In picture

I think it would be unfair to do this kind of post without showing the keyboard

Keyboard: Sofle Choc by splitted.space.
They're making Cooler Sofles these days.

Switches: 35gf Ambient Twilights

Keycaps: 57x MBK Convex POM, 1x wrk. Dime (for the Gui key!)

Legs: "Slim laptop kickstand" by Baseus

Macro pad: UwU by Wooting
Sometimes you can find these for cheap when people discover that switch actuation point was not the only thing stopping them from being good at osu! / etc.

Mouse: Razer Naga X
A slightly excessive number of side buttons requires the so-called MMO mice to have a somewhat ergonomic profile.

Mostly out of frame: Kensington Orbit
Here for the "scroll ring" or giving the cursor small nudges.

Default layer

I've had the keyboard for slightly less than two years now so the layout has relatively stabilized.

Notes:

• I have medium-sized hands and use a lightly claw-ish hand placement so all of the keys are accessible from the home row
• Ukrainian alphabet has 33 letters in it so the alpha rows have to be mostly like this unless you're willing to learn an alt. layout (as if I don't have enough things to do)
• Having a rotary encoder with Up/Down arrows next to an Enter key is very nice for navigating menus!
• I press those Left/Right keys by curling fingers, not with a thumb
• Having Delete as a tap on Alt is very nice when selecting things with a mouse!
• Having -_ =+ on thumb is a little silly, but it's nice for programming/markup.

Navigation layer

Notes:

• I don't like home-row mods, but I do like a home-row of mods on a navigation layer for wiggling lines of text/code around.
• Having PrtScr and F4 above Alt is very nice on Windows/Linux!
• Copy Word does Ctrl-Left, Ctrl-Shift-Right, Ctrl-C. This isn't perfect (can't select on word start), but still I get a lot of use out of this.
• There are two AltGrs because I have a bunch of symbols (— · ➜ ≤≥ etc.) mapped through AHK on Windows and custom shortcuts on Linux.
• "Search" opens voidtools Everything on Windows and FSearch on Linux - for quickly locating well-named files and directories.
• The top-left key used to be Esc and I haven't found anything else I'd like there.
• TG N/2 toggles the following:

Nav block toggle layer

For playing games without re-mappable controls (or playing them without re-mapping anything).

Numpad and mirror layer

Enough to type numbers and small snippets of text without moving the right hand away from the mouse!

The numpad portion is mostly used to type phone numbers and 2FA codes.

The mouse

Evidently it's mostly navigation keys and shortcuts that would take more work to access otherwise (e.g. are on the right half of the keyboard). Scroll Up/Down do 4 scroll "clicks" at a time.

Razer's software isn't The Best, but they do have application-specific profiles, which is good help for games with a large number of inputs.

You can also define one extra layer, but this mouse does not have any buttons that are convenient enough to press for that (e.g. G600 had a third "shift" button on top) so it's mostly useless unless you have another Razer peripheral and the service is running.

Considerations

Hypothetically I could use another column for layout experiments (like offloading [ and | keys there and having an arrow key corner instead of a toggle layer), but there are rather few keyboards like this, less so pre-soldered and/or low-profile.

On other hand, the smallest keyboard I could use for anything would likely be 6x3+3, though I don't see myself needing one unless PG1316S boards become common enough for vendors to sell pre-built options.

Thanks for reading !

GitHub: https://yal-tools.github.io/ergo-keyboards/

It is not as big as some existing collections, however:

• I have filled out a bunch of metadata for the keyboards, such as switch profile and spacing, number/types of encoders, and information about the common and less-common input devices
• By limiting this to column-staggered and ortholinear keyboards only, it is possible to do a few more useful things, such as filtering based on column/row count (as if key count means much on smaller keyboards), key clusters, pinky stagger, or splay.
• Apart of filtering, you can sort the keyboards, toggle visibility of columns (to only see what you care about), and generally sift through keyboards pretty quickly.

A few more pictures:

Finding yourself some little keyboards with Choc/GLP switches

Taking a peek at the rarer 7+ column keyboards

Submitting a new keyboard

All in all, I hope that this will make it easier to answer "is there a keyboard that does X" type of questions

The two are pretty similar, but to me red pro is just about the point where I can hold the key without thinking about it, which is a good trait for modifier keys.

Originally I used numpad as a navigation block, but I've since figured out that setting right thumb row to [MO(2)←→↑↓] / [▿Home End PageUp PageDown] works well for my purposes, so now it's just chillin'.

Assembled (complete with the pleasantly smooth photopolymer SLA case) by a local company (splitted_space on Telegram), originally with brown switches.

Some context: I write code and play videogames, primarily on Windows and currently on a Logitech K860, which I've been thinking of replacing with something that is less wide and/or two-piece. In looking into this I have discovered that there's quite a number of keyboards that fit my criteria, so I could use some help figuring out what's more likely to be a good choice.

