I've been using an alternative keyboard layout (Neo2) for around eight years now, and am really happy with it. I do touch type, so I don't really need keycap legends; in fact, I've been using standard QWERTY legends all the time. But sometimes I think it would be nice to have legends that actually reflect the layout I'm using – for example when typing one-handed while eating a sandwich, or to make it clear to coworkers that my keyboard is somewhat different from theirs.
However, when using sculpted keycaps with different shapes for each row, they cannot really be rearranged – except within their respective rows. So, just as a thought experiment, I wanted to ask: could we make a better (i.e. more efficient and ergonomic) layout than QWERTY just by rearranging the letters within their respective rows?
Just as an example, I made up this, without any optimization or anything:
u i e o w q r t y p
l F g a k d h s J ;
x v b c z m n , .
The thoughts behind this were:
– put all the vowels on the left hand and (as far as possible) the most used consonants on the right hand
– put the most used letters on better positions
– put F and J on the ring fingers to retain the functionality of the homing keys while having the index and middle finger positions for more important letters
– leave x, v, c and z on the left hand to be able to use the associated shortcuts while mousing with the right
– leave comma and full stop where they are, because the Wikipedia article on letter frequencies didn't provide any data for those
Like I said, all of this is really just a thought experiment, as I don't have any plans to move away from Neo any time soon (and certainly not for an inferior layout, which this would inevitably be), but maybe some of you would like to think about this with me