What layout do you use?

Model 01 Layouts
21

I think I’m done designing my layout in basic terms (I’m MP4 so I’m ramping up my preparations for hopefully imminent shipping). I haven’t really worked out positions of character keys so well yet, but I have a fair idea about them.

This isn’t something which has taken that much effort really, once I got my thoughts together about it. I’m not too fussy about completely optimising everything, since just about anything which tries to prioritise keys based on frequency of use and avoiding digraph usage on single fingers is pretty reasonable, and miles ahead of qwerty. So instead I decided to be pragmatic about that and prioritise something else:

Many non-qwerty layouts preserve zxcv for ctrl shortcuts, which makes a lot of sense as they are ingrained in many people where they are, are already in logical spots as rarely used letters (except c maybe) but more importantly, they are great to use with the left hand only while the right uses the mouse to highlight what’s being cut/copy/pasted (and undone). But why stop there? There are a heap of shortcuts I use (or want to start using) while using the mouse at the same time. asdfbuity also get put on the left hand for this reason, and therefore eonrhlmpgwkjq make up the right hand (13 each), which splits the most commonly used letters in english remarkably evenly for a purely non-linguistic choice of distribution! (I actually don’t really care as much as many people about hand use balance, but it’s nice nonetheless - certainly in qwerty the right hand is horribly underused)

Given that, I assigned tentative spots for each letter based on frequency of use and finger comfort. 2345 finger home row spots were most prioritised, then 234 upper row spots and adjacent to 2 on the home row, then 2345 bottom row, and finally 5 on the upper row. This is personal to me, and the last may change depending on how comfortable I feel reaching the keys on the t and y positions in the default layout. Regardless, zxcv were set in place where they are on qwerty.

Then I did some tweaking. I got a few lists of the most common digraphs (2 letter combinations) in english and used them to avoid typing them with the same finger without wrecking the frequency:comfort correlation too much. A lot of them are on different hands, and this is where this layout is weakest, as in my opinion they should be put on the same hand when possible just so long as it’s not with the same finger, as I think that’s the way typing flows best. So the opportunity to do that is lost, but I can deal with that.

So essentially I ended up with this:

b f u d * * h p m q
s i a t y l o e n r
z x c v g w k J

with * being the spots that may gain priority if they’re found to be comfortable. Otherwise, they’ll be used for punctuation characters.

4 Likes
22

BEAKL.

http://www.shenafu.com/code/keyboard/beakl/beakl.php

2 Likes
23

I am using the workman layout and am a happy emacs user. Let’s see how all this will work out with the model01 when it will arrive this month.

24

Woho , I can guarantee it works nicely :slight_smile:
Same here . workman, slightly adjusted and heavy emacs user, as my nick name might suggest

25

Now having found ideal tools (particularly the first link) to work with on my layout, I did end up rejigging it to match the new data.

Also, it helped me work out:

  • How useful a “redial” macro (repeats the last letter typed, mostly to avoid same-finger use) would be if I could learn to use it (very, could remove [edit: worked it out properly] 56% of the remaining single-finger repeats in this layout and be used more than the 6 least typed letters);
  • which letters would be most used with it (again, to avoid same finger use) and;
  • which hand would make most use of it (to avoid hand alternation, which I find less desirable contrary to Dvorak’s understandably typewriter-based philosophy).

So here 'tis:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
/ u f d b * h o g ’
a i s t y m n e r l
z x c v - j p q w k

With the “tactile bump” keys bolded for reference, and the * meaning the redial macro key. I added in a few punctuation-esque keys (. , ! ? are on the thumb keys as dual use with modifiers) and the rest (both outside columns especially) still undecided but relatively unimportant.

2 Likes
26

can you share your BEAKL setup? strangely, there is hardly any info about this layout.

27

I know this is a old post, but I thought I would share more info in case somebody was interested. BEAKL-15 is an excellent and really comfortable layout. I moved to Dvorak 20 years ago to improve on QWERTY, and a year ago I moved to BEAKL-15, which is an even bigger improvement on Dvorak too.

You can find more information here: BEAKL - Deskthority wiki
There are many iterations of BEAKL, and v15 being the latest and recommended layout to learn.

This is my BEAK-15 layout for my Ergodox. It has a tour enabled to give you more information. I have adapted my Keyboardio Atreus layout in a very similar way.

2 Likes
28

I personaly still stick to qwerty, but decided to teach my kids BEAKL. they’re doing a great progress.

however, I came across some problems:

  1. hard to find some typing SW with custom layout
  2. impossible to use custom layout on iPad (anybody help on this?)

still, I think it’s worth it. i’m just going to solve the ipad with programmable keyboard (just received Atreus yesterday).

i’ll have to solve the zxc keyboard shortcuts later (probably via AutoHotkey).

