@antithesis, can you explain what you mean by same finger utilization?

You may want to play with patojk keyboard layout analyzer and to ask him how to get such optimization included in his website

http://patorjk.com/keyboard-layout-analyzer/

My bad, I wasn't thinking straight. DE, LO and GT on Qwerty are correct examples.

And I have used Pat or JK's analyzer, but the personalized layout doesn't really score better in same-finger utilization (or overall, for that matter).

Aha, gotcha! I bet Dvorak scores really well on that count (with the odd exception CT, RN, RV, UP, PU, JE, UX and (cough) LS, I know this seems a long list, but probably only CT is an issue, however it's not the hardest to key, corresponds to IK on Qwerty.)

Well it would be worth looking at Dvorak's vowel set up.  All on the left, mostly on the home row, unless you count Y as a vowel.  Investigating their order would be interesting - I bet there's a good rationale behind it.

The way I see it, the primary limitations in SameFinger count are that A) you have more keys than fingers, and B) no finger can be in two places at the same time. Thereby the most effective solutions for each of these problems would be:

A) Increase the number of typing fingers (thumbs)
B) Have the keys type more than one letter (layers/chording).

I have the feeling that these were not the type of suggestions Antithesis had in mind though, so I'll stop here.

... Well, now that I think about it, there is also option C) Reduce the number of letters in the alphabet.
Edit: Actually that would increase same finger, as there would be fewer filler letters to break things up, so forget that.

Y can most definitely be a vowel because it can create another syllable, for example, in the word 'syllable'. ;)

Hm, I might take another look at it then.

These are exactly the kind of hacks I'm looking for. I did think about A and B but, since they're such big steps away, it has my preference to do as much as possible with the current setup. It's still worth looking at, though.

A is interesting, but not every keyboard looks exactly the same so a universal implementation will be hard. For example, if I want my right thumb to be positioned comfortably above the right alt-key, my right pink would be on the return-key, which is heavier than the others, and I have a backslash-or-pipe key (\, |) in between the quotation marks button and return, so my ring finger would be above that. I'd have to change it whenever I use another keyboard. I guess the layout could just have different versions, though.

Could you explain the difference between layers and cording (or what they are in the first place, for that matter)?

As for C, I thought it was a joke but the edit makes it seem serious. Care to explain?

@pinkyache: Ouch, you got me! Just like one of those self playing pianos, eh?

Well, I've explored Thumb usage possibilities somewhat, so you can see what I have already said at the Wide Colemak Mod and Toss The Spacebar threads. I think I might have touched on it in the Key-tar thread as well. More or less, you hit the nail on the head. The buttons that it would be practical for the thumbs to use on a standard keyboard (L.Alt or Function keys with an inverted board) are not, in fact, standardized. Even worse, the number row tends to be left out on software keyboards entirely (iOS, Android), severely limiting options. The only thing that would cover all usages is to alter you technique and move the hands up in such a way to cram all the fingers into the main 30 key area, but that has it's own problems. A lot of them.

As for layers and chording, due to the difficulty in programming them I have avoided exploring this route. Also, these tend to double, or triple key presses for a single letter and bungle up shortcuts something fierce, so while great for limited space devices, handicaps or applications where there is no tactile feedback; for everyday use they are not recommended. See "One-handed Colemak Variant" (based on Matias Half-Qwerty) for Layers example and asetniop's excellent "Chorded keyboard layout for Colemak" for... well, chords. Also, wikipedia has a good entry on chorded keyboards, so check there.

Edit: Just noticed you asked about the alphabet thing, and yes it was a joke, but a joke I have seriously considered in the past. There are certain letters in the alphabet which are... for lack of a better word, redundant. In English at least. For example q can very easily be replaced with k. Q still rekuires the U, so adding a modifier letter, like w, or leaving the u isn't really changing anything. X could also be replaced with other letters, like KS, if you don't mind the ekstra letter (yeah, yeah, but how often do you use words like zylophone, or Zanadu?). Of course, by removing less frekwenly used letters, the remaining letters get used more often. In this eksample, the KS digraph has greatly increased in frequency and is now a notable digraph that one would have to watch for when considering a layout's same finger ratio.

There is also Option D, that pinkyache hit upon. Type less. This can be done by either using Voice to Text software, mouse input like Microsoft Visual Keyboard and Dasher an autosuggest/autocomplete/text expander programs like letmetype and PhraseExpress or even some form of alphabetic shorthand. See ComputerScript as an example. Of course you could always create your own shorthand system with a word processor's auto correct function. For instance, replace " t " with " the