Hey guys, I'm shopping around this idea for what may be my ideal layout.
Guiding principles for design:
- I love my Thinkpad's Trackpoint. Often in my workflow, I can move the cursor and submit the necessary command before my hand could have made it to my mouse.
- Ortholinear boards are all the rage. I'd like to try one.
- Custom keycaps should fit as much as possible.
- Smaller boards are cheaper and more portable.
- Semi-split layout will reduce wrist strain
- Fully programmable boards are the most useful.
Design decisions:
- Integrated Trackpoint
- Ortholinear Grid layout
- All the keys in white come from a standard 60% kit. The greens are extra.
- Basically a 60% board
- One key width of split allows for further hand spacing AND Trackpoint integration. No need to cut any keycaps to accommodate the trackpoint.
- I'm pretty sure that using a Trackpoint with a Teensy running TMK firmware is well documented.
note: The key marked "clit mouse" is not a key at all, but where the trackpoint will be mounted. I didn't see the right way to insert one on the editor.
The downsides:
Looks funky
Not symmetrical
A few non-standard keycaps
I'm fairly new to the scene, so there may already exist a keyboard just like this one. If not, let me know how I can make this one better.
Here is the layout, if you'd care to tinker.
http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/##@@_a:6%3B&=Esc&_x:0.25&a:4%3B&=~%0A%60&=!%0A1&=%2F@%0A2&=%23%0A3&=$%0A4&=%25%0A5&_c=%2367bf7a&a:6&h:2%3B&=Fn&_c=%23cccccc&a:4%3B&=^%0A6&=%2F&%0A7&=*%0A8&=%28%0A9&=%29%0A0&=%2F_%0A-&=+%0A%2F=&_w:2%3B&=Delete%3B&@_x:0.75&w:1.5%3B&=Tab&=Q&=W&=E&=R&=T&_x:1%3B&=Y&=U&=I&=O&=P&={%0A[&=}%0A]&_w:1.5%3B&=|%0A\%3B&@_x:0.5&w:1.75%3B&=Caps%20Lock&=A&=S&=D&=F&=G&_c=%2367bf7a%3B&=middle%0Aclick&_c=%23cccccc%3B&=H&=J&=K&=L&=%2F:%0A%2F%3B&=%22%0A%27&_w:2.25%3B&=Enter%3B&@_w:2.25%3B&=Shift&=Z&=X&=C&=V&=B&_c=%23eb1515&t=%23decaca%3B&=Clit%0AMouse&_c=%23cccccc&t=%23000000%3B&=N&=M&=%3C%0A,&=%3E%0A.&=%3F%0A%2F%2F&_w:2.75%3B&=Shift%3B&@_w:1.25%3B&=Ctrl&_w:1.25%3B&=Super&_w:1.25%3B&=Alt&_c=%2367bf7a%3B&=Meta&_w:2.5%3B&=Backspace&=Hyper&_w:2.75%3B&=Space&_c=%23cccccc&w:1.25%3B&=Alt&_w:1.25%3B&=Win&_w:1.25%3B&=Menu&_w:1.25%3B&=Ctrl%3B&@_x:6.75&c=%2367bf7a%3B&=Left%0AClick&=Right%0AClick
**sorry, not sure how to make that look better - the url doesn't fit in the tag**
Also, here's a slight alteration with the mouse keys tucked in, so as to keep the board to 5 rows.