Mechanical Keyboard Sound Isn't That Simple
Figure 1: I couldn't think of a more literal way to represent this article if I tried... Looking back just a few years ago, there’s no doubt that the huge influx of people that joined the hobby at the peak of the COVID pandemic were drawn to keyboards by way of YouTube, TikTok, and other audio-visual content platforms. Even as the output from these content creators has waned in recent months, their collective impact and legacy on the keyboard hobby is rather firmly etched in the history books. As a result of all of their sound tests, build logs, and opinion videos, the message is clear to any new person joining the hobby: mechanical keyboards are all about the sound. Thock this, clack that. Whether it’s keyboards, keycaps, or even singular switches, seemingly everyone new to the hobby meticulously pores over each component of their keyboard not in an attempt to figure out how it will feel in hand, but how it will sound as they’re furiously grinding their way out from...
Mar 27, 2024
Nothing to do with actual case ergonomics.
The literal definition of ergonomics is "an applied science concerned with designing and arranging things people use so that the people and things interact most efficiently and safely"; before the era of re-programmable keyboards the HHKB layout was/is more efficient and comfortable to use (even if marginally so) for most people than a regular ANSI-US board because of its shorter travel from homing in daily use.
That, by definition, makes it ergonomic. Just because the ergodox is ortholinear rather than staggered it doesn't mean anything that is staggered isn't ergonomic. Whether you agree or disagree with the notions I've provided is irrelevant to the argument at hand, as per Oxford's definition of ergonomics as well as the study of it as a science Massdrop's use of the word is correct. It's inarguable.