Years ago I bought a Filco Majestouch, great little device, built like a brick. Still use it for PC work (mostly gaming).
But for work I've used a Mac keyboard for years as well, the numpad-less compact model. It's great and my go-to / default.
But, I bought into the Moonlander hype as well, currently typing this on one and trying to get used to it. I'm a quick typer but no keyboard warrior; typing this message seems to be fine, but coding is a lot more painful or difficult to get used to; I use the arrow keys, which are in awkward positions on the Moonlander; I use some keyboard combinations to select or navigate across whole words, that's some muscle memory that needs to be retrained and the finger combo seems weird. Feels like I have to stretch my fingers a lot more for anything that isn't just typing shitposts on the internets.
Might just be getting used to things, might be I need to relearn some muscle memory, or might be I should finally learn vim or emacs since that's apparently what all the cool kids do. I could never get into it myself, even knowing some tricks, navigating is still painful in vim to me.
I used to have similar issues with the Moonlander. This is how I solved them:
> coding is a lot more painful or difficult to get used to
Primarily, it was the symbols, {}()[]$ etc, which were hardest to hit for me. I put my Layer 1 "hold" key to the left of my H key (I use the QWERTY layout) and have remapped keys under my left hand to output symbols with Layer 1. It takes some memorizing to remember which key to press for each symbol, but it is not too bad.
> I use the arrow keys, which are in awkward positions on the Moonlander
I used to use the arrow keys using my middle and index finger. Now I use my thumbs. It's a lot easier this way.
> finger combo seems weird
Try remapping those modifier keys to an easier-to-reach key, or alternatively setting up a macro key (for example, I have a Command-space macro key because command and space are on the same thumb cluster in my layout).
But for work I've used a Mac keyboard for years as well, the numpad-less compact model. It's great and my go-to / default.
But, I bought into the Moonlander hype as well, currently typing this on one and trying to get used to it. I'm a quick typer but no keyboard warrior; typing this message seems to be fine, but coding is a lot more painful or difficult to get used to; I use the arrow keys, which are in awkward positions on the Moonlander; I use some keyboard combinations to select or navigate across whole words, that's some muscle memory that needs to be retrained and the finger combo seems weird. Feels like I have to stretch my fingers a lot more for anything that isn't just typing shitposts on the internets.
Might just be getting used to things, might be I need to relearn some muscle memory, or might be I should finally learn vim or emacs since that's apparently what all the cool kids do. I could never get into it myself, even knowing some tricks, navigating is still painful in vim to me.