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
I wonder if HHKB users (actually I should use"boards with Ctrl at Capslock position users" instead) want a more detailed bottom row.
Here is what I come up with:
Layout A: this is what I prefer
Layout B: for those who want dedicated arrow keys.
+ why HHKB? some of you may know about the Ctrl at Capslock position (at home row), I tried this and I can't go back. I also found out that if Capslock at position of Ctrl, sometimes I will accidentally press it while pressing Ctrl + Shift (with the pinky finger) though I'm not in favor of the Backspace right on top of Enter, sometimes I press Enter instead of Backspace, maybe I'm not that used to it (I don't have a HHKB)
+ why Home, End, Page Up,... everything is on the left side, are you a lefty? I'm not, though I'm trying to use two hands equally. Also when you're playing game, your right hand will operate the mouse, yeah?
+ there are two arrow clusters? Yes, another thing related to gaming: the cluster on the left is to move/pan the camera, you don't want to move your left hand to the arrows on the right, right? your right hand is with the mouse.
+ your right shift... yes, I feel that the current right shift is not that useful, you will have to move your hand away from the home keys. I do have a prototype board with shift at that position, though it's not as effective as I thought, my right thumb is useless
+ there are numpad keys? yes, I figured that someone would want to use them, for input numbers or use "key strokes" (ex. in Window: Alt + Num 0174 = ®) though I put the numpad 5 at the same position as "J" key, but it's not as effective as I thought, maybe these numpad keys need to be printed :(
+ what is "flip" key? It should "flip" layer of ESC key: - off: ESC, ` ~ (I think you will want dedicated ESC when gaming) - on: ` ~, ESC (for typing, you will want dedicated ` ~, right?)
and Fn + Flip: flip layer of "numpad keys" (this should be Fn + Shift + / on layout B & AB) - off: r t y u i, - + 7 8 9 - on: - + 7 8 9, r t y u i
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Please tell me what you think.
Thank you for reading.