I find myself heavily using 3 modifiers (cmd+option+control) for daily editing, but no keyboard appears optimized for that.
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Currently I use the Apple Wireless Keyboard 1, with Caps Lock remapped to Control. For comfort I'd need some symmetry: another similarly-sized Control for my right hand.
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I also use home/end/pageup/pagedown heavily, having to prefix those with Fn sucks.
So I'm planning to build a custom keyboard.
- Deeply symmetric. Both hands have:
- arrow keys (in dark grey)
- 3 modifiers (cmd+option+control) at a generous size. This is a game changer, you'll find yourself using the editor in a more modifier-heavy manner
- a tabulator (great for not allocating just one hand to app switching, which can be overly repetitive)
- delete key (working in either direction)
- A-Z keys are also (almost) symmetric: no hand is more dedicated than the other to entering prose
- Normally the left one is much more dedicated, and the right one has to be angled
- Compact: only slightly wider than an Apple Wireless Keyboard
- Columnar/staggered hybrid
- I've never tried columnar, I suspect it has some benefits but also I don't have problems with staggered
- So, I mosly went for columnar for curiosity/symmetry, but also I don't mind falling back to staggered in the two bottom rows, which I had to do
- Emphasis on wideness for special keys
- Experiment: Hit shift+return in an Apple keyboard, using your right-hand index and middle fingers. Isn't it the most pleasing thing in the world?
- Caps key! We all could use it from time to time.
- Qwerty layout not essential of course, and trivially swappable at a physical level.
- Mechanical
- Never tried them, never felt the need either, but it's simpler and cheaper to build
- Low-profile keys
- Kailh makes them. Should give the keyboard a reminiscence of my beloved Apple Wireless Keyboard.
- Needs a custom PCB, given the columnar/staggered hybrid
- Wired, non-split, with a LED for the caps key
- Commission the PCB design and manufacturing at some point
- No idea about pricing!
- Hopefully the complexity would be low, in the end I just want the usual ingredients arranged in a different way
- If any individual or small group is also interested in my idea, we can split some costs to accelerate the process
- Also custom case/plates will be needed, given the unique size and arrangement
- I'll need a variety of keycaps: 1u, 1.25u, 1.5u, 2u, 4u
- Might be hard for Kailh
- 4u not very common, but they make them https://clueboard.co/parts/nantucket-selectric-blank-keys
Copy the contents of the raw_data file, open http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com , paste it into the Raw data tab.