Keyboard Layout
For touch typing and text editing, I'm having a lot of trouble with keyboards that shift the right ctrl key to the left to make room for arrow keys. My right ring finger is less flexible, and when the right ctrl key is to the left of the '/' key, my ring finger hits the key insecurely with the fingernail, which can't feel the key edges. I frequently hit the left arrow key by mistake. I currently attach a portable external keyboard with good layout when at a desk, but would prefer that the laptop keyboard have good layout so I can more productively use it on my lap.
I also have trouble with keyboards that place a page-up key above the left arrow key. The left-arrow key is a very frequently used key for editing typos, and while touch typing, it is far too easy to miss and hit the page-up key. That is a productivity disaster because the cursor is moved far from its intended location and it breaks concentration to undo it. (page-dn often only gets the cursor back into the general area, not in the same spot on the line, especially if other keys were typed before halting to fix the error.)
For editing text and spreadsheets, the home and end keys move the cursor to the beginning and end of the line, and shift-home and shift-end select the prefix or the rest of the line. I like to be able to do these quickly with one hand, so I can position the cursor with the mouse and then shift-home or shift-end while the mouse hand is returning to the keyboard. (Many keyboards require an Fn key chord to type home or end. Typing shift-fn-home is a slower, awkward operation, and requires two hands on most keyboards.) So the home and end keys must be separate keys that are near the shift key. The navigation column is good for this. The home and end keys on a numberpad also good.
In stores I have tried a few notebook keyboards which satisfy the above, but the touchpad is so large or sensitive or not centered on the home keys, that when I touch type normally with corners of palm on the palm rest, the cursor jumps around because of poor palm rejection.
Keyboard requirements:
- right ctrl key must easily reached by pinky finger while hands are in home position for touch typing.
- left-arrow key must be easily reached by pinky finger while hands are in home position for touch typing, and adjacent to no keys that move the cursor far away (such as page-up).
- end and home keys must be separate keys, and it must be easy to type shift-end and shift-home with one hand.
- both alt keys must be easily reachable by thumbs (too far and it causes repetitive strain injury). (An overwide space bar is a bad sign.)
- touchpad must not move the cusor while touch typing with outside corner of palms resting on the palm rest. (Test with multiple hand sizes.)
(I prefer full size arrow keys. An overlong right-shift key and half-hight arrow keys are bad signs.)
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