I’ve done the same thing, and for the same reasons. It’s nice to have the same keyboard layout over multiple devices and desk setups. I often work from weird setups (proper desk with a keyboard,...
I’ve done the same thing, and for the same reasons. It’s nice to have the same keyboard layout over multiple devices and desk setups. I often work from weird setups (proper desk with a keyboard, mobile with iPad and keyboard, only laptop, phone + keyboard). Having a unified layout on all of these setups is so nice.
Replicability was the main driver. I went through a bunch of keyboards and layouts and kept asking: what do I actually need? A Hyper key, tiling shortcuts, Vim navigation, and accent keys for...
Replicability was the main driver. I went through a bunch of keyboards and layouts and kept asking: what do I actually need? A Hyper key, tiling shortcuts, Vim navigation, and accent keys for Italian. A standard US board doesn't have room for all of that without conflicts.
JIS solved it because those extra keys (Eisuu, Kana, ¥) are unused real estate on a US-oriented setup. I get everything I need and keep full ANSI/QWERTY compatibility for media editing and programming shortcuts. Then I expanded the accent system for French, Spanish, and German since the architecture was already there.
Side benefit: absolutely no coworker or boss can start using my machine without going slightly insane and giving up. The arrow keys being tiling keys is usually the breaking point.
To note: the Hyper Key is my launcher key with Keyboard Maestro. Hyper+T is Kitty as my terminal, Hyper+B is the browser, Hyper+C brings up clipboard history, etc.
To note: the Hyper Key is my launcher key with Keyboard Maestro. Hyper+T is Kitty as my terminal, Hyper+B is the browser, Hyper+C brings up clipboard history, etc.
I've recently finished a similar swap to a custom layout and have been considering writing up all my thoughts on it. Some of the changes are just mind-blowingly obvious in retrospect (the ctrl/esc...
I've recently finished a similar swap to a custom layout and have been considering writing up all my thoughts on it.
Some of the changes are just mind-blowingly obvious in retrospect (the ctrl/esc instead of caps-lock should just be the standard) and I've surprised myself with how much use I've gotten out of having a 'compose' key for accents or special characters.
That said, some habits are hard to break. I tried using a thumb positioned backspace and could not change my muscle memory for that.
I built a Karabiner config that uses the extra keys on Apple's JIS keyboard for Vim navigation, a Hyper key, and multilingual accents. It's very niche and opinionated, but it has been really...
I built a Karabiner config that uses the extra keys on Apple's JIS keyboard for Vim navigation, a Hyper key, and multilingual accents. It's very niche and opinionated, but it has been really helpful for me, and I've been using it for almost five years, so I thought I'd share it.
Wonderign if also other people don't use the normal qwerty / qwertz keyboard layout. Because I've been "learning" the Workman Layout since 2022 (in covid i had a lot of time and just thought I...
Wonderign if also other people don't use the normal qwerty / qwertz keyboard layout. Because I've been "learning" the Workman Layout since 2022 (in covid i had a lot of time and just thought I wanted to learn a new and "optimized" and faster layout (I am prob about the same speed now). But anyways?
Do any of you humans and other creatures use any other layouts than qwertz / qwerty ???
On physical keyboards I've only ever used QWERTY; it's fine and I learned to touch type pretty fast as a kid (thanks Mavis Beacon!). I never felt like a different layout would make me faster or...
On physical keyboards I've only ever used QWERTY; it's fine and I learned to touch type pretty fast as a kid (thanks Mavis Beacon!). I never felt like a different layout would make me faster or more comfortable (typing speed was never the bottleneck for me), so I never dug into Dvorak or any of the other alternatives. (Edit: another comment reminded me, I do always replace Caps-Lock with an extra Ctrl key, makes Emacs (and everything else) more comfy)
Mobile is a different matter though. When I was young, my dad had a Palm Pilot with Graffiti on it, which I thought was pretty cool. When modern touchscreens came around I was baffled that everyone standardized on cramming full QWERTY keyboards into tiny two-inch surfaces, instead of something like Graffiti. The keys were so small! Even T9 made more sense, at least then you had tactile feedback.
My dad (someone who's always had a passion for UX) quickly found an alternative in MessageEase/ANIHORTES: a 3x3 grid with the most common letters available with a single tap, and the rest a directional swipe. These days I use the open-source keyboard Thumb-Key which implements the same concept.
Apparently a similar system is used in Japan, I think I've seen it referred to as a "flick" keyboard. It's precise enough that I can generally type single-handedly at a rate fast enough that I don't feel the need for autocomplete/autocorrect. Which is good, because I don't like the way modern autocomplete systems make me feel.
For whatever reason, I switched to Dvorak in high school. This was, I think, the perfect time to do it, because I wasn't all that good at QWERTY (and hadn't learned correct finger placement for...
For whatever reason, I switched to Dvorak in high school. This was, I think, the perfect time to do it, because I wasn't all that good at QWERTY (and hadn't learned correct finger placement for touch typing, which would have been hard to correct), and I had a bunch of free time to drill touch typing (which I did, because I was and am a nerd).
Ultimately I think it was great. I do think that Dvorak reduces RSI, especially in the pinkies, and my wife actually switched to it as an adult after developing some RSIs and switching helped considerably. I don't really know if I'd recommend it, cause it's goofy and it genuinely does take quite a while to get up to speed, but I like that I know it, and I certainly prefer it to QWERTY!
I learned dvorak years ago but gave up on it after realizing: Getting okay at it was one thing, but getting to the point where I was faster than I am with qwerty was going to be a lot of work. I'm...
I learned dvorak years ago but gave up on it after realizing:
Getting okay at it was one thing, but getting to the point where I was faster than I am with qwerty was going to be a lot of work.
I'm not going to be able to escape qwerty anyways (being the default in so many places), so I'd rather not have to deal with switching between the two.
I've been using Dvorak on every device possible since 2006. Upsides: It's fun watching my friends try to use anything I own with a keyboard. I type real gud. downsides: Anytime you HAVE to use...
I've been using Dvorak on every device possible since 2006.
Upsides:
It's fun watching my friends try to use anything I own with a keyboard.
I type real gud.
downsides:
Anytime you HAVE to use QWERTY it's awful. 'standardized tests where the machine is locked down to the point that you can't adjust the keyboard layout' was a fun experience... And if someone hands you their phone it can be impossible to figure out if you're intoxicated.
If someone has to use your phone or PC, it can be really impossible for them. Especially bad in emergencies.......
The fact the downsides is a paragraph of text, with potential real life implications and the upsides are two thunks tied together with twine. That's probably a negative too.
I’ve done the same thing, and for the same reasons. It’s nice to have the same keyboard layout over multiple devices and desk setups. I often work from weird setups (proper desk with a keyboard, mobile with iPad and keyboard, only laptop, phone + keyboard). Having a unified layout on all of these setups is so nice.
Replicability was the main driver. I went through a bunch of keyboards and layouts and kept asking: what do I actually need? A Hyper key, tiling shortcuts, Vim navigation, and accent keys for Italian. A standard US board doesn't have room for all of that without conflicts.
JIS solved it because those extra keys (Eisuu, Kana, ¥) are unused real estate on a US-oriented setup. I get everything I need and keep full ANSI/QWERTY compatibility for media editing and programming shortcuts. Then I expanded the accent system for French, Spanish, and German since the architecture was already there.
Side benefit: absolutely no coworker or boss can start using my machine without going slightly insane and giving up. The arrow keys being tiling keys is usually the breaking point.
To note: the Hyper Key is my launcher key with Keyboard Maestro. Hyper+T is Kitty as my terminal, Hyper+B is the browser, Hyper+C brings up clipboard history, etc.
I've recently finished a similar swap to a custom layout and have been considering writing up all my thoughts on it.
Some of the changes are just mind-blowingly obvious in retrospect (the ctrl/esc instead of caps-lock should just be the standard) and I've surprised myself with how much use I've gotten out of having a 'compose' key for accents or special characters.
That said, some habits are hard to break. I tried using a thumb positioned backspace and could not change my muscle memory for that.
I built a Karabiner config that uses the extra keys on Apple's JIS keyboard for Vim navigation, a Hyper key, and multilingual accents. It's very niche and opinionated, but it has been really helpful for me, and I've been using it for almost five years, so I thought I'd share it.
Wonderign if also other people don't use the normal qwerty / qwertz keyboard layout. Because I've been "learning" the Workman Layout since 2022 (in covid i had a lot of time and just thought I wanted to learn a new and "optimized" and faster layout (I am prob about the same speed now). But anyways?
Do any of you humans and other creatures use any other layouts than qwertz / qwerty ???
On physical keyboards I've only ever used QWERTY; it's fine and I learned to touch type pretty fast as a kid (thanks Mavis Beacon!). I never felt like a different layout would make me faster or more comfortable (typing speed was never the bottleneck for me), so I never dug into Dvorak or any of the other alternatives. (Edit: another comment reminded me, I do always replace Caps-Lock with an extra Ctrl key, makes Emacs (and everything else) more comfy)
Mobile is a different matter though. When I was young, my dad had a Palm Pilot with Graffiti on it, which I thought was pretty cool. When modern touchscreens came around I was baffled that everyone standardized on cramming full QWERTY keyboards into tiny two-inch surfaces, instead of something like Graffiti. The keys were so small! Even T9 made more sense, at least then you had tactile feedback.
My dad (someone who's always had a passion for UX) quickly found an alternative in MessageEase/ANIHORTES: a 3x3 grid with the most common letters available with a single tap, and the rest a directional swipe. These days I use the open-source keyboard Thumb-Key which implements the same concept.
Apparently a similar system is used in Japan, I think I've seen it referred to as a "flick" keyboard. It's precise enough that I can generally type single-handedly at a rate fast enough that I don't feel the need for autocomplete/autocorrect. Which is good, because I don't like the way modern autocomplete systems make me feel.
For whatever reason, I switched to Dvorak in high school. This was, I think, the perfect time to do it, because I wasn't all that good at QWERTY (and hadn't learned correct finger placement for touch typing, which would have been hard to correct), and I had a bunch of free time to drill touch typing (which I did, because I was and am a nerd).
Ultimately I think it was great. I do think that Dvorak reduces RSI, especially in the pinkies, and my wife actually switched to it as an adult after developing some RSIs and switching helped considerably. I don't really know if I'd recommend it, cause it's goofy and it genuinely does take quite a while to get up to speed, but I like that I know it, and I certainly prefer it to QWERTY!
I learned dvorak years ago but gave up on it after realizing:
It was certainly fun to learn, though!
I've been using Dvorak on every device possible since 2006.
Upsides:
downsides: