[IC] DCS Solarized Dark - Starts 11/11 - Pricing is Live (for all vendors)

[castorph]

+1 for ortho support

[Aiwanei]

This looks great - I love the Solarized Dark colorway, it is my favorite IDE theme and keyset theme!

I agree with others that have mentioned left-justified arrows would look better.

I also would prefer convex short spacebars (2u, 2.25u, 2.75u) rather than concave. Adding 3u bars would be good for compatibility, though I don't use them.

Is there any chance SP has these colors in PBT? I prefer the feel and sound of PBT over ABS, but if the color matching wouldn't work that is understandable.

Sadly SP does not have the molds for those sizes in dcs bars that are convex, only concave. I could do dsa versions of those specific bars, though I'm unsure about that, I'll need to get some dsa bars in that size to try with dcs and see how it looks/feels.

The stock color options for pbt from Signature Plastics is a lot more limited, it would require a number of compromises of most likely to use custom colors to get close to the ide colors imo.

[Aiwanei]

I'm in! Would it be possible to get 3u bars added to the spacebar kit?

Request has been noted, and I will be adding these to the spacebars kit as well as expanding the relendgeables kit a bit as well. Until I could gauge the interest of the set, I was being pretty conservative with my child kits kitting in order to keep costs down.

[zea]

please consider doing a kit with the monochrome mods that the original gmk run had.

also please do the teal accents along with the vim accents

[fog]

If you don't know me (It's been a while since I logged in to GH... that's what happens when you achieve endgame), I'm the guy behind the Solarized colorscheme.

I just wanted to pop into this thread and say that Thockeys has really nailed this, IMO. Solarized was always intended to work in various formats (which is why the L*a*b colors are canonical) and to work in situations where the perfect L*a*b match isn't available (i.e. every situation including RGB). Thockeys has done a great job matching with the available signature plastics and I think this will be the best Solarized Dark matched keycap set to date.

Very excited to see this set happen!

[ArashiNishi]

+1 for the left aligned arrow and tab's arrows.

please consider doing a kit with the monochrome mods that the original gmk run had.

also please do the teal accents along with the vim accents

It would be great if it's added the teal accents and monochrome mods.
For SP Stock Colors it seems that BBQ is close to the TU2 used on the GMK version, but would be better to compare them in person.

[_rubik]

+1 for the left aligned arrow and tab's arrows.

please consider doing a kit with the monochrome mods that the original gmk run had.

It would be great if it's added the teal accents and monochrome mods.
For SP Stock Colors it seems that BBQ is close to the TU2 used on the GMK version, but would be better to compare them in person.

+1 to a consistent mod color, teal or otherwise

[davewongillies]

Oh yisss. As someone who owns GMK Solarized Dark and always wished I had another set, I'm so in for this

[Fraaaan]

Consider replacing UK ISO with basic terminal ISO.  It reduces the amount of caps used for ISO support from 8 to 4 and you're still covering the layout fine.

I don't really see the point of UK ISO when a very small portion of ISO users (which are already a minority) will make actual use of the regional caps.

[nvh2092]

Consider replacing UK ISO with basic terminal ISO.  It reduces the amount of caps used for ISO support from 8 to 4 and you're still covering the layout fine.

I don't really see the point of UK ISO when a very small portion of ISO users (which are already a minority) will make actual use of the regional caps.

Second this, there are more than 1 ISO layouts, terminal ISO is the cheapest for all of us ISO users.

[paulgali]

Very very nicely done, fellow DCS enjoyer 

[Pontus]

I love DSC

[Tree_]

 

[autocast]

Awesome!

+1 Mono mods, would love the option or as the default

[KeebOnMe]

I told myself that I wouldn't get anymore keycap sets, but I'll have to break my rule for this!

Left-justified arrows on tab please!

[whirlwind]

Definitely interested

[rainb1ood]

interested in a set! anything solarized dark

[HappyB0T]

Interested - would love to get my hands on this!

[salgiza]

I love the look of this set. I don’t have an opinion about the tab key, but I like how the arrow keys look now (centered), and I would vote for them.

What’s the MOQ for DCS kits? I’m really tempted just as it is, but as an ES user I would be really grateful if you could add a South kit or an International kit (Norde+ES, such as this).

[NoPunIn10Did]

This looks great - I love the Solarized Dark colorway, it is my favorite IDE theme and keyset theme!

I agree with others that have mentioned left-justified arrows would look better.

I also would prefer convex short spacebars (2u, 2.25u, 2.75u) rather than concave. Adding 3u bars would be good for compatibility, though I don't use them.

Is there any chance SP has these colors in PBT? I prefer the feel and sound of PBT over ABS, but if the color matching wouldn't work that is understandable.

Sadly SP does not have the molds for those sizes in dcs bars that are convex, only concave. I could do dsa versions of those specific bars, though I'm unsure about that, I'll need to get some dsa bars in that size to try with dcs and see how it looks/feels.

