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Conventional Keyboards Are STAGGERINGLY STUPID!

Ben Vallack
Demos
YouTube
2 HN users recommended this demo2 months2021–2022 score 2
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN links it in keyboard threads as a short visual demonstration of why staggered layouts force unnatural finger movement.

Ben Vallack compares finger movement on a staggered keyboard with an ortholinear grid keyboard, using an Anne Pro 2 and a ZSA Planck EZ. He argues the stagger forces awkward finger motion.

“These videos [2][3] from Ben Vallack demonstrate this nicely.” (HN, 2021)

2 recommendations · 1 critical · Demos · intro

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@h3mb3 Nov 2021 Recommends
on HN thread Djinn Split Keyboard
Read more
Where are all the 75% ortholinear split keyboards? All the super-duper ergo boards have very few keys and/or a strange layout (like this Djinn). Currently the best keyboard for my left forearm's RSI has been Mistel Barocco MD770 [1] but I've recently been aware how the staggering maybe forces the fingers to travel in slightly unnatural ways. These videos [2][3] from Ben Vallack demonstrate this nicely. Thus, I'd like to test an ortholinear one, but with all the normal 75%/tenkeyless board keys in place. I personally don't need to optimize the right hand keys as much so I'm not interested in learning an oherwise crazy new layout just to test out if the ortholinearity helps. And, I really like having the split since keeping two halves of the board further apart helps keeping my posture in control. But this combo seems to be difficult to find. [1] [link] [2] [this video] [3] [link]
Demonstrates how key stagger forces fingers into unnatural movement.
@Fetiorin Aug 2022 Recommends
on HN thread I spent a year designing a low profile, minimal mechanical keyboard
Note that on normal keyboard all alpha keys are staggered to the left. For both hands. So, this stagger is not helping you to keep your left hand at correct angle. "Grid" ortholinear is not an ultimate solution either, but it is more comfy (from personal experience). There is a short video about ortho vs stagger [this video]
Short comparison of ortholinear versus staggered keyboard layouts.

Citations, criticism and jokes

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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