What I wish I'd known before getting into split keyboards: definitely results in better keyboard ergonomics, but worse pointing device ergonomics.
If your keyboard halves are perfectly aligned with your arms, your pointing device won't be. If you move it in the middle of the halves or to the side, it hurts.
Gotta move one half in a bit to make room for it, which makes you want to ease the other half in too. So both halves end up very close to each other… like in a normal keyboard.
@jonikorpi Are your arms parallel?
I have the top corners of my keyboard almost touching and angle my halves outward to match the angle of my arms coming in. My trackball is on the right.
I've used this setup for years with Kinesis Freestyle keyboards and it's greatly resolved my issues that other "natural" keyboards didn't. But it's the only true split I've ever used.
@jonikorpi Oh, yeah. Mine has risers to lift the middle to tent it like that. I guess you need to find something that can give it that lift!
I've used a Magic Bag (full of beans or rice or whatever) to give similar lift to my trackball. Not very professional looking, but doubles as a wrist cushion.
Joni Korpi
David