![[projects/30 key keyboard/Index|Index]] Short answer: My wrist hurts. Long answer: Keyboards, specifically the QWERTY format we all use today, wasn't built for modern keyboards, it was built for typewriters, and more specifically built for use by telegraph operators[^1]. There are many inefficiencies in the layout, I'm sure for a telegraph operator in the late 1800s, it was great, but today, it means you have to move your hands A LOT. These extra movements are incredibly repetitive, full of motion that is extraneous and slowly adds more stress to the joints in your hands. Using a newer and more efficient layout will be more comfortable, provide less long term stress on joints and will also allow the user to type fast. Okay, so what's the plan? Well, for a long time I've been using a 60% keyboard called the [Pok3r Vortex](https://vortexgear.store/products/the-new-pok3r-rgb). These smaller keyboards utilize programming layers to shift all the keys to a different layer when pressing a designated `Fn` key. This allows the user access the arrow, home, and end keys on the home row without moving the hands, all of these keys I heavily use while writing code as it allows fast code navigation.  So that's cool and all, but in my opinion, it doesn't go far enough. The layout is still an inefficient QWERTY layout, hitting the layer key `Fn` can be very awkward at the best of times. While having a compacted layout is nice, it not being a split keyboard causes the wrist joints to be held at odd angels without constant oversight. Now, most people looking for solutions to these common problems, go for a keyboard like the [Moonlander](https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/buy), but again, this doesn't go far enough as you still need to move and stretch your fingers way too much. Ideally, I wouldn't move my wrists and hands at all. Oh, and it's $350 at it's starting point. Ugh. So where does that leave me? Well, instead of 60% with 58–65 keys, maybe we do fewer keys with more layers. So after scrolling through the mechanical keyboard Subreddit (not so useful as they are more about aesthetics), I found myself looking through dedicated discords on 40% keyboards. After a bit of a search, I found this design, [Rommana](https://github.com/AlaaSaadAbdo/Rommana).  Wild hu? 30 keys. That's it. Sick. But, big downside, got to build it myself… well, truly, I kinda love that I have to build it myself. Do I know how to solder? Na. Any knowledge about electronics? Nope. Fun. [^1]: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/fact-of-fiction-the-legend-of-the-qwerty-keyboard-49863249/