing, the BAT is straight up USB, and requires no software to work.
posted by satori_movement at 9:19 AM on October 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
I amend me earlier comment. I have been working less on the BAT's. If I was mostly typing, they would be perfect, but it takes two key presses, sometimes three to get many types of symbols, and this can be a hassle while programming. I am going to try other types of chorded keyboards. If I have more to update, I will post.
posted by satori_movement at 9:15 AM on October 12, 2011
posted by satori_movement at 9:15 AM on October 12, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
So if you go for a chorded keyboard, I'd suggest avoiding the hand-held sort. But then maybe the state of the art has improved in the eight years since I was shopping for them.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 10:19 PM on October 5, 2011