MALTRON LAYOUT TRAINING COURSE
INSTRUCTIONS FOR WORKING THROUGH THE EXERCISES
KEYBOARD LAYOUT AND FINGER USE
Think of your fingers numbered as shown in the diagrams above. The index fingers each have two numbers because they key letters on two of the vertical columns. They 'home' on the 's' and 't' and each index finger stretches from the home key to five other letter keys and two numbers.
FINGER MOVEMENTS
All finger movements should be mini-movements. That is each finger should only move the distance required to depress the key and to allow the key up again. Only one finger should move at a time.
At first your fingers will not be able to do this because they are not used to it - so you must be patient with yourself and your fingers.
Just stretch fingers forward and back to reach the upper and lower rows. Do not lift the fingers, only stretch them. Move only one finger at a time until your fingers have become accustomed to the slight changes in direction.
Note also that you do not get a better key if you press it harder, so relax, take it gently.
To induce these single finger mini-movements we recommend that while you do the exercises you should, before keying, read through each line. While reading, with fingers on the home keys, finger each key. That means thinking of the position of each letter and moving the finger slightly to the correct key to confirm the position. This movement should not be heavy enough for actual keying.
'Finger keying' is a powerful way of developing neuro-muscular pathways. So do use this simple technique to aid rapid development of these pathways.
To move a finger straight up and down you use mainly two muscles from the base of the finger (either above the finger or below the finger). In contrast, on the flat Sholes Qwerty keyboard you move sideways when you move up and down and for this you use especially only one muscle from the four. The Sholes sideways up and down one-muscle movement is vulnerable to fatigue, strain and also generally weaker. Sholes placed the keys in diagonal pattern mostly for mechanical reasons which are no longer relevant to electronic keyboards.
All this explains why the straight up and down format of the MALTRON keyboard is better for health and ergonomic reasons - BUT it is not what you will be used to so it takes a while to learn the new movements.