Keymap Progress (Updated 4/19/16)
4/19/16 -
First Draft ... yikes! Tear it to shreds! So, here's what's going on with this.
Over 50% of respondents (
n>25) said they preferred the All-in-One Ergodox sets. This type of set has been seen with 1976 and Nantucket Selectric. That, in itself, is a pretty significant trend from this survey. If that trend holds, and the pursuit of a set with legends fails, we may have to shift our discussion to whether or not that model, with blank modifiers, is something we'd like to see adopted by most GBs.
I decided on a 100-key kit by accident. Some of the keys were too varied for me to comfortably place a legend on them. This was more of an aesthetic choice than anything else. A lot of the keys that have legends are majority placements. A few are plurality (more than other options, but less than 50% of responses) placements. As this process carries on, I'd imagine a lot of these will change. With the exception of a Windows and arrow keys, the responses were all over the place. Also, I did consciously choose to leave Left hand,R1 1.5u blank despite almost all responses mapping it to Escape.
4/17/16 -
Hey all, here's a mock-up of the keys that we seem to have most people agree on!This is a joke ... sort of.I had been really hesitant to take a stab at a keyset proposal without a large sample size, but it seems like interest in this project really died off after a solid first two weeks. I figure that if I start posting some results, that we might be able to generate a little bit of discussion, even if people only come here to tell me how far off I am and that I should stop.
That said, this "keymap" isn't just a joke. There is something else here. One of the more surprising early trends from the survey is that respondents tend to favor the All-in-One option for Ergodox keysets. This goes against my personal preference, but since this is a community effort, I wanted to start things off for what a potential All-in-One keyset could look like. This is a 100-key All-in-One Ergodox keymap. My current plan is to take the most popular options, add the legends, but, offer enough blanks to cover the modifiers. There will be a few exceptions to this.. but sit tight. I'm going to put up something for you to tear apart in the next couple of days!
Emerging TrendsPlease note that sample size is still quite small at this point (n<20), so these trends may subside or even reverse.There is not a single key that has we have unanimously placed in the same position. The goal for the standard kit is not to leave anyone behind. If your keyset goes against the trend, please don't think that you won't be accommodated.
April 5 Early findings.
Please note that this is not a presentation of actual findings. It would irresponsible to move towards making a kit with so little data. It's just too early. Hence, I'll be withholding actual numbers for the time being. That said, In PM's and publicly, respondents have expressed an interest in 'seeing the numbers.' So, here is an attempt to accommodate that and perhaps spur interest in participation.1) Possibly the most significant, and least surprising, trend is that Ergodox users tend to leave keys roughly where they would exist on a normal keyboard. These are the early majority placements:
LH, R1, 1.5u is often mapped to Escape
LH, R2, 1.5u is often mapped to Tab
LH, R4, 1.5u is often mapped to Shift
Especially considering that Tab and Pipe-Slash are already accommodated in Base Kits, this might be an area where we might be able to satisfy almost all users by providing a single blank key in that row and size.
2) The thumb keys, a majority of the time, seem to be mapped to cursor manipulation. Space, Enter, and Backspace were the most common responses for the the thumb keys. There is a significant possibility that we will be able to arrive at a reasonable consensus for thumb keys with legends.