29

The simplest solution is to use a programmable keyboard everywhere. Luckily I’m adamant that I only type on a mechanical keyboard. So I’m used to plugging in my own keyboard. In that case it solves the problem pretty easy for me. All devices are set to US QWERTY (normally the default anyway) and my programmable keyboard does the translation. Also thanks to the Atreus, carrying a keyboard around gets a whole lot easier.

The other day I experimented and plugged my Atreus into my Android phone. I was so surprised that it actually worked. It was awesome. Even navigating the phone with the keyboard was pretty straight forward. I sure hate typing on a phone’s virtual keyboard (where Qwerty and staggered layouts make even less sense). So it’s nice having BEAKL-15 usage with my phone. Though the virtual MessageEase Keyboard is a good compromise - something specifically designed for the medium.

30

I’ll explain a little more the problem nr. 1 in the above post.

the problem is lack of TYPING TUTORS for custom layouts.
nearly all tutors have pre-defined layouts. and you don’t want to start with FJ when starting to learn BEAKL. you need to start with SA, which actually are under your index fingers. that said, the tutor software needs to be aware about the layout you’re using AND needs to customize the lessons accordingly. the only SW that fulfils that condition I found is Klavaro - highly recommended btw. (although it doesn’t have particularly nice UX).

1 Like
31

I have read posts from people using Dvorak, then Colemak, then Workman, and now BEAKL over the years. I, personally, have passed on all of them.

However, I’ve just this week started learning Plover steno.

The things that finally convinced me to invest in an alternative layout, especially one that will require a lot of work:

  • Actively-maintained software tools - Both Plover (the chord-conversion software) and Typey-Type (a web app written to help people practice stenography) are actively maintained and fully open-source. BTW, both of these tools are also of incredible quality.
  • Community support - There’s a great, active, supporting community in the Plover Discord server. The creators of both tools mentioned are still actively answering questions posted by new steno learners.
  • Upper range of typing speed - While all devotees of Dvorak, Colemak, and other layouts will wax eloquent about how comfortable those layouts are, it’s hard to find any claims of helping them type faster. Plover (and steno in general) can double or triple your typing speed with enough time spent practicing (yes, it can take years).
  • Dedicated hardware is starting to be produced by indie manufacturers. There are a few boards available now, and another one just entered pre-order. And both QMK and Kaleidoscope offer explicit support for Plover steno. This was a surprising sign that the community around Plover is growing.

If you’re having trouble finding tools you need, you may need to revisit your cost/benefit matrix and consider other layouts. Programmable keyboards are remarkably flexible, and the freedom to experiment is a key benefit. But when starting a long journey, one needs to consider what help you can expect to find along the way.

4 Likes
32

Adam, the typing tutors you are referring too all approach typing the incorrect way in my opinion. Yes, I’ve use most of them in the past, and never found one that is ideal - even for a layout as well known as Dvorak.

When I started learning BEAKL, I looked for a solution again. That’s when I found the [https://www.keybr.com/] website.
Finally a typing tutor that takes a different [better] approach. This web app ignores the keyboard layout [and yes, disable the visual onscreen keyboard], and works by learning the most popular / frequently used letters first. Once you achieve a certain consistency the software will introduce another new letter. This process keeps repeating until eventually you have learned all the letters and can keep a constant accuracy, and then more real words will appear in the typing tests too.

After that,you can take any other typing tutor software and work through their speed or accuracy exercises (where you are supposed to know all the letters already). Thus, keyboard layout doesn’t matter. Or even use [https://www.typelit.io/] and let them type popular books. Thus they get to read well known books, and type at the same time and they get evaluated after each page and chapter.

The “old school” typing tutors where you start learning with the home row is just wrong. Especially considering that QWERTY uses the home row the least out of all modern keyboard layouts. So the whole approach was wrong to start with. Give keybr.com a go.

4 Likes
33

Playing The Typing of the Dead, I totally agree that starting to learn the QWERTY home row is a nonsense if you don’t use this layout :drop_of_blood:

But if your layout is a good one, the most used letters are the most reachable, so near the home row… :keyboard:
So learning a good home row is a good way to start :railway_track:

34

I’ve actually ended up on keybr before reading your post. But thanks anyway, this really is the best tutor out there…

2 Likes
35

Thanks for mentioning typelit, never heard of it before. Looks really useful to mix things up and should be a good alternative for me to monkeytype.com [0] which I’m using at the moment.

[0] supports multiple languages (even some dialects, source code), multiple modes etc.

2 Likes
36

3 and a half years later, are you still using that layout and did you make it work wil Model01?

I have been thinking about switching to it, too und would like to see your code.

1 Like