I find it easier to maintain two layouts (QWERTY and Colemak DH) if I use them on physically different keyboards. QWERTY on standard row-staggered, Colemak on ergo keyboards. When I was mixing both layouts on standard keyboards, I found it harder to switch and made more mistakes.
luckybipedal
joined 2 years ago
Nice write-up! Out of the Choc switches I've tried, Sunsets are my favourites, too. I agree that Pinks are too light. I lubed mine and don't find them wobbly, though. Pro-Reds are borderline for me. I think part of the problem is the flat MBK key profile that makes the edge of the next key too easy to hit by accident. Too bad LDSA key caps never came back in stock.
I find the Sunsets are more scratchy when I hit them off-center. If I hit them just right, they feel smoother than MX Clears and more satisfying than MX Browns I have on other boards.
I need to fix the position and angle of split keyboards. If the halves move too easily, I lose accuracy. Therefore I prefer non split keyboards. If they have angled halves that allow the wrists to be comfortable, that's the best of both worlds for me.
I constantly switch between an ergo keyboard with Colemak DH and standard keyboards with QWERTY at work. Somehow they feel different enough that I can keep the muscle memories separate and switch easily.
X-Bows has some keyboards that look more ergonomic with pinky column stagger and splay but still a full complement of keys in a mostly traditional layout. Disclaimer: I've never used one as I was past that stage when it came out.
There are keyboard matrices that can accommodate more keys with fewer pins. E.g. https://kbd.news/Square-or-round-robin-matrix-1400.html. This one can do 12 keys with 4 pins. But needs some careful component choices to avoid ghosting.
On my 34-40 key layouts I put all the symbols typically used together in programming on the same layer, including symbols that usually require Shift, along with all the numbers. This makes it comfortable to type whole formulas without leaving the symbol layer and without needing Shift. Important bigrams that I can type without switching layers in the middle include <= >= != += -= *= /= %= &= |= -> /* */ => := :) ;) . I also optimize the layer so that none of these are same-finger bigrams. Because = appears in so many bigrams, I found it convenient to map it on a thumb key.
I make sure all the mods are comfortable to use and in the same place on all my layers, either as bottom row mod-taps or on opposite side thumb keys or worst case as a oneshot mod. I don't need Shift on my symbol layer, so one less mod to worry about.
Probably my favourite feature for a programming key map is _ on a base layer thumb key. That makes typing snake_case_names a breeze.
Thumb Shift makes a lot of sense to me. Most layouts switch layers using thumb keys. Conceptually, Shift is also a layer. I put it on the same thumb as my Symbol layer key and set up my symbol layer so that it doesn't need Shift: All shifted symbols have dedicated keys.
Sometimes I need Shift with mouse actions. As I use the mouse right-handed, Shift has to be on the left thumb for that to work.
Check out lowprokb.ca. Their excellent sunset switches are on sale right now. They have other choc switches, too. And they ship from Canada.