I spend a lot of my life at my computer, for work and pleasure, so my keyboard matters.

So I bought an Ergodox and I love it.

*Why* did I think blank key caps was a good idea when I can't touch type on a normal keyboard... pic.twitter.com/SFGVM1exRt — Kristian Glass (@doismellburning) February 13, 2017

What’s an Ergodox?

The Ergodox is a mechanical keyboard with split design, ortholinear layout (the keys are in a regular grid rather than offset as on conventional keyboards) and highly customisable firmware.

I followed along as George Hickman assembled his and was keen, but didn’t fancy the idea of assembling my own. Then Tom Nemec introduced me to the Ergodox EZ, a pre-built version - problem solved!

What’s it like to use?

The Ergodox definitely took some getting used to at first! It didn’t help that in 25 years I’d never learned to touch-type, and had ordered it with blank key-caps…

With practice and the aid of gtypist this was rectified, and now I absolutely love it.

I definitely under-use the thumb cluster, and my layout could almost certainly be more ergonomic, but my hands feel happier, I feel like I type faster, and everything just generally feels better.

How to get one?

If you’re hardcore, you can assemble your own

I’m not, so I bought mine from Ergodox EZ.

I bought the black model, with the wrist rests and tilt/tent kit - I didn’t expect to use it, but I like having mine slightly tilted outwards.

I got Gateron Brown switches - Cherry MX Browns seemed to be the general “if you don’t know what you want then get these” option, and at the time only Gaterons were available - and I got the blank keycaps.

Blank keycaps were a deliberate tradeoff - it was “blank and sculpted” or “printed and uniform” - the former having a different shape for each row with improved ergonomics, and I figured it would be a good incentive to learn to touch-type!

What layout?

I’m using a layout somewhat customised from the Ergodox default, but more like a conventional ISO QWERTY keyboard.

Notable differences include:

Esc , Tab , Ctrl , Alt , Cmd , Enter and Backspace all in positions similar to a conventional ISO QWERTY layout

, , , , , and all in positions similar to a conventional ISO QWERTY layout Arrow keys in hjkl layout

layout Layer 2 as my “media” layout

I’m probably losing a lot of the ergonomic benefit with this but it helped me get onboard quickly, and I don’t want to risk losing the ability to use conventional layouts on my laptop / other machines!

George is a little more hardcore than me and compiles his own firmware with some funky configuration…

Keycaps

Here’s what my Ergodox looks like now:

Meanwhile finally got my Tai Hao Dark Blood caps on my Ergodox so I can glance-check one-off key presses! pic.twitter.com/Splf3UGLeq — Kristian Glass (@doismellburning) June 24, 2017

It’s a bit of a Franken-keyboard but I like it. I’m a sucker for custom keycaps so I’ve got:

Tai Hao Dark Blood alphanumerics

Ducklings for Cmd

A tigricaps 8-bit skull on F1

A zinc Dota 2 keycap on F4

Ultra-stylish masking tape for my middle symbol keys so I remember what they are…

I can now touch-type but sometimes for hotkeys or when gaming I wanted to press a single key without having to go via the home row, so printed keycaps were super useful.

Wrist Rests

I eventually tired of the Ergodox EZ wrist rests because the plastic-y rubber-y material just retained dirt. They were easy to wash, but it was annoying to have to do so.

Currently I’m using a pair of Falbatech bamboo wrist rests and enjoying them - they’re much bigger so I need to take my watch off, but they’re also much easier to keep clean!

So?

It’s not cheap, it’s not easy to get used to, but I definitely found it worthwhile!