[attachimg=8]
Thanks for the replies! The feedback I got was very, very good and it made me realise that my layout really sucked! I have scrapped it and come up with an entirely new layout. It's a bit bigger, so it's not 40% anymore, though. What size would you say this keyboard is?
Some notable features:
- The shift keys are much, much closer, and very easy to press. I have always been unhappy with the position of shift on normal keyboards. It's very uncomfortable to reach that area of the keyboard.
- Some of the rare letters have been moved to the number-bar to make space for frequently used symbols and the nordic letters ΖΨΕ/ΔΦΕ. Long-and ring-finger should easily be able to reach them without the other fingers leaving the home-row
- The Mac OS alt-layer has been replaced with all the symbols and brackets, thus eliminating extra modifier keys in the space bar. The alt-layer has been moved to +alt. On windows , alt-hotkeys will have to be remapped to meta-alt OR moving (windows)alt to meta and windows key to escape and menu
- By placing the return key in the bottom row, the control-keys are very ergonomically positioned and also symetrical
- Very compact while still accommodating dedicated arrow keys. This is achieved by having a minimal number of bottom-modifier keys and making the entire keyboard symmetrical (removing a lot of keys on the right side)
- Two Cherry MX Lock-keys above the arrow cluster, possibly for -lock and caps-lock.
I need feedback on:
- The minimal number of thumb modifiers. Is using alt as a character layer a good idea? I am currently using Mac OS
- Using the number row for rare characters
- Weird position of the shift keys
- What to do with all the empty space above the arrow cluster
- Any other ideas and suggestions are welcome! :)
Main Layer:
[attachimg=5]
Alt-Layer (NOTE: Character positioning is not final. Suggestions welcome):
[attachimg=7]
Function-Layer:
[attachimg=6]
raw-data for keyboard-layout-editor.com (http://keyboard-layout-editor.com)
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Funciton {backcolor:"#2a2a2a"},
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Old post:
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Fed up with the asymetric QWERTY-layout and inspired by JD's SmallFry Keyboard (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=47133.0) and ne0phyte's Tiny Hacking Keyboard (http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/thkb-tiny-hacking-keyboard-40-t6455.html), I made this mockup. It's a symetrical, column-layout keyboard where the Idea is to have all keys easily within easy reach. It also has enough keys for Scandinavian 29-letter languages like Norwegian and