MALTRON LAYOUT TRAINING COURSE

INSTRUCTIONS FOR WORKING THROUGH THE EXERCISES

These exercises could be keyed for up to two hours at one time. On no account should this be done without very frequently relaxing the arms, preferably at the end of rows. In addition time should also be taken to get up and walk about, say three or four times an hour.

  1. Always: KEY EACH LINE TO THE EXACT LENGTH AND USE RETURN KEY AT THE END OF EACH LINE. ie. Key each word or phrase as many times as it instructed by the text for the exercise. Never key for more than two hours at a time.
  2. Always: CONCENTRATE THROUGH YOUR EYES ON TO THE COPY. If your concentration flags, stop keying, blink your eyes, then concentrate on to the copy again.
  3. Finger position: Keep each finger on its home key (home keys are described later in these instructions).
  4. Finger movement: Move only one finger at a time and use small mini finger movements. Allow fingers to relax into the MALTRON shape. The learning goal is that fingers that do not need to move for a key should be able to relax. Fingers that do need to move should be able to move - as much as possible - on their own. This can take a while to train into your hands.The third finger (ring finger) is often unable to move much on its own - patience, practice and forgiveness are all useful!
  5. Wrists and Arms: Keep wrists and arms quite still, do not rest palms or wrists on the keyboard while keying, nor just after keying. The underside of the wrist is an important channel for a good blood supply to the hand and also for some nerves and tendons. Resting the weight of your hand on the underside of the wrist can make things worse. If you have had an RSI injury it is especially important not to overwork yourself and to stop BEFORE you get tired.
  6. Key touch: MALTRON keys do NOT need to be hit hard nor fast to work. Hitting the keys harder than the minimum does not make the keys work better; soft or hard makes little difference to the keys' working, but it can overuse your hand. Relax, gently does it! Shift keys, control keys and Alt keys do not need to be pressed harder than any of the other keys.

 

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