Support for Alternative Layouts
This is a summary of how alternative layouts have been supported by kits such as Colevrak and Homing. It is not a discussion of alt layout performance and development, but if that interests you I highly recommend starting with Pascal Getreuer’s A guide to alt keyboard layouts (why, how, which one?). It’s a concise and comprehensive overview with links to some great sites that go deeper. He also has a separate Links about keyboards page. The Keyboard layouts doc he recommends explains layout goals and metrics in detail, summarizing the alt layouts discussed here as well as more than one hundred others. Sculpted-profile The majority of custom keycap sets are sculpted-profile (Cherry, SA, MT3, KAT, etc. - more on profiles generally here) so let’s start there. Because each row has a unique keycap shape, alt layouts require a unique keycap for each legend that moves off its QWERTY row. At first there were two The Dvorak layout was patented in 1936 by August Dvorak & William L....
Apr 23, 2024
It didn’t take long before we couldn’t resist rummaging through his closet to see what secrets were hiding inside. What else do you do when left alone in someone else’s house? While Yanbo’s biceps may not have grown, our own personal wealth was about to boom, for what was behind that closet door was a vast array of keyboard riches.
Alex and I debated the day away with what we should do next, while Yanbo should have been moving on to his eighth and final daily workout. Time was running out, when we heard a knock at the door… The jig was up and our dreams of early retirement ended before they even began. Unfortunately for us, it was not Yanbo, but Queen Xi who stood blocking the doorway to our dreams.
Soon we found ourselves locked in mortal combat using the age-old dispute-ending device of arm wrestling. We stood no chance against Xi. Alex and I were swiftly defeated, with Yanbo’s taunting final words and the shrill sound of Xi’s laughter echoing in our ears—the soundtrack to our complete and utter defeat.
In that moment I watched as our dreams crumbled in on us and a single tear rolled down my tender cheek. Xi declared Yanbo’s glorious mech keys stash as spoils of war, which as such would be immediately offered to the Mech Keys Community.
These fabled treasures will be unveiled and made available on March 27 at 6am PT. Don’t miss this chance to help make Yanbo, Alex, and myself cry a little—you surely won’t regret it. See below for a list of the loot being offered: