Hi everyone,
I thought I'd share a keyboard layout design I've been mulling over. It's derived from a design I posted here a couple years ago:
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=25787.0I like it from a usability perspective and I also think there's a good business case for it. The image above was made using the CC-licensed Colemak layout SVG from DreymaR, which was featured in this thread:
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?9095-Tools-for-keyboard-layout-sketches-%28not-for-remapping%29Some of the main points of interest:
-There are only 5 rows of keys.
-The function keys are are arranged in three columns to the left of the main area. This makes it easy to type modifier plus function key combinations, and it's a lot easier to pivot your hand sideways to reach the function keys than to reach all the way up.
-The Esc key replaces the grave key and is much faster to reach. The grave key has a new home to the right of a shortened right Shift key. The grave is another kind of quotation mark, so it makes sense for it to be near the other quotation mark key. It's now also very easy for *nix users to type paths that begin with ~/.
-This layout has a numeric keypad instead of a nav cluster. The keypad is just 3 keys wide. The traditional numeric keypad Enter key is redundant since this layout puts the other Enter key so close already. The plus key replaces Num Lock, which is now toggled by pressing Shift + Caps Lock. Other keys are moved and resized to fit.
-The Ins and Del keys on the numpad have switched places, making Delete more easy to access. How many people ever use Insert?
-The 5 key now functions as a second "down" key so you don't have to reach down to press 8. I think the home row is a more comfortable place for your fingers to rest while navigating than the bottom row. There are a few applications that use the neutral numpad 5 key, so it could be switchable in firmware.
I see a number of advantages with this layout. For one, the fact that there are two identical keybanks on either side of the main area. You could switch positions of the numpad and function keys for left-handed users, and since the keys in the side banks are all the same size it would be easy to print custom keysets for them with things like POS functions. You could also set up a tenkeyless-style nav cluster in place of the numpad, all you would need to do is remove the 5 unneeded keys and put plastic spacers in their places.
For keyboard manufacturers, this could be attractive because it would allow them to sell keyboards with customized keybanks without much need to set up special tooling for individual customers. This could put custom keyboards within the reach of institutional customers who would have balked at the price of custom keyboard design before. Good firmware on the controller would make it possible to easily implement these custom layouts, and even allow programming by skilled end users.
So in a nutshell, it's a compact and highly customizable layout that allows many keys to be reached more quickly than before. I also like the aesthetics of a narrow, mostly symmetrical keyboard with only two thin gaps separating the keybanks on its surface. The case could simply be a lengthened version of a Poker/GH60-type case.
What do you think?