The moment you first sit down in front of the CLEAVE Keyboard, one of the first things you’ll notice is that some of the most commonly used keys have been moved to the center of the layout. There’s a very good reason for this, and it’s all about relative finger strength.

Your thumbs and index fingers are much stronger and faster than your pinky fingers will ever be. This is why we’ve reorganized the layout to bring the most commonly used keys within easy reach of your strongest fingers.

For example, heavy use keys like Shift & Enter can now be quickly actuated by the thumbs, and Backspace & Delete keys with the index fingers, allowing you to keep your hands in a comfortable position without having to constantly stretch your fingers. Optimizations like this are important because they reduce strain on your weaker fingers by leveraging your stronger fingers for most of the work.