Hello Jack - hand designing a layout is very hard, because there are so many factors to look into. That's why it may be a good idea to look into software that does this for you. I mentioned MTGAP and ADNW. Both very good. You can change lots of the values they use. Such as penalties for pinky use. Some values can be changed at runtime, sometimes you have to change the code a bit before compiling. MTGAP is in C; ADNW in C++. AdnW is more precise in the sense that you can specify that (on the same hand) you prefer (on a qwerty layout) AF over AS, because the latter is 2 weak neigbouring fingers in a row. MTGAP does not have this " neighbouring" factor.
The standard penalties for the positions (qwerty t, y and b are hard to reach) look sane in MTGAP and AdnW. I find the standard Carpalx penalties not quite right. It sees all home row positions as equal; all top row positions are equal too; and all bottom row positions are equal as well. I feel that in Correspondent2
QFKLMWVUJY[]\
SDTNRIAEOG'
;ZBHXPC,./
M, W, R and I are in suboptimal positions, while C, F and K are in too good positions. I think! Maybe you can change those values as well, the source of the Carpalx program is available, it is written in Perl. Of which I know nothing
So I did not dive into it.
I am using my AIENH layout, alhough I agree with Carpalx criticism that it can have too long strings of letters on the left hand. Short distance has won, at the expense of hand alternation. This gives a bit unbalanced feel, just like Colemak or Qwerty by the way. That's is why I calculated a much more balanced version, which is actually better:
. u o f y q p l m w
a i e s h c d n t r
: , ? k x b g v z j
This is a very good layout for Dutch/English. You may try it in
patorjk. Just start with qwerty and move keys until you have this layout. You can't upload new layouts in patorjk anymore, that's why you have to do it this way. BTW, these are the shift positions: ./ :; ,< ?>
Just copy some Dutch and English text, paste it and run patorjk. Use the score that patorjk gives with caution: a score is only as good as its algorithm.
While AIESH is really good, I feel it can be even better, if you pay attention to neighbouring fingers. I found that rolls may be nice but more alternation is better. That's why I'm looking at AdnW. The standard AdnW is already nice and has an extremely good hand alternation, but I will calculate a version for Dutch/English which must be better for my use.
HOW did I change? I'm using Linux and Windows. On my Linux computers, I changed a XKB file. I made a bash alias to quickly change layouts (in case someone need my computer for a while). A better way would be to make a new user ("guest"), that you give a normal qwerty layout. At work I am forced to use windows machines. I made an AutoHotKey script, as you were thinking of as well. I was lazy and started with a script made by Dreymar from the
Colemak forums. I changed one of those files a bit, look into it, it is not hard.
The trouble with Windows is however that many programs look for the scancodes that are linked (by the keyboard firmware) to physical keys. So, the AutoHotKey script puts V on a different key, but for ctrl-V I still need the " old" V. Same for ctrl-X, ctrl-P and so on. This is confusing, because Linux does this right. So, ctrl-V is on my laptop on the new V, but at work on the old V. I think there are trick to improve this somewhat, but I haven't found the time. But, anyway, yes AutoHotKey it is for Windows. Put it on an USB and you are golden.
Then there is the learning. If you already touch type, swhitching is hard; if you don't touch type you have to learn that as well, and then switching is hellish hard. But it can be done, I did it. A second switch is faster btw. I use Amphetype (see GitHub). Amphetype need words for lessons, I made lessons using:
- the most common digrams and trigrams in Dutch and English
- the 1000 most common words in Dutch
- the 1000 most common words in English
Amphetype is nice program, it gives stats on which letters you miss most, average speeds, accuracy percentages and so on. Start with 2 x 10 minutes of practice per day.
Your question was about punctuation on the left hand. That is no problem at all, zero adaptation time. Having : and ? without needing to use shift is pleasant too. I switched (like Colemak) backspace and capslock as well.
I do not know how IT-technical you are. If this is too technical, shoot me a PM if you need help with something, I'd be glad to help someone out. Even though I'm just a hobbyist myself and far from an expert.
