When you are drilling new keys but you absolutely do not want to look at the layout map that shows the keys you are supposed to know already.
this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
29 points (96.8% liked)
ErgoMechKeyboards
5941 readers
1 users here now
Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards
Rules
Keep it ergo
Posts must be of/about keyboards that have a clear delineation between the left and right halves of the keyboard, column stagger, or both. This includes one-handed (one half doesn't exist, what clearer delineation is that!?)
i.e. no regular non-split¹ row-stagger and no non-split¹ ortholinear²
¹ split meaning a separation of the halves, whether fixed in place or entirely separate, both are fine.
² ortholinear meaning keys layed out in a grid
No Spam
No excessive posting/"shilling" for commercial purposes. Vendors are permitted to promote their products/services but keep it to a minimum and use the [vendor] flair. Posts that appear to be marketing without being transparent about it will be removed.
No Buy/Sell/Trade
This subreddit is not a marketplace, please post on r/mechmarket or other relevant marketplace.
Some useful links
- EMK wiki
- Split keyboard compare tool
- Compare keycap profiles Looking for another set of keycaps - check this site to compare the different keycap profiles https://www.keycaps.info/
- Keymap database A database with all kinds of keymap layouts - some of them fits ergo keyboards - get inspired https://keymapdb.com/
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Ech what a nightmare. I figure I have one shot at an alt layout before my brain plasticity finally gives out so Colemak DH it is.
I hear you re: row stagger. I actually just realised in terms of touch typing the keys on the bottom row are shifted one column/one finger compared to a column staggered keyboard. Just as well I caught that before CDVK got too engrained.
Hey just anecdotal, but I find the first alt layout to be the most difficult (I went from long time dvorak to semimak if that matters). My brain started adapting to the fact that it has to adapt to new layouts once I started experimenting more alt layouts. Point is, don't get stuck on colemak 😅.
I'm currently going from Dvorak to semimak and it's been challenging lol. There seem to be a lot of Dvorak->semimak people out there
There's only so many rabbitholes I can go down ...
True that. I'm definitely not promoting "layout of the month" type of thing :D
My first foray into alt layout provided some intuition of what aspects of a layout are important to me personally and how they translate to various metrics. After that I make use of analyzers to evaluate different layouts without physically trying them out. I only transitioned to my current layout after becoming relatively sure -- through the analyzers -- it's something I'd stick to. I was mainly talking about this second transition being easier than learning the first one.
Speaking of analyzers, take a look at clemenpine's keysolve and oxey's layout playground
There is also an extensive alt layout document compiled by ec0vid.