On: How to avoid the Emacs Pinky problem

[vemv]

Using the palm to press the modifier keys is extremely poor advice. Move your whole arm/had and use the index finger instead. Never the pinky.

Follow the pattern of moving the arms in general. Avoid contorting the wrists.

Ergonomic keyboards and trackballs haven't worked for me. I've been using the Apple Wireless Keyboard + Magic Trackpad instead for a year, all issues (which were pretty severe) disappeared. Just watch out for the angle in which you use them - it must be neutral relative to your wrists (but your arms can be in angle - the absolute angle doesn't matter a lot).

The Colemak layout helps, but I've been using plain old Qwerty lately, out of pure laziness and I've found no difference other than effectiveness.

I occasionally use a split software keyboard layout. It relieves the right hand from contortion issues (put your both hands in the home row, then compare their angles...).

There are hardware split keyboards, but they're so poorly implemented.

[serf → vemv]

I agree that the palm is terrible advice. Ctrl-Z is near impossible with large hands using that method.

The thing that has been saving my pink from emacs is the capslock rebind. it enables me to use my ring finger for the modifier.

edit: I eat my own words. It mentions later in the article never to use a modifier with the same hand as the actual key. Whoops.

[vemv → serf]

On your edit: yeah, using both hands for composite commands is good practice. That way fingers keep in more natural positions.

Still, using the palm for pressing Ctrl is bad. The hand should tend to be kept convex, not concave or flat.