A possible new staggered layout that hasn't been talked about? - General

walker
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02-Nov-2020 07:19:51#1 A possible new staggered layout that hasn't been talked about?

Right, so I've been messing around with Colemak-DHk for a while (Just saw the revision), and I find the curl mod very comfortable. Now my only gripe is with the j key on the right, which is quite far for the Index finger to reach. Now considering that there are split keyboards out there, why hasn't there been a design that just mirrors the left section of the board? I.E, flip the left section of the curl mod to the right side? Just to clarify, I'm talking about the ISO version of the curl mod

If this is done, the j key would be in an arguably more accessible place than it is now, albiet the keyboard won't look nice if it is put together, and a custom layout may be less accessible. But this kind of staggered layout should provide the most ease of reachability even for qwerty users (well, the b position in qwerty is.... not ideal to say the least, but the y in qwerty could be fixed with this).

I'm surprised that I haven't seen anyone attempt at this even when building a new concept for a board? Since for boards like the matrix and the alice still have these keys in a layout that somewhat needs stretching. Just a thought thou... XDXD

Last edited by walker (02-Nov-2020 07:47:37)

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stevep99
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02-Nov-2020 10:22:09#2 Re: A possible new staggered layout that hasn't been talked about?

If I understand you correctly, this would mean the right-hand side stagger would mirror the left? But the thing is, the stagger is already the wrong way around on the the left, so the result would be wrong stagger on both sides! I grant you it would make the J more accessible, but that's a small benefit set against a worse L U Y ;

If we could magically replace the standard hardware, it would be best to not have the stagger at all, but have the two sides split, so they can be angled to user preference.

Last edited by stevep99 (02-Nov-2020 10:23:13)

Using Colemak-DH with Seniply.

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walker
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02-Nov-2020 10:39:38#3 Re: A possible new staggered layout that hasn't been talked about?

Err, my bad, I think i wasn't clear with the description XD here's a picture to illustrate what i mean:

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DreymaR
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02-Nov-2020 11:09:30#4 Re: A possible new staggered layout that hasn't been talked about?

Yeah. Once you allow split and change the stagger, the correct answer is either a column-staggered keyboard like for instance the Kyria, or a full-hog manuform keyboard like the Dactyl. Even symmetric-stagger is inferior to those I think. Also, look at all those loverly thumb switches... (つ♡ ͜ʖ ♡)つ

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DreymaR
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02-Nov-2020 11:13:36#5 Re: A possible new staggered layout that hasn't been talked about?

Oh, I see. Yes, well, that'd be possible. But it wouldn't look as in your image, because the stagger would be 3/4 u not 1/4 u on the right hand. Which means a rather awkward stretch-and-twist to the quite important keys LUY. That's a far too high price to pay for a more accessible J key, at least for typing English! And as I said above, if you're discussing hardware changes then such a little improvement is just silly when you could do so much much better... ￣(=⌒ᆺ⌒=)￣

Last edited by DreymaR (02-Nov-2020 11:14:15)

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walker
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02-Nov-2020 11:18:46#6 Re: A possible new staggered layout that hasn't been talked about?

DreymaR said:

Yeah. Once you allow split and change the stagger, the correct answer is either a column-staggered keyboard like for instance the Kyria, or a full-hog manuform keyboard like the Dactyl. Even symmetric-stagger is inferior to those I think. Also, look at all those loverly thumb switches... (つ♡ ͜ʖ ♡)つ

Those thumb clusters are niceeee ( つ ◕o◕ )つ The thumb is so underused in normal keebs thou, I have the left one as a shift now and i still feel its underused UwU. It might sound weird but i love the configuration of the left part of the current curl mod for some reason, maybe its cuz i can reach all 5 keys without stretching much? idk XDXDXD

Last edited by walker (02-Nov-2020 11:19:24)

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walker
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02-Nov-2020 11:20:58#7 Re: A possible new staggered layout that hasn't been talked about?

DreymaR said:

Oh, I see. Yes, well, that'd be possible. But it wouldn't look as in your image, because the stagger would be 3/4 u not 1/4 u on the right hand. Which means a rather awkward stretch-and-twist to the quite important keys LUY. That's a far too high price to pay for a more accessible J key, at least for typing English! And as I said above, if you're discussing hardware changes then such a little improvement is just silly when you could do so much much better... ￣(=⌒ᆺ⌒=)￣

hmm tru tru tru XDXD my bad haha i was using the left hand as a reference, since i find that i don't need to stretch or move much to hit the keys on the left i figured that a mirror would work XDXDXD

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