[rgoulter]

> the engineers who care enough to invest in keyboards like this (1) spend a lot of time investing in their tooling and (2) are extremely productive

I think (1) is true. Whereas, (2) may be less so.

Or at least, "smart but unproductive" is also a class. :) (And I'm sure there are those who have had bad experiences working with such people).

I suppose using a keyboard like this is an expensive signal. As in.. it's fairly easy to buy a typical mechanical keyboard, but more difficult to get one of these small split keyboards. -- But I think this is just "interested in technical excellence", which is somewhat different than "highly productive".

;) As for these keyboards? The most pragmatic & superior tooling part isn't the "36-key keyboard" so much as "each thumb has 2-3 keys" each. That's what allows these keyboards to expressively bring the full functionality of the keyboard to within reach of the hands on home row.

[lawn]

I think 3 thumb keys are too much as the thumb is slow and awkward to move. You can easily get by with 2 and you can get by with just one for normal usage.

See my own keyboard layouts for inspiration:

https://www.jonashietala.se/blog/2024/11/26/the_current_cybe...

https://www.jonashietala.se/series/t-34/

[rgoulter]

I put emphasis on splitting spacebar into thumb keys just because the large spacebar is so ubiquitous. -- There's practically no downside to splitting the large spacebar into 6x keys.

I think it's good if layout enthusiasts want to use as few as keys as each finds practical. -- I think a good keyboard will support layouts that bring the full functionality of the keyboards to within the hands on home row for two-handed typing (as well as support mouse + keyboard functionality).

But .. I think that the keyboard is physically better off with fewer keys is just fashion amongst enthusiasts.

[MorehouseJ09]

You hit the nail on the head with the 2/3 thumb key bit. That is what was such a game changer for me with the kinesis. all the sudden you have real estate to take a layering approach that you just can't with normal keyboards.

Smart but unproductive is a class. We've all had experiences with those types of engineers. I think startups generally weed them out though. It's hard to survive at a startup without being productive. I probably should have put that as a disclaimer up front.

[egypturnash]

> using a keyboard like this is an expensive signal

You can get premade keyboards in this layout for about $150. The Kinesis 360 mentioned earlier in the article is $400-500.

Decide for yourself how pricey "learning these things exist" and "making a custom DIY one is in terms of both resources and time.

[rgoulter]

By "expensive signal" I mean more like "hard to fake the enthusiasm" rather than "spent a lot of money".

In terms of monetary cost, the DIY ones can be quite cheap. -- But it's still going to be more expensive & effort intensive compared to just getting a typical mechanical keyboard.