I'm not understanding this part, there are 11 keys on the middle row? I also don't understand what you mean, one of my index fingers presses one key, I don't see how each one isn't hitting 6 keys each.
Well first of all, if there's only 11 keys in the middle row, they couldn't possibly be hitting 6 keys each! That's the first bit that annoys me, the keyboard isn't symmetrical. The left hand presses 5 keys on the middle row and the right hand presses 6. If you completely removed the \|, which isn't a key that you use for regular typing and thus isn't really necessary because you didn't want this as a full keyboard, just one for "simple" typing, then you have a nice symmetrical 10 keys on the middle row (other rows would still be non-symmetrical though).
If the keyboard is programmable, the rest of what I was alluding to isn't important. What the "problem" is, is that you only have 9 _characters_ on the middle row and then enter to make up the 10th key. This isn't efficient because Enter isn't pressed very frequently and the middle row, aka the "home row," is a place where you should capitalize on typing because that's where your hands rest. Of course this is more a fault of the Qwerty layout which stupidly puts ; on the homerow, and enter is probably better than that for a "casual" typing keyboard, so I can't blame you. Dvorak and Colemak users would be putting a letter there instead, as you can see on my layout.
This is cool, the drawing I chopped out to save space, even though it is cool, I am obviously biased to the more "traditional" layout of the 33 alpha keys. Having said that, I see no reason it would be impossible to make multiple PCB layouts and if I do end up producing these in any way, shape, or form have a vote on which one would be best/more preferred. Another layout that has been mentioned is a pure 1x1 matrix, which wouldn't be too terribly difficult to make.
This is something that I really wish people would consider with an open mind! The default "staggered" layout has both your left and right hand inclined to the left. Hold both your hands out in front of you and angle them both to the left... Quite comfortable for the right hand, but it's just silly for the left! Both your hands should point inward. It literally makes no difference in terms of getting used to it. Each hand is still responsible for the same number of keys at the same relative positions, just now it's mirrored to better accommodate the fact that you don't have two right hands. If you try it, I guarantee you'd love it. There's literally not a single disadvantage to it.
A pure 1x1 matrix isn't that great because your hands point inwards, not straight... unless you put a lot of physical separation between the sides, like they do on the Kinesis Advantage.
The arrow keys are on the equivalent of WASD shifted one column over (ESDF). This makes more sense because this is the homerow position, and then the extra column on the left of it (which wouldn't exist if we were on WASD) lets us reach more. Home and End are placed sensibly (Home is like "super left" so goes right above it, same idea for End). Page up and down are on the two buttons that the index finger can reach comfortably.
More, confusing, layout speek :s
Okay let me try to explain this. Most people use WASD for moving in games, right? Shift that one set of keys over to the right. You're now on ESDF (which some people use for gaming. You can see that WASDkeyboards.com even supports this option in their customization!), with you index finger being on F. That F key is the index finger's "home" position, the scoop/nub. So when you want to use function layer arrows, your hand is already in position! You don't have to shift it over to WASD. As an additional bonus, you now have an extra column of keys to the left of your left pinky (which is why some people love it for gaming), which you wouldn't have if you were using WASD since there's nothing to the left of A on this 40% keyboard. This gives you access to more nearby keys.
Home and End are above left and right, because that makes sense. Pressing Home is like going all the way to the left, and pressing End is like going all the way to the right. The left index finger comfortably presses the key to its right (G) and the key down and to the right (V on a traditional keyboard, or B on my symmetrical one), so there are good places for Page Up and Page Down that remain in reach of your fingers.
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And now I've answered your post!
Edit: Overall, our layouts are pretty much the same except for the staggered vs symmetrical. If you take the first 5 columns of yours and stagger them the other way, then take your backspace and \| key and put them into the space in the middle that you just created between the left and right sides, then you have my layout. What are the advantages? Now the top and middle row have 10 keys instead of 11, making them have the same number of keys per finger (5 and 5 instead of 5 and 6), and your hands will be more comfy! None of the actual functions of the keys matter since it's programmable, but I just gave an example of what it could look like, which I believe to be quite efficient and intuitive. Also, that blank key that I left above my Win key should totally be ' " because those are both pretty common in simple typing.
Double edit: D'oh... now I see why you need 11 keys for your top row... you silly Qwerty people have 10 letters on the top whereas we awesome (+sarcasm!) Colemak people have 9 and ; which we can afford to ditch. Drat! Well I propose that you move your backspace to the bottom row, like it is on the Kinesis Advantage and sort of like on the Truly Ergonomic.
