Underdiscussed: The biggest difference these keyboards make: adding additional keys for the thumbs (replacing the unnecessarily large spacebar of traditional keyboards).
This allows the hands to do more with the keyboard while resting the hands on home row. -- For users comfortable adding a bit of complexity for the benefit of increased expressiveness (e.g. vim users), having extra thumb keys allows bringing the full functionality of the keyboard to within reach of the hands on home row.
For me, I think that these keyboards fix many silly design flaws of the traditional keyboard makes them interesting enough to be worth using.
A split keyboard does a good job of enforcing stricter adherence to the home keys so you end up getting quite accurate at the special functions too since everything is within reach. I think extra thumb buttons on a non-split keyboard gets you all the same benefits, I'd love to see more boards explore that.
Yeah the thumb clusters are my favorite part of using my Kinesis Adv 360, and one of the only few things I miss when typing on a regular keyboard. Yeah the ergonomics are better but I can hit 150+ on both regular and split keyboards and never really had pain/issues with my wrists. Although I prefer the split layout more.
I’ve been using split boards since the original Microsoft Natural Keyboard, the one with the awful number pad. Then a Kinesis Advantage, then the 360. The DIY boards like a Lily58, Corne and a similar custom are mostly for travel.
Switching to split or ortholinear takes time. Doing both together is a significant and slightly annoying adjustment and takes a few weeks to feel normal. The payoff is when you lean into it. Home row mods so the home keys become ctrl shift alt meta when held, plus a thumb layer for navigation so you get vim-style movement everywhere, and a symbols layer for the stuff not on the top row.
Two thumb keys per side works well. Layer on both sides, enter on one thumb, space on the other. About 6x4 per side is the sweet spot for me. A function row on things like the Advantage 2 or Glove80 can be handy.
If you want to try it in steps, the Kinesis mWave is a decent bridge. Split but not ortholinear, full keyset so you don’t have to relearn everything at once, mechanical, runs ZMK, and in US pricing it’s very cheap for what it is, roughly $120.
I bought an mWave a few weeks ago, thinking of wading back into Kinesis, and for me it's not a fit. The key feel is garbage compared to my Keychron or my old Advantage, and the flow of the shape isn't comfy enough.
Thumbs: true, but I think some take it way too far - up to seven keys per thumb! The thumb is articulated at the wrong angle to move very far, so I find that two or perhaps three keys per thumb in a single arc is about as much as I can use fast.
Agreed. The thumb cluster is what I miss the most from my old Maltron keyboard. I'm looking at the Dygma Defy as it seems to have the best thumb cluster of current ergo keyboards.
Programmability is really an awesome feature for this very reason. Even with a traditional layout, you can be really creative and improve the ergonomics: tap/hold mod for the spacebar, remap caps lock to do all kinds of stuff...
This allows the hands to do more with the keyboard while resting the hands on home row. -- For users comfortable adding a bit of complexity for the benefit of increased expressiveness (e.g. vim users), having extra thumb keys allows bringing the full functionality of the keyboard to within reach of the hands on home row.
For me, I think that these keyboards fix many silly design flaws of the traditional keyboard makes them interesting enough to be worth using.