I have recently switched to colemak-wide (last few days). For the last 15 years I have had only about 50% feeling in my right pinkie due to a nerve issue near my right elbow. I can hit the O just fine and the Return isn't too hard, shift is difficult but possible but other keys, especially punctuation on the right side of the keyboard are all but impossible. On qwerty I have been using my ring finger for basically every right pinkie key and 8 times out of 10 I hit the wrong key.
My Current setup
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000 (had it forever)
OS: Arch Linux running Sway Window Manager (sway is keyboard based)
Editor: VIM (most of my apps use vim keybindings)
Layout: Colemak-wide
Modifications: (my xkb file)
3rd level: numbers on right, other punctuation on left (no keys on pinkie finger)
Right Alt: 3rd level key
Caps Lock: Super (Mod4) (for terminal mod key, my kitty terminal wouldn't work with meta)
Super key: Meta (Mod3) (for Sway mod key - Sway is keyboard based window manager)
I can reach the 2-6 and 7-9 keys without issue. I've gotten in the habit of using my ring finger on both hands instead of the pinkie for the 1,~,0, etc and often hit wrong key. After reading this post I'm considering the following:
Modifications:
Move punctuation keys normally on pinkies to 2-6 and 7-9 on levels 1 & 2
3rd level: numbers and movement keys (not sure which side is better)
Left Alt: additional Shift
Right Ctrl: Alt (rarely use alt)
Caps Lock: Esc and Ctrl (Set kitty terminal back to ctrl-shift as modifier)
Super: back to Super
Menu: additional Super
I use vim keys in like every program and they J is hard to use so often. That's why I want to move the movement keys to 3rd level. Is there any advice you can give me? Is there a Linux app I can test different layouts? I mostly do Ansible and shell scripting as I'm more IT than programmer.
Thanks for the help!
Jade