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What keyboard you recommend for coding? (programming.dev)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Most keyboard reviews are about gaming. Can any of you recommend a good keyboard for coding/programming?

Here's some criteria for selecting the keyboard:

Comfortable keys, easy to click and write coding quickly
Must be a bluetooth keyboard
Prefer using replaceable batteries instead of charging port
Full keyboard keys including function keys, arrow keys and numpad
Size can be compact or full-sized
Doesn't matter if back-lit or not
Doesn't matter if loud or quiet clicks
Budget around USD 50

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Wouldn't wrist position be considered part of your overall posture?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Wouldn’t wrist position be considered part of your overall posture?

There are far more factors determining wrist position than the size of the keyboard, and only a very small fraction of all keyboard users end up developing any form of issue.

Moreover, I'd wager that the number of people enduring bad laptop keyboards greatly outnumber those developing any kind of RSI issue, let alone those who feel strongly enough to buy ergonomic keyboards.

It would be interesting to see how many ergonomic keyboards end up being snakeoil preying on people with more disposable money than good judgement.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

There are far more factors determining wrist position than the size of the keyboard

Ergonomic keyboards are not a result of "the size of the keyboard", but the shape. The size could be identical, it is the shape that matters.

Without any real studies on it mentioned so far you're relying on gut feeling and logic here. Well, you mention sitting with proper posture actually helps, which is putting your body into proper alignment. That makes sense, if your neck is arched and your back is crunched all day it will eventually cause damage to your discs and cause nerve pain.

Why doesn't the same apply to your wrists? It seems logical that keeping your wrists cockeyed all day would put strain on them, and that keeping them in alignment would reduce strain.

At the very least it seems easy to see why some people would genuinely prefer keyboards like that just for comfort. I find it hard to label as "snake oil"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Ergonomic keyboards are not a result of “the size of the keyboard”, but the shape.

I apologize for the mistake. Even though I referred to size, what I had in mind was geometry/layout.

Without any real studies on it mentioned so far you’re relying on gut feeling and logic here.

Are there actually any studies suggesting that ergonomic keyboards prevent RSI? As far as I could gather, there's a correlation between higher RSI incidence and keyboard usage, but nothing suggests ergonomic keyboards lead to a lower incidence of RSI.