Ask Slashdot: Keyboard Layout To Reduce Right Pinky/Ring Finger Usage?

Tooke writes "I've developed focal hand dystonia from playing clarinet. It affects my right pinky (and my ring finger, but to a lesser extent). My pinky isn't totally unusable when typing; however, it isn't nearly as agile as it used to be. When I must press a key with it, I tend to keep the whole finger rigid and move my entire hand instead. I also use my ring finger to press the P and semicolon keys (on QWERTY) which is a bit awkward but better than using the pinky. Thus my question: are there any keyboard layouts that are optimized to reduce right pinky/ring finger usage? I switched to Programmer Dvorak a few years ago, but Dvorak seems to make me use my right hand significantly more than my left. I'm considering mirroring the letter keys so my left hand would be used more. I also came across the Workman layout which looks interesting. I might try using that after switching the numbers and symbols around to be more like Programmer Dvorak. Has anyone been in a similar situation? What else could I do to make typing more comfortable? I've got a long career ahead of me as a programmer (I'm currently a high school senior) and I'd like to take care of my hands as much as possible."

Comments

Use a programmable keyboard

[dshk]

You can use a Kinesis Advantage keyboard. First, important keys are pressed with the thumb, not the right fingers (Enter, Ctrl, Backspace). Second, the keyboard is programmable, so you can map all problematic keys to the left side and type them together with AltGr (right ALT). I am already using this method, because our national characters take the place of almost every symbol characters, which are important for coding. It is working well.

Re:Left-Handed Dvorak

[s.petry]

Don't take this the wrong way, I admire his will to retrain himself and continue drumming.. but....

If you are very tone deaf you may be fooled, but any musician can tell the difference between acoustic and electronic percussion. Any drummer I consider "good" uses all 4 appendages. Yes, there are many drummers that make a living using 3 but I don't consider them "good". Rick Allen plays better than them while physically missing a limb.

Compliment him on his will to continue doing something he enjoyed and made a profession. Compliment him on having a big pair and coming on stage after working his ass off to relearn the drums. But don't claim that people can't tell he's only got 1 arm. Many can, and still think he's a great drummer.