Careful with Half-QWERTY…

This is why, if I had had a choice years ago, I would not only have refused QWERTY but Half-QWERTY (or the 508 keyboard, as I am right handed) as well. A cautionary note from a therapist, found here:

“As with 10-finger typing, Half-QWERTY presents a risk for developing repetitive strain injury (RSI). Due to the continuous use of just one hand and the awkward hand positions required to make many key combinations, it is suggested that the risk is even greater with this one-handed method. Therefore, this would not be a safe method for someone who has a history of RSI and/or someone who has a lot of typing to do at one time. If a fast typing rate is important to your client there may be other access methods that will allow for faster typing speeds, for example voice recognition.” — Jacqueline Chin, B.Sc.H, O.T.(C)

I’d be more concerned with my health, I think… if you’re going to shrink a keyboard, do it some way that makes ergonomic sense…QWERTY makes even less sense for a one handed person when it’s folded in half! Any keyboard is going to be more work one-handed, but don’t make it harder than it has to be! There are better choices.