Most individuals tend to rely on just one of their thumbs for hitting the space bar, whether they are typing or playing games. Interestingly, even in the world of enthusiast mechanical keyboards, many still feature a single long space bar that occupies about half of the bottom row. An alternative comes in the form of split space bar designs, which break the space bar into two or even three separate keys, as seen with the Epomaker TH40.
The Purpose of Split Space Bars
The main aim behind the split space bar design is to maximize the use of our thumbs, which are typically the most agile fingers we have. While this design can indeed enhance thumb function, the perception of technology, especially keyboards, places the split space bar in a somewhat awkward position.
Advantages of Split Space Bars
Utilizing a split space bar can lessen finger fatigue and potentially boost both typing speed and accuracy, provided that users are willing to invest some time to adapt. The clear benefit of a split design is its efficient use of space on the keyboard's bottom row, but there is much more to it. With keyboard customization tools like VIA, having double or triple space bars unlocks numerous possibilities.
Rather than just pressing one large button with your two strongest fingers, QMK/VIA enables users to remap one or more space bars to functions such as Shift, Enter, or even a layer shortcut on the additional keys. In theory, this remapping allows for adding macros or punctuation that might not be available on the base layer, similar to what we accomplished with the Epomaker TH40 recently.
Improved Sound Quality
Another advantage of split space bars is that they tend to produce a better sound, primarily due to their smaller size, which generally makes them easier to stabilize and quiet down.
After you become accustomed to using a split space bar, particularly if you've customized it to your preferences, returning to a traditional keyboard layout can be quite challenging. However, this is where the issues arise. Despite the increasing popularity of Alice layout keyboards, such as the Keychron Q8 Max (currently priced at $219.99 on Amazon), these layouts remain non-standard, meaning that split space bar keyboards can be pricey.
Challenges in Adoption
The limited adoption of such designs contributes to the lack of standardization. Many split space bar keyboards still come with both space bars set to function as, well, Space, which is not much more useful than a standard wide space bar. These keyboards can only be effective if users are willing to navigate keyboard customization software to configure the extra buttons in a meaningful way. It seems unlikely that anyone besides the most dedicated enthusiasts and tinkerers would take the time to do this.
Until a practical standard layout for split space bars that appeals to the average user is established—though the hardcore enthusiasts will remap it regardless—we may all remain stuck in the realm of 7u space bar frustration, twisting and bending our hands in awkward ways just to type a capital "T."
