VFLM keyboard layout

[bardcore]

Layout attached.

I have spent some time developing this layout.

I made it by calculating the character frequency of characters typed in every written email, document, task, chat, etc of my own that I could collect.

I found that the character frequency was dramatically different to the typical frequencies used by others (copyright free books, common english word lists, etc).

I also didn't lock any key to any position. This meant that the enter key moved, for example.

I minimised bigrams. Finger rolls were not an issue for me.

My main priority is reducing finger travel difference and prioritising the easiest keys to type. I've also attached the spreadsheet I used to design it, as well as the bigram counts.

Here is a comparison with my layout and other popular layouts. The text used was my own written text from over the past decade. The number is the metres travelled:

VFLM                 21638
Auto generated   22345
Capewell            22534
Colemak            22996
Workman           23234
QGMLWB           24775
Dvorak              24999
QWERTY            41925

I used this analyser: http://patorjk.com/keyboard-layout-analyzer/v1/

I'd be very interested to see what the result is if any of you guys would like to test it using your own written text.

I think modern typing has a lot different character frequency than books, etc, that are usually used.

My current QWERTY typing test average result is 94wpm. I'll be interested to see what my speed is on this new layout.

[iandoug]

It's better than QWERTY for bigrams, but I think you can do better... :-)

Cheers, Ian

[batfink]

I also didn't lock any key to any position. This meant that the enter key moved, for example.

If you're up for moving all keys, you might as well adopt Wide Mod and gain the advantage on greater hand separation. And you'd be able to keep Enter in the usual place without affecting its distance from home.

I minimised bigrams.

Are you sure? You have HE on the same finger, which is a major no-no right off the bat.