What do I desire:

• US-like QWERTY layout
  (LShift next to Z, horizontal or otherwise reasonable-sized Enter)
• TKL (or otherwise not too wide)
• Split
  (ideally two-part, but the classic 15(?)-degree triangle in the middle is also okay)
• Probably a normal staggered layout (I touch-type, but it's not strict home-row typing)
• Normal arrow keys
  (read: separate keys not requiring an Fn press/layer switch; Up-arrow being above Down-arrow)
• Home/End keys next to arrow keys, or accessible via Fn+arrow
  (or a couple useless keys next to arrow keys that could be remapped)
• A Delete key somewhere in that area
  (or another useless key that can be remapped)
• Digit keys
• A Windows/Option key

Nice to have:

• F-keys (to use for keyboard shortcuts)
• Tenting
• (detachable?) palm supports
• Wired connection or optional cable.

Things that don't mean too much:

• Lighting
• Key labels and their durability
• High-end macro recording (key codes can be remapped on PC side)

Misc:

• I've not owned enough mechanical keyboards to have a switch preference beyond "shouldn't take much force to press / shouldn't be too loud".
• I can assemble and disassemble devices, but probably wouldn't find time to solder.
• Not particularly limited in terms of budget - been a few years since I've last got a fancy keyboard.
• I'm used to low-profile keyboards, though it's more about travel time and how much the keys poke out of the keyboard than actual key cap height.

What else I've used that's worth noting:

• MSI GK-701 (non-split)
  Bought to see what was the fuss with Cherry MX brown switches, but couldn't get used to how tall this thing was (~4cm).
• Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop
  Very good keyboard layout, somewhat stiff (?) keys and clicky F-keys.
• HAVIT HV-KB390L (non-split)
  A pretty pleasant TKL low-profile keyboard with Kailh white switches that I used for a little while before going back to split keyboards.
• Logitech K860
  Better keys than Sculpt, but full-sized.
• Perrixx/MoKo/etc. Foldable Keyboard (aka B.O.W. keyboard)
  It's a pocket comedy split keyboard. Not very high-quality, but beats typing on the phone, you know?
• Logitech K280e (non-split)
  A curious low-profile, quiet (rubber-domed?) office keyboard that I use with secondary devices.

Considerations so far

Sculpt-likes (one-piece ~75%):

• Perixx PERIDUO-606
  A mouse wheel in the middle?
• Perixx PERIBOARD-613 B
  This one has a 4:1 Enter key. I think it's for people that like their RShift keys.
• Perixx PERIBOARD-335 (TKL)
  A mass-market-ish keyboard with mechanical switches? That's neat. Not hot swap, but still!
• Lenovo Go Wireless Split
  Apparently Lenovo made a conventional TKL split keyboard once.
• BC Split Ergonomic
  Seems like an almost 1:1 replica of Sculpt layout, except for distribution of F-keys. UK layout only, I think?
• X-Bows Knight
  Column-staggered, has a 2x2 Backspace key, and the most obnoxious website I've seen as of late.
• Truly Ergonomic 229 Mechanical Keyboard
  A similar design to X-Bows, but with a more symmetrical layout. -Truly Ergonomic CLEAVE
  A slightly different design with a handful of large keys for your thumbs.

Two-piece (pre-assembled):

• Goldtouch V2 (>75%)
  A seemingly normal rubber-domed keyboard.
• Kinesis Freestyle2/Pro/Edge (>75%)
  A similar layout. I guess this one made it big because every other split keyboard post I find includes a sponsored listing from Kinesis.
  And what's the difference between these? Switches, programmable buttons, and lighting?
• Matias Ergo Pro (>75%)
  That's a quirky layout, but technically has all the buttons.
• Cloud Nine ErgoTKL (>75%)
  A fairly Sculpt-like layout with a couple extra buttons.
• Core Mechanics Project: 0001 (>75%)
  Pretty good layout and a couple macro keys too. A clean look.
• Perixx PERIBOARD-524B (75%)
  A perfectly normal two-piece layout.
• Goldtouch Go!2
  The wireless/scissor edition of the seemingly normal keyboard, now with a couple sacrifices and navigation keys on the left.
• R-Go Split Break
  This is a different kind of a compact comedy keyboard, except it's a wired PC keyboard.

Two-piece (kits):

• Mistel MD770 (75%)
  An (almost) perfectly normal layout that's split into two halves.
  650L seems similar sans the f-key row.
• YMDK Split 64/75/84
  All QMK-based I believe?
• Keychron Q11 QMK (75%-ish)
  Also a pretty normal layout featuring two knobs.
• Keebio collections (65%..>75%)
  I've not even heard of some of these switches before, but Cepstrum looks intriguing.
• Sinc R3 (>75%)

One-piece (kits):

• Keychron Q8
  That's not how you curve a keyboard.
• Feker Alice 80 (65%)
  A very sensible layout sans the relocated Win-key.