Last Friday, I finally got my model01. I haven’t had much time for practice yet, but here are my first impressions and some questions:
my pinkies are putting up a fight. They don’t like to rest on a/;
x and c, and , and . seem like very high mountains that are hard to climb.
it seems like all my fingers forgot everything they ever knew about typing
Here are a couple of questions that I can’t figure out on my own:
should I use the left shift-key for a key on the right half or the right one? Currently, I go with the former option, but I have no clue whether that is a good idea or not.
same question for the fn modifiers: left fn to use the arrow keys or right fn?
should I place the keyboard near me so my elbows are angled or should I place it far and rest my elbows on the table?
I’d appreciate any advice - I fear I might train myself into stupid habits that might be hard to unlearn.
I would say alternating shift with the key-to-shift (ie, your first method) is often more convenient. Or you can use something like OneShot, and have only one Shift key, which you hardly ever hold.
This is a bit different than shifts, because while Left Shift+G is a bit awkward to press, the arrow keys were placed in a way that holding Fn with your palm would allow easy access to them with the same hand. Personally, I use the same hand for those.
Mind you, these are just my opinions and personal preferences, and are by no means the One True Way™.
It depends a great deal on your preferred typing technique, and what’s comfortable for you. I never let the heels of my hands rest when typing, so my whole hand moves instead of my finger stretching when I type keys not on the home row (or to the left and right). Because of that, I almost never use a same-side modifier or palm key, especially the latter.