Basically, I just learned to touch type without ever using the right shift, so I don’t miss it all on keyboard layouts that omit it entirely. However, on other keyboards, I do often use right-shift + delete.
Looks like I found a truly unpopular opinion …
How about another (that even I don’t agree with): membrane keyboards are fine and no one needs anything more than a Logitech K120
I’m fairly certain Pixel was being sarcastic lol.
Ha. I wasn’t though. I mean, I understand that it’s possible, but I don’t see how anyone could type actual sentences at 100+wpm without using right shift. I suppose we all learn to adapt. I’ve seen crazy videos of people hunt and pecking at well over 150wpm.
I learned to type in my high school “typing” class. We learned on electric typewriters. Fridays were the best because we made ASCII art. It was an instruction page that read something like:
and so on for many more lines. You would try to do the whole sheet without looking at what it made. Then when you looked up you had a picture (if you typed it correctly)
Anywhoo, yes, I think people who don’t use right shift are crazy. But crazy is okay. I’m not gonna type shame anyone.
Ahh I see I see. Yea the only time I use right shift for actual typing and not the aforementioned shortcut use case, is when I just randomly feel the need to type a capital using it. Which comes up once every 10th blue moon.
I’m a primary Right-Shifter! Not sure why, I am left handed but I don’t know if that makes a difference.
I’ve been back on mono-spacebar for the past few years after a period of split bars but I do think thumb shifting with a split spacebar would be a pretty good idea.
My unpopular opinion would be, split right shift + HHKB arrows best layered arrow cluster for 60% (up - [, down - /, left - ;, right - ').
I’ve been somewhat accidentally making myself arrow key layout agnostic as some of my boards happen to have different arrow key layouts, both by default design and choice. So far I got WASD & IJKL arrows, HJKL/Vim arrows, HHKB arrows, and a somewhat “60%” arrow layout. Which comprises of 3 bottom row keys right of the spacebar and one key above those 3 that is as symmetrical as possible.
One of the little secrets of this “premium” material is that while it’s certainly a more expensive raw material than plastic, it’s one of few appropriate materials, and almost the only metal, that’s even remotely cost-effective to machine from solid stock (versus laser or plasma cutting of sheet-stock). For manufacturing at the scale of most custom keyboards, it’s kinda the only truly viable option. Machinery and especially tooling to injection mold or even vacuum form a plastic keyboard case at the detail a custom Alu case needs would be like basically buying a new milling machine for every design. Then, given that machining is a subtractive technique, there’s little benefit beyond shipping weight to make a specific design lighter, so at all price points except the very bottom where per-unit costs finally justify plastic, we get lots and lots of aluminium rectangles.
This is not to say the aluminum rectangles cannot be made with care or be beautiful, or even that they’re overpriced as a general category, just that it’s not purely an aesthetic or premium choice to do CNC aluminum. It’s more of a happy accident that what it’s good at dovetails with what hobbyists like.
Ha, same! One of the first keyboards I learned to type on was an IBM Selectric.
heck yeah, Selectric with the self correction option. Oh man, you got so much shit from the teacher if you used the correction ribbon. Probably really expensive to replace.
Ask, and @dovenyi shall deliver.
That is such a cool design! One of the few 40s I’ve seen that I’d for sure pick up!
I’m 
with you. I can’t imagine touch typing capital letters with my left hand with a left shift. I feel like I would instantly cripple my hand that way, lol. Right shift is non-negotiable. Even an arisu layout is on the line, lol.
I don’t know why I never knew that… Seems kind of cool actually.
Also, IMO the super expensive boards sound just the same as budget tier boards and you’re only paying for the novelty and case design/how it looks. Depending on the design, you’ll still have to force break, you’ll still have to tinker, and it’s still going to sound like (shockingly) a keyboard. Always makes me laugh when Alex(otos) changes a tiny thing and says “oooh my god it sounds so much better” and I can’t tell a damn thing lol
The only [major] exception to that is the brass weights in expensive boards (preferably internal and external). The altering materials and added mass are audible game changers.
Xah Lee has a story about a speed typist who got faster results tapping [Caps] then <letter> then [Caps] rather than press [Shift] then tap <letter> then release [Shift] …
Oh. You’re absolutely right. I should have clarified “budget” boards like the QK or Neo boards.
I learned to type English on a manual typewriter. IBM Selectric was around but still too expensive back then. A decade later, I learned to type Hangul (Korean) in two hours while typing. Language matters a lot in typing.
The HHKB arrow setup is quite nice when you get used to it. In fact when I’ve been using a 60% for awhile the inverted T of other form factors trips me up! 
Also highly agree about your 2nd point too. While I am a fan of more expensive customs, I am under no illusions that I am getting something functionally better for that money. The budget range has become where it’s at in the past couple years honestly. So much more bang for your buck & a lot of them come with multiple mounting systems. Which being honest I am not a fan of, but do think those “jack of all, master of none” type boards have a place for sure.
If it’s one of your first few boards I think it’s very nice to have multiple mounting options. Definitely will give someone the ideal of how certain mounting styles feel & sound in one package, instead of having to buy multiple boards to try them out. Also let’s be frank if you’re new to the hobby you won’t know what the top end versions of those mounting styles feel like. Also it’s not like the top end versions of mounting styles feel hugely different from those multiple mount boards. Usually a nicer sound & maybe slightly better feel is what I’ve come to expect from high end boards that focus solely on one or two mounting styles. So IMO, definitely something to chase once you got you’re preferences dialed in a bit.