5. Glove80 is a columnar keyboard: it is designed to reduce the need for fingers stretching
sideways. Most of our finger movements are to curl and uncurl. The index and the pinky
fingers are each responsible for two columns, while the middle and ring fingers are each
responsible for one column. Adjust the position of your palm (and if necessary the two
halves of the keyboard) until you feel comfortable reaching the finger keys.
6. Glove80’s thumb cluster is unique. It is designed to require no or very little palm
movement to reach all 6 thumb keys. Try pivoting your thumb from the base joint of your
thumb to reach each of the thumb keys.
That’s it! Here is a video of one of our testers typing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68v-AztMob8
If you are already familiar with typing on a columnar keyboard such as an Ergodox, you should
very quickly adapt to your Glove80. If you have never typed on a columnar keyboard, there will
be a learning curve to adapt to the columnar finger movement. Most people find themselves
picking up the basics within a day, but mastery will take at least a few weeks of practice.
Default key layout
Glove80 supports the concept of multiple layers.When you power on the keyboard, the Base
Layer will be in effect. However you can switch to different layers) in which the same key will
have different meanings. This isn’t as confusing as it may sound: you do the same when you
use the Fn key on a laptop. There are two ways of switching layers: You can switch to another
layer momentarily (for as long as you hold down a trigger key, à la “Fn”) or indefinitely until you
switch layer again.
When shipped, Glove80’s default key layout has 3 Layers: Base Layer, Lower Layer and the
Magic Layer.
Here is the Base Layer:
