I don’t think my left thumb knows where the spacebar is.
Have used both. Used to have a split keyboard at work and liked it, but when I recently bought a keyboard for home use, I just got a regular one - not split. Don’t really find all that big of difference between them and didn’t fine one easier/harder to use than the other.
I have used these split keyboards before, and find them strange and unnatural. I get used to it after a while but I am very used to the distances between keys on a “standard” 101-key keyboard. I have never experienced discomfort typing on a regular keyboard (and I have typed a LOT in my life on these suckers).
I do enjoy this too, which is why I have one of these at work. 
I just wish it was available with (a) wireless USB and (b) a true 101, not 104 keyboard layout, i.e. restoring the space bar to the width God meant it to be and getting rid of what is for me the entirely superfluous Windows and Menu keys.
I have seen colleagues use even stranger keyboards, though, such as this split and angled keyboard and some kind of dimpled keyboard. I’ve sat down and tried them out, and can use them, but MAN, what is the point except for the freak factor?
I’ve got a “goldtouch” at work – split, raised in the middle, very ergonomic. A regular keyboard seems ridiculously cramped now.
Thanks for the link to that fully-separated board–it’s very similar to the one I mentioned above, and I may buy one.
As for the point of them: I find it more comfortable to sit with my arms rougly parallel, or angled slightly outward, rather than angled in toward the center. In particular, it seems to place less stress on my shoulders.
I can’t stand split keyboards.
The split just isn’t in a natural place for me - since I touch type in a modified fashion. Also I cannot make my left thumb hit the space bar. It just won’t do it.
I find that after spending an hour or two typing on a split keyboard not only am I profoundly frustrated, but my hands and wrists ache like the dickens. This is not the case on my old-fashioned flat keyboard. Also my WPM drops by a good 40 on the split keyboard. When my office tried to force us all to use split keyboards, I rebelled with such determination that they finally caved and bought me a flat one.
I’m forced to say WTF to Eligible though. I’d have more to say but this isn’t the Pit. :mad: “Typing is for secretaries”, indeed!
I like them; they just *feel *better to me. Since my desktop isn’t available, I’ve been using my laptop for almost a year now. I definitely miss the split keyboard.
I use a split keyboard at work, as well as an ergonomic mouse that raises quite a few eyebrows at work.
I had wrist pain and switching to ergonomic devices really helped. Now I need to save my nickels and pennies and get a docking station (port replicator) for my laptop because I’m having back, neck, and wrist issues since I bought it.
My hands and fingers feel cramped and squished together on a normal keyboard. On a spit keyboard, I can comfortably spread those fingers out. Pair it with an optical trackball, make everything wireless, and I’m happy.
I also have a wireless, optical/gyroscopic mouse.
Gaah!!! (You’re welcome. :))
I have a different and rather simpler way to deal with shoulder and arm stress/fatigue: I sit in chairs with high backs and armrests (both at home and at work), and for extended typing sessions, slouch slightly (sometimes not so slightly) so that my shoulders and back are resting against the backrest and my elbows on the armrests. My arms now angle naturally and comfortably inward, right to the keyboard with my palms facing down, and all the weight of my arms and shoulders are transferred so I don’t have to strain any muscles to keep them in position.
Also, for me, resting my wrists on the table a few inches away from the bottom of the keyboard perfectly aligns my fingertips with the home row of keys – I don’t have the problem some people report of over-pronating their hands to be able to touch type on a standard keyboard. This is why I find the “angled” keyboards irritating – I actually have to lift my hands slightly (at an angle) to be able to use them.
I suppose can sort of imagine why people might want those angled or split keyboards if they don’t have or use armrests on their chairs, though, and sit in a position where their hands rest on the table with the palms facing each other (as if holding a fork and knife).
It isn’t the armrest issue, at least not for me. I like the way that I can spread my fingers out on a split keyboard. Normal keyboards cramp my fingers - too many keys, too little space.
I’ve never been tempted to use one. I do about 75% of my typing with the fingers of my left hand, and I assume that a split keyboard isn’t designed for that sort of thing. That’d lead to a lot of reaching across, wouldn’t it? meh.
I use a flat keyboard, but I will probably switch soon to something ergonomic. Some of those links are just plain neat. I like the separated ones that pivot. I mean, I like the idea of them. I’ve never used one.