Wanted: 3-letters-per-finger layout

[lydell]

I'm looking for any keyboard layouts that put the 26 letters of the English alphabet so that each finger gets three letters each, except the index fingers, which get four each, like this (or at least something close to that):



Does anyone have any experience with such a layout?

[tp4tissue]

You don't want all letters in frequent easily reachable spots,  this is because some punctuations, such as comma and period, are MORE common than letters such as z and x.

also, the top row where q and p are usually placed is more easily hit with the ring finger.

To hit those letters with the pinky is inefficient, because using the pinky will require a hand lift/ wrist lift.


I also move the letter Y to under K  this is because the Y and T index finger positions sometimes also require hand/wrist lifts if your previous letter was far away.

[lydell]

Oh, perhaps I should have mentioned that I'm using the keyboard on the image—the TECK. On the TECK, the pinky keys are really nice.

The thing is that I hate the columns inside the index finger columns, except the keys on the home row—that is, t, b, y, n using QWERTY. However, I only hate them when "combining" with other letters—not when pressed on their own. So those spots are perfect candidates for common punctuation such as period and comma, because they are not as often "combined" with other characters: Usually they are followed by space.

I've also never liked the placement of period and comma in QWERTY.

[Sciurid89]

I have considered putting punctuation in those same places myself! Try using letter frequency and digraph frequency lists to make your own layout, and be prepared to do some tweaking after trying some sample text. Do you prefer alternation, or rolls? If you like alternation, consider stacking all the vowels on one side. If you like rolls and don't mind moving rows more often, consider placing STER on one side, and then something like

FOU
NAIC

on the other side.

Also consider putting E on whichever spacebar you don't space with, since you've got the split spacebar to work with!

http://www.math.cornell.edu/~mec/2003-2004/cryptography/subs/frequencies.html