The stock color options for pbt from Signature Plastics is a lot more limited, it would require a number of compromises of most likely to use custom colors to get close to the ide colors imo.

From experience, I wouldn't mix DSA and DCS.  The only cap where that's happened in the past was ISO Enter, but that was just a matter of SP not having the DSA mould for that yet.

[Aiwanei]

I love the look of this set. I don’t have an opinion about the tab key, but I like how the arrow keys look now (centered), and I would vote for them.

What’s the MOQ for DCS kits? I’m really tempted just as it is, but as an ES user I would be really grateful if you could add a South kit or an International kit (Norde+ES, such as this).

MOQ for kits with dcs are pretty flexible, jist depends how affordable you want to make them. I'll look into doing an international kit potentially. I'm going to be expanding a couple of the kits and adding an ic form to get feedback about some additional kitting possibilities.

[Sup]

Ortho support? PepeHands

[Aiwanei]

Ortho support? PepeHands

Would ortho support being added similar to how DCS Alps Pingmaster is doing it, with relendgeables be acceptable?

[k4jtek]

I really like this colourway, glad to see you included 3 key 40s' support.

GLWIC!

[RoyalOak88]

What’s the MOQ for DCS kits? I’m really tempted just as it is, but as an ES user I would be really grateful if you could add a South kit or an International kit (Norde+ES, such as this).

This!
I just wished more sets used this type of international kit. It's a good compromise to support more international layouts.

[Kinesiologist]

Appreciate adding the F13 into base kit. Everything looks good to me

[HungerMechanic]

Wowww. This is what I like to see.

Use of ABS colours and DCS fonts. Would be perfect for my Majestouch.

I already have GMK Solarized Dark, but this is seriously tempting. We need more dark DCS sets.

[dallman5]

Interested! 

+1 left aligned tab & mono mods (a la the GMK base kit)

[Aiwanei]

Based on the feedback I have received in this IC so far, I have put together a small IC form(found on the initial post).  I really appreciate all the support so far.  I had kitted this initial to be very conservative for the child kits, due to unknown interest, but I think I feel comfortable with the idea of expanding them a bit and maybe adding some other kits as well.

[tunb]

So interesting

[kabocha]

great job aiwanei

[Sup]

Ortho support? PepeHands

Would ortho support being added similar to how DCS Alps Pingmaster is doing it, with relendgeables be acceptable?

Not sure what other people think but, I think actual legends would be nice.

[hark]

I think I'm in love with the look of DCS profile - its very cute : )

[Dave_Lister]

This is absolutely gorgeous. Praise be for UK ISO in the base kit. Definitely in on this one. Will be my first DCS kit.

[wonilcho]

+1 for mono mods with teal legends (like the GMK version) rather than the gray legends mentioned in the IC form.

[atlantiasekai]

Amazing! Can't wait

[k4jtek]

Are you considering placing the numpad in separate set? The interest is quite high so MOQ would be probably fulfilled anyway.

Sent from my Nokia 3310 using Taptalak

[lewisflude]

The mods in the IC are more true to the spirit of the actual colour scheme. While mono mods could be a nice option, they shouldn't replace what is already in this IC. Additionally, the colour matching of the GMK set didn't quite line up with the very specific colours of Solarized Dark, so I would expect this to follow the actual colour scheme more closely than the GMK set of the same name. More info on the Solarized website.

[Bonsa]

love the colors!
I have a DCS blanks set on a board and I would really like to give it a few legended keys. This looks very dope. As for the bar problem, I think you can go with DSA bars? I would actually like the numpad in base for my ortho/ergo boards and big boards

[Aiwanei]

The mods in the IC are more true to the spirit of the actual colour scheme. While mono mods could be a nice option, they shouldn't replace what is already in this IC. Additionally, the colour matching of the GMK set didn't quite line up with the very specific colours of Solarized Dark, so I would expect this to follow the actual colour scheme more closely than the GMK set of the same name. More info on the Solarized website.

Just a brief update to all the kitting requests and a short statement about my thoughts on the mono mods/accents (quoting Lewis since he kindly pointed out a lot of the goals of this colorway, as well as linked to the Solarized website which is a great reference for the color palette of the theme)

Any mono mods kit will be in addition as the base kit will definitely stay inline with the IDE theme and not try to mimic the GMK set.  I do understand why people want BBQ/Teal mods and accents since that is closest to what GMK Solarized Dark had and it looked wonderful even though that color is not present in the IDE theme (I feel that the blue and cyan colors of solarized are not a great match for TU2 which was used in GMK Solarized Dark), and teal mono mod legends doesn't even fit the limited palette modes that the solarized theme provides for. 

That all said I am adding a mono mods set, but it will be using the grey legends (this means there are a few less keys that have to be added to the kit, and is a better fit for solarized's 16⁄5 palette modes, which would actually suggest using the orange or grey as the legend color if we were going to an extremely limited palette of solarized dark) and due to popular demand I will be adding a teal (BBQ) accent kit (unclear let if I combine the mono mods and teal accent kits, or run them as two separate kits).  I know these decisions won't make everyone happy, but I had set out with the goal to make a version of solarized dark that was more faithful to the color scheme that Ethan came up with and not to just do GMK Solarized Dark but in DCS.

