Should you change your keyboard layout?




Getting yourself a good ergonomic keyboard is an easy way to increase your typing speed and keep your hands healthy, without requiring much effort on your part.

There are two main signs that you need a new keyboard:

You feel that your current keyboard is slowing you down. For example, this might happen if the keyboard is not be responsive enough, or if the keys are too small.

You feel that your current keyboard is causing you to strain your hands. For example, this might happen if the keyboard causes you to press keys with a lot of force, or if the keys are placed too close to each other.

A common scenario where you might need a new keyboard is if you spend a lot of time working on a laptop, and using the laptop’s built-in keyboard, since the default keyboards that come with most laptops are uncomfortable to type on, and end up slowing you down.

Which keyboard is the best one to buy depends on factors such as your personal preference and hand size, so there isn’t one type of keyboard that’s perfect for everyone. Read the relevant technical specifications of the keyboard before you buy it, and check out reviews by previous users.

Note that some people recommend using a mechanical keyboard. However, research on the topic suggests that while using a mechanical keyboard could help reduce some hand strain compared to a regular keyboard, it doesn’t usually increase users’ typing speed, and might even reduce it in some cases.

Overall, if you want to improve your typing speed and keep your hands healthy while you work, you should consider getting an ergonomic keyboard. Most are not too expensive, and can last you for years. Furthermore, if you suffer from hand pain due to constant computer use, consider also getting an ergonomic mouse, which could help deal with this issue further.

 

Should you change your keyboard layout?
Your keyboard layout is the way that the keys on your keyboard are arranged. Some people recommend changing this layout, in order to increase your typing speed and reduce the risk of developing typing-related health problems in your hands.

In the next section, we will see what are the most common keyboard layouts, understand when is it worth it to change your keyboard layout, and learn what minor modifications you can make to your keyboard layout, aside from changing it completely.

 

The common keyboard layouts
The most common keyboard layouts for English keyboards are QWERTY, Dvorak, and Colemak. Of these, QWERTY is by far the most common layout, since it was the first layout which was introduced to the market, and is now the default layout on the vast majority of keyboards.

The Dvorak and Colemak keyboard layouts were developed later, in an effort to create a more efficient keyboard layout than the QWERTY layout, since the QWERTY layout was developed with the goal of overcoming mechanical issues in typewriters, and was consequently inferior from an ergonomic perspective.

As such, these new layouts were designed with the goal of increasing typing speed and reducing hand strain, by accomplishing the following:

Minimizing the distance that your fingers travel while typing.

Equalizing the use of different fingers while typing.

Ensuring there is a constant alternation between the hands and between the fingers while typing.

For example, consider the image below, which shows how in the Dvorak layout, the vowels are all typed using the left hand, while most consonants are typed using the right hand, in order to lead to a relatively rhythmic alternation between the hands while typing. Furthermore, the most common letters are placed on the middle (home) row, where the fingers naturally rest, which means that they have to travel a relatively short distance in order to press them.

 


 

The value of these layouts is evident when we analyze how the keyboard is used while typing the list of the ~1,000 most common words in English:

In terms of distance, for example, our fingers travel around 16,000 cm when we use the QWERTY layout, 9,500 cm when we use Dvorak, and 8,000 cm when we use Colemak.

In terms of hand usage, for example, we use the left hand to press around 66% of keys when we use the QWERTY layout, 52% of keys when we use Dvorak, and 56% of keys when we use Colemak.

 

Is it worth it to modify your keyboard layout?
Above, we saw that keyboard layouts such as Dvorak and Colemak are superior to the QWERTY layout on various ergonomic metrics, such as distance traveled by the fingers while typing. However, the main question when it comes to deciding whether you should change your keyboard layout is whether this improvement translates to an increased typing speed and to a reduced hand strain in practice.

In terms of speed, research on the topic is inconclusive when it comes to determining whether using an alternative keyboard layout enables people to type faster. A potential reason why the ergonomic improvements don’t necessarily translate to an increase in typing speed is that the factors which cause newer layouts to be more efficient might not be the factors which are limiting people’s speed in the first place.

Therefore, when deciding whether or not to switch to a new keyboard layout, you should generally not assume that doing so will increase your typing speed, in comparison with learning how to type properly on a QWERTY keyboard.

In terms of comfort, however, switching to an alternative keyboard layout can certainly be beneficial, since such layouts are indeed more ergonomic than the default QWERTY layout. Though it’s difficult to conclusively determine whether this difference translates to a reduced likelihood of suffering from hand problems, it’s likely that using such a layout is beneficial, at least to some degree.

Beyond speed and comfort, another important factor to take into account when deciding whether to change your keyboard layout is usability, meaning that you should consider how likely you are to be using keyboards that have a different layout in your day to day life.

Specifically, since the adoption rate of alternative layouts is so low, you’re unlikely to encounter anything other than the default QWERTY layout when working on public computers or on other people’s devices. This can be an issue if you grow so accustomed to the new layout that you end up struggling to type on QWERTY keyboards.

This issue can sometimes be solved if you learn how to touch type using the alternative layout (e.g. Dvorak or Colemak), and if you can easily change the layout on the public computer that you’re using from a software perspective. However, doing this can still be annoying, and pose problems from time to time.

Furthermore, keep in mind that changing your keyboard layout also makes it more difficult for other people to work on your computer. This can either be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on your perspective.

Overall, changing your keyboard layout can help you be more comfortable while you type, but you shouldn’t assume that it will translate to a significant increase in typing speed, or to a significant decrease in health problems.

If you spend a lot of time typing, learning how to type on an alternative layout might be worth it, but since doing this requires a lot of effort, and since doing it can make it difficult to work on other keyboards, changing your keyboard layout is generally not the first thing you should do if you’re trying to improve your typing speed.

 

Other keyboard modifications that you can make
While changing your whole keyboard layout is relatively difficult, there are some minor modifications that you can make to your layout, which could result in significant benefits without requiring a lot of effort on your part.

For example, you can replace the CapsLock key, which is rarely used, with something more useful, such as the left Ctrl key, which is used more frequently, and which is placed in a more awkward position.

While making this type of modifications probably won’t have a significant impact on your typing speed, it could help improve your workflow, and reduce the strain that you experience from inputting awkward key combinations, or from reaching inconveniently placed keys.

 


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