I tried out really a lot of various layout variations and I came back...
This is what is currently commited:
,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,---------,
| `~ | !1 | @2 | #3 | $4 | %5 | ^6 | &7 | *8 | \9 | |0 | -_ | =+ | bkspc |
|------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,------|
| tab | q | w | e | r | t | [{ | ]} | u | i | o | p | y | /? |
|---------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'------|
| caps | a | s | d | f | g | '" | h | j | k | l | ,; | enter |
|------------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'----------|
| shift | z | x | c | v | (< | )> | n | m | b | .: | shift |
'----,--------,-'---,--'---,--'------'------'------'------'------'----,--'------'--,---,--------,----'
| ctrl | | alt | | altgr | | ctrl |
'--------' '-------'------------------------------------------'------------' '--------'
- super trivial to get used to
- easy on the right pinky & shoulder
- In the middle, I opened a space for parentheses, curly and other braces that a programmer needs all the time
- I swapped the shift on the numerical row, numbers are used more seldom than operators
- The single quote is more often used in programming than the double, so the double is on the shift
- comma, period, semicolon, colon grouped and exposed by usage frequency
- I swapped the shift on curly braces. Array indexes are usually stream-typed.
- Y and B moved from inside to the outside
- backslash
\on the 9, pipe character|on the 0. - the question mark and the slash(division) moved as whole to the vicinity of enter
- intuitive expectation
AlrGr+~tildeãÃẽẼĩĨñÑõÕũŨṽṼỹỸ˘AlrGr+/combining short solidus overlay∅ⱥȺȼȻɇɆłŁøØⱦȾAlrGr+|0degree signåÅůŮẘ°ẙ°°AlrGr+!1a dot above resp. no dot aboveıİȧȦḃḂċĊḋḊėĖḟḞġĠḣḢṁṀṅṄȯȮṗṖṙṘṡṠṫṪẇẆẋẊẏẎżŻ˙AlrGr+@2diaeresis (two dots)ßäÄëËḧḦïϨ¨öÖẗ¨üÜẅẄẍẌÿŸ¨AlrGr+^6circumflex accentâÂĉĈêÊĝĜĤģîÎĵĴôÔŝŜÛûŵŴ^^ẑẐ^
- intuition extension
AlrGr+&7caronǎǍčČďĎěĚǧǦȟȞǐǏǰˇǩǨľĽňŇǒǑřŘšŠťŤǔǓˇˇžŽˇˇAlrGr+*8breveăğĂĞ˘
- central "X space"
AlrGr+[{cedillaņçģşļķŗţŅÇĢŞĻĶŖŢ¸AlrGr+]}ogonekąęųįĄĘŲĮ˛AlrGr+'"double acute accentűőŰŐ˝AlrGr+(<grave accentàÀèÈìÌòÒùÙǹǸẁẀỳỲAlrGr+)>acute accentáÁćĆéÉǵǴíÍḱḰĺĹḿḾńŃóÓṕṔŕŔśŚúÚẃẂ´´ýÝźŹ´
There are a couple of missing positions: those are missing in Unicode altogether.
Use with Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator 1.4.
The install script rather simple, one-time use only - informs&exits on successive attempts. No uninstall script. No internationalization support yet.
Nothing yet - let me know.
- keep B and Y where they were for the trade-of of having less extra keys in the middle
- OPT: keep the numerical row like it is: numbers without shift, operators with shift
- standard keys on expected positions:
;:,<,,>.,|\ - standard keys on different positions:
/?,"' - better availibility for curly braces, brackets
,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,---------,
| `~ | !1 | @2 | #3 | $4 | %5 | ^6 | &7 | *8 | (9 | )0 | -_ | =+ | bkspc |
|------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,------|
| tab | q | w | e | r | t | {} | y | u | i | o | p | /? | |\ |
|---------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'------|
| caps | a | s | d | f | g | "' | h | j | k | l | :; | enter |
|------------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'----------|
| shift | z | x | c | v | [] | b | n | m | <, | >. | shift |
'----,--------,-'---,--'---,--'------'------'------'------'------'----,--'------'--,---,--------,----'
| ctrl | | alt | | altgr | | ctrl |
'--------' '-------'------------------------------------------'------------' '--------'
,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,---------,
| `~ | !1 | @2 | #3 | $4 | %5 | ^6 | &7 | *8 | /9 | ?0 | -_ | =+ | bkspc |
|------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,------|
| tab | q | w | e | r | t | {} | [] | u | i | o | p | y | |\ |
|---------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'------|
| caps | a | s | d | f | g | "' | h | j | k | l | ,; | enter |
|------------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'----------|
| shift | z | x | c | v | () | <> | n | m | b | .: | shift |
'----,--------,-'---,--'---,--'------'------'------'------'------'----,--'------'--,---,--------,----'
| ctrl | | alt | | altgr | | ctrl |
'--------' '-------'------------------------------------------'------------' '--------'
Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator is super simple to use, linux users need to edit just one straightforward file.
This is what A Modern Keyboard Layout: wide, prg, num, dead, dvrk, rl evolved into.