I am working on an expanded relegendables kit (R1 is wavering between 12-13 or 20 1u keys, for coverage of a TKL vs FullSize/1800. There will also be macro column relegendable keys in R2,R3 and R4), an expanded spacebar kit, and a supplemental 40s+ortho kit (3 key 40s support will stay in base) though some of the added keys to the spacebar kit may end up in the 40s+ortho kit instead.

I want to add an international kit, though I need to determine the existence of molds for many of the keys, since if a lot of those keys don't exist, the price of that kit may get unreasonable for the MOQ it would likely have to be priced at.

I have also tweaked the base kit slightly, adding in terminal ISO support (in addition to UK ISO currently), a 1.5u R2 Delete (in addition to the backspace) and a R1 1u delete that has colored legends, for ISO boards that have split backspace.  I may drop the Bash winkey for Super instead, but that is undecided, as well as the possibility of a Mac/Command kit being undecided currently.

[ylothar]

About international kit: it would be nice to have in addition to the usual nordic set also a south set (italy, spain, ...) 

[actress]

Great idea! GMK Sol Dark is too expensive nowadays and also those mods look much better than the monochrome imo.
Would love to see NorDE kit and also some more relegendables. Maybe enough to be able to cover the full R1 row on a 60% w/ split bs f. e?
Can't wait to see the deskmat too. GL!!

[salgiza]

I want to add an international kit, though I need to determine the existence of molds for many of the keys, since if a lot of those keys don't exist, the price of that kit may get unreasonable for the MOQ it would likely have to be priced at.

Arg! Totally understandable, and fingers crossed, then.
It still blows my mind that some manufacturers might be missing molds for "international" sets :O

[HungerMechanic]

Yeah, it's good to have DCS options for sets that are too expensive nowadays. I bought mine from a store at aftermarket price [not MechMarket price though] and it was still too high.

This will look different enough from GMK Solarized Dark that I'm seriously considering it, even though I have Solarized Dark.

[Aiwanei]

I got quotes from Signature Plastics for updated kitting, going to work on getting updated renders and pricing everything as well as finalizing proxies, have a number on board already. Will do another round of feedback based on the updated kits and then set a date unless any drastic changes are required.

[Puddsy]

my wallet is ready

[_rubik]

my wallet is ready

Wyse or bust

[Puddsy]

my wallet is ready

Wyse or bust

wyse AND bust, you mean

[_rubik]

my wallet is ready

Wyse or bust

wyse AND bust, you mean

[konstantin]

Love it, and especially love the Gorton. Please add R3 PgUp, R4 PgDn to base for 65% support, and you've got yourself a buyer.

Do you know if SP has DCS molds for 3c and 1c spacekeys? Cause those would be a nice addition to the spacebars kit.


Edit: Somehow I missed the whole second page of this thread.

Consider replacing UK ISO with basic terminal ISO.  It reduces the amount of caps used for ISO support from 8 to 4 and you're still covering the layout fine.

I don't really see the point of UK ISO when a very small portion of ISO users (which are already a minority) will make actual use of the regional caps.

Second this, there are more than 1 ISO layouts, terminal ISO is the cheapest for all of us ISO users.

+1 to this. But even if ISO-UK stays, that's totally fine too — UK users get to have their keys, and it's probably not going to affect the price of the kit by much. However...

I have also tweaked the base kit slightly, adding in terminal ISO support (in addition to UK ISO currently), a 1.5u R2 Delete (in addition to the backspace) and a R1 1u delete that has colored legends, for ISO boards that have split backspace.

... This is not so fine. These changes are pretty much unnecessary. You don't need both ISO-UK and terminal ISO — it's either one or the other; having both is redundant.
As for R2 1.5u Delete, does anyone even use that (unless they're forced to)? I don't think so, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's a thing with this colorway? My GMK set has it, and I hate it.
Anyway, what I am sure is that a vanishingly small number of people use split Backspace together with ISO Enter. However, R1 1u Delete with a colored legend has another use case, which is HHKB layouts with Delete above 1.5u Backspace, so for that reason, you should actually keep that key.

In summary, if I were you, I would do the following:

• Drop either ISO-UK or terminal ISO keys — you definitely don't need both.
• Drop the R2 1.5u Delete key.
• If you want to add some extra keys to base, make it be some useful ones, and add R3 PgUp, R4 PgDn and, optionally (and only if you're not going to run a separate Mac kit), 1.5u Supers and a second 1u Alt.
• Please keep the shebang keys, at least the 1u ones: for me, those are a key part of what makes SolDark keysets — SolDark keysets. As for the 1.25u ones, they do look kinda odd, so maybe replace those with Super.

Edit 2: wording, a few extra clarifications