Swedish. What do you guys think? Editor link here (http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/##@@_y:0.25&x:1.25&c=%23ba1312&t=%23e4dedd&w:1.25%3B&=Esc&_c=%23e4dedd&t=%23000000%2F%2F%3B&=%0AQ%0A%0A%0A1&=%0AW%0A%0A%0A2&=%0AE%0A%0A%0A3&=%0AR%0A%0A%0A4&=%0AT&=%0AY&=%0AU&=%0AI%0A%0A%E2%86%91&=%0AO&=%0AP&_w:1.25%3B&=%0A%0A%E2%8C%AB%3B&@_x:1.25&c=%23ddd3c0&w:1.25%3B&=%E2%87%A5&=%0AA%0A%0A%0A5&=%0AS%0A%0A%0A6&=%0AD%0A%0A%0A7&=%0AF%0A%0A%0A8&_c=%23e4dedd%3B&=%0AG&=%0AH&_c=%23ddd3c0%3B&=%0AJ%0A%0A%E2%86%90&=%0AK%0A%0A%E2%86%93&=%0AL%0A%0A%E2%86%92&=%22%0A'&_w:1.25%3B&=%0A%0A%E2%8F%8E%3B&@_x:1.25&c=%23249c78&w:1.25%3B&=%E2%87%A7%0A%0A%CB%9A&_c=%23e4dedd%3B&=%0AZ&=%0AX&=%0AC%0A%0A%0A9&=%0AV%0A%0A%0A0&=%0AB&=%0AN&=%0AM&=%0A,%0A%0A%0A%0A%0A%3C&=%0A.%0A%0A%0A%0A%0A%3E&=%0A%2F%2F%0A%0A%0A%0A%0A%3F&_c=%23249c78&w:1.25%3B&=%CB%9A%0A%0A%E2%87%A7%3B&@_x:1.25&c=%230073a2&w:1.25%3B&=Ctrl&_c=%23ddd3c0%3B&=Alt&_w:1.25%3B&=%E2%8C%98&_c=%23f5d793&f2:9&w:1.75%3B&=%E2%88%82&_a:5&f2:3%3B&=%E2%88%822&=%E2%88%823&_a:4&w:1.75%3B&=Space&_c=%23ddd3c0&w:1.25%3B&=%E2%8C%98&=Alt&_c=%230073a2&w:1.25%3B&=Ctrl%3B&@_y:0.75&x:1.25&c=%23ba1312&t=%23e4dedd&w:1.25%3B&=Esc&_c=%23e4dedd&t=%23000000%2F%2F%3B&=%0AQ%0A%0A%0A1&=%0AW%0A%0A%0A2&=%0AE%0A%0A%0A3&=%0AR%0A%0A%0A4&=%0AT&=%0AY&=%0AU&=%0AI%0A%0A%E2%86%91&=%0AO&=%0AP&_w:1.25%3B&=%0A%0A%E2%8C%AB%3B&@_x:1.25&c=%23ddd3c0&w:1.25%3B&=%E2%87%A5&=%0AA%0A%0A%0A5&=%0AS%0A%0A%0A6&=%0AD%0A%0A%0A7&=%0AF%0A%0A%0A8&_c=%23e4dedd%3B&=%0AG&=%0AH&_c=%23ddd3c0%3B&=%0AJ%0A%0A%E2%86%90&=%0AK%0A%0A%E2%86%93&=%0AL%0A%0A%E2%86%92&=,%0A.&_w:1.25%3B&=%0A%0A%E2%8F%8E%3B&@_x:1.25&c=%23249c78&w:1.25%3B&=%E2%87%A7%0A%0A%CB%9A&_c=%23e4dedd%3B&=%0AZ&=%0AX&=%0AC%0A%0A%0A9&=%0AV%0A%0A%0A0&=%0AB&=%0AN&=%0AM&=%0A%C3%98&=%0A%C3%85&=%0A%C3%86&_c=%23249c78&w:1.25%3B&=%CB%9A%0A%0A%E2%87%A7%3B&@_x:1.25&c=%230073a2&w:1.25%3B&=Ctrl&_c=%23ddd3c0%3B&=Alt&_w:1.25%3B&=%E2%8C%98&_c=%23f5d793&f2:9&w:1.75%3B&=%E2%88%82&_a:5&f2:3%3B&=%E2%88%822&=%E2%88%823&_a:4&w:1.75%3B&=Space&_c=%23ddd3c0&w:1.25%3B&=%E2%8C%98&=Alt&_c=%230073a2&w:1.25%3B&=Ctrl%3B&@_y:1&x:1.25&w:1.25%3B&=Ctrl&_c=%23ddd3c0&w:1.25%3B&=Alt&_w:1.25%3B&=%E2%8C%98&_c=%23f5d793&f2:9&w:2%3B&=%E2%88%82&_a:5&f2:3%3B&=%E2%88%822&_a:4&w:2%3B&=Space&_c=%23ddd3c0&w:1.25%3B&=%E2%8C%98&_w:1.25%3B&=Alt&_c=%230073a2&w:1.25%3B&=Ctrl)
[NOTE]: The ∂-key is made up. It's basically a function key.
[attachimg=1]
Custom Nordic layout
[attachimg=2]
Alternative layout for modifier keys
[attachimg=3]
I recently found out that I only use one thumb on the spacebar, so a long spacebar is an extreme waste of space on such a tiny keyboard. The keyboard is symetrical, so swapping the ∂ and the space key is possible for lefties.
Split Layout
[attachimg=4]