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Most of what I do work-wise is data-entry type tasks, and coding-type work in Business Objects and Excel. I rarely need to write long screeds; 2 page briefing notes are about my usual length (my longer prose is unintelligible to non-technical people so I was never given that kind of work).
So I'm often using my right hand to navigate and the left to enter data which involves a lot of copy/paste; this often involves 3 windows - for example, a list of bad gazetteer addresses in Excel, database window, browser window to find correct address data from various online sources. If working in Business Objects, I'm creating variables or setting up query conditions.
That means a split keyboard is not a good solution for me as I often want to enter numeric data with my left hand and I find a separate numeric keypad doesn't work very well. It's having the keyboard in different sections that throws me.
What I've found is I cannot have anything around or under my wrists when working - not only wrist rests but even watches or jewelry. Also, I can't have my hands in a different vertical plane to my forearms (I have to work like _ _ not _ /). So I have my forearms supported in the cradles, and there is sufficient height to have my fingertips resting on an ultra-thin keyboard with my wrists in free space, my chair is raised slightly and I use a foot rest.
I've tried vertical mice and raised cradles (the type that clamp to the desk) with my fingers drooping onto the keyboard but they're too high for my shoulders (arthritis) and I couldn't get sufficient play to move my hands to where they needed to be, and vertical mice are not ambidextrous (very rarely I need to switch hands for mouse work).
I think you have to try various options and see what works for you. We all have different ergonomic requirements - if I did a lot of Word work, I may well change my mind; but as I'm a data person not a word person the question doesn't arise.
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