They can be but they are only a small part of the overall setup. You still need to have proper posture and pay particular attention to your habits.
Different switches can also help depending on your typing habits and usecase.
For me personally having less keys means less movement leading to significantly reduced possibility of RSI. With just 42 keys on my keyboard literally everything is one key away from each finger on home row so I can spend more time typing and mousing around than a traditional full size keyboard+mouse setup.
There's a whole world of custom split keyboard options out there that use switches where it's super easy to buy replacement keycaps. You can get keycaps made of PBT which are long-lasting and have a very high "rub" factor so you shouldn't have to worry about rubbing them raw for a very long time.
It's an article written by a mainstream site so I wasn't really expecting them to talk about split keyboards at all but I agree wholeheartedly.
I went from a full size to a 40% keyboard to an ortholinear and now use a low-profile split keyboard as a daily driver.
IME it's so much better for ergonomics with a proper desk setup and seating/posture with the split halves shoulder width apart. Wireless is a great benefit as well if you swap between desktops and laptops.
Open source firmware like ZMK and QMK make it trivial to use splits with Linux, mac OS and Windows and for any environments where the OS is locked down and software installation is required.
Probably using a QMK firmware-based keyboard where you can access different layers and shortcuts.
I'm using one right now (though mine runs off ZMK which is similar but wireless) which is a split with just 42 keys. The rest--numbers, symbols, function keys, etc. are all under layers. The layout is dynamic because holding down different keys makes the layout 'change' as you do so. Holding down the left spacebar and pressing 'Z' sends 'F1' to the computer while holding down another key on the right half turns my WER/SDF/XCV keys into a Numpad, etc.
That's amazing and an insane amount of work! I'm just as amazed at how Chris Sawyer wrote Transport Tycoon entirely in assembly as well though I don't believe he did it in the same amount of time as Wertich.
What is the contrast/brightness like with these? I've always wanted one for working with two screens on the go but the ones I've seen in public never seemed to get bright enough.
In a cafe or other bright environment they seem to reflect everything around them similar to the way my MacBook screen does which makes it hard to see anything.
I'm speaking only from limited time seeing them from afar though--I've not actually sat in front of one to use or test out in person.
Lesser-known keyboards: I use a small 40% (45-key keyboard) or an ortholinear keyboard for my daily work.
On both I have layers for a built-in Numpad, mouse keys (for controlling the mouse cursor without taking my hand off the keyboard), shortcuts for working with text (selecting an entire line, copying and pasting, etc) and various other finger- and wrist-saving shortcuts that help me ward off the likelihood of RSI.
I had a wrist injury in the past and it had a big impact on my productivity as a tech worker so using these small compact keyboards is a real godsend.
Everything I need is literally just one key away from another--no more stretching or contorting my hands and fingers to do CTRL+ALT+DELETE or CTRL+SHIFT+F5 for example.
The 40% keyboard can be used as a daily driver but the ortholinear keyboard is my go-to since it's perfect for both work and play.
Different switches can also help depending on your typing habits and usecase.
For me personally having less keys means less movement leading to significantly reduced possibility of RSI. With just 42 keys on my keyboard literally everything is one key away from each finger on home row so I can spend more time typing and mousing around than a traditional full size keyboard+mouse setup.