& % # ( ! * ) @ $ ^
7 5 3 1 9 8 0 2 4 6
Both rows are in a layer, numbers are in the home row and symbols are in the top row. I do not type symbols as a shifted number, so no problems with swapping ! and (.
Having 0 and 1 at index positions helps me a lot because I’m typing a lot of numbers at work starting with 10 (and using parenthesis a lot) .
Also, typing 2020 in dates is really smooth, and 20 inward roll will be in a year number for a visible future :) Symbols that I use mostly (!*)@ are in the middle of the keyboard now, and less used & and ^ are on the edges. %# and $ usage is in between of these two groups. Surprisingly, the standard binding between numbers and symbols in US layout is correlating perfectly with the alternative numbers position in their usage frequency.
Today I met a guy on reddit who is using the same numbers and symbols row :)
I also have the most common symbols, like () {}, in the same layer under my left hand, so in practice, I rarely need to reach for the number row at all.
+1
]]>The main-block NumPad of laptop Fn and our (second) Extend layers has stagger on normal-staggered keyboards, which will be a bit... well... staggering... at first. ;-) But I got used to it soon enough.
Caveats for NumPad Extend, which I have mentioned elsewhere: Do map 0 to two keys to emulate the fat 0 on physical NumPads! This'll allow proper form in which 10/01/20/02 bigrams are typed with two fingers to avoid same-finger fatigue. The latter is a very real problem because of the prevalence of '10'.
I also put comma to the left of 0, so I could write '1,000,000,000' with rolls over three adjacent keys. ;-)
]]>[...] except for the common 10 bigram which is frequent enough to be noticeable.
I use index/middle/ring finger for the numpad and thumb for zero. That way the 10 bigram is excellent. :-)
]]>At least with the Planck, you have more options for layers, so you can easily have numbers and symbols in separate layers!
But with the Dvorak scheme, the 0 seems a bit under-optimized, being on a diagonal (like J!). A better right-hand side might be 8 0 2 4 6... that would put the 8 and 9 on the two inner diagonals, which should be the least frequent according to Benford's Law.
]]> 7 8 9
4 5 6
0 1 2 3
Having these in a conveniently accessible layer under the right hand is better still, because the pattern of numbers is already familiar, and they are closer to your home position than the number row.
I also have the most common symbols, like () {}, in the same layer under my left hand, so in practice, I rarely need to reach for the number row at all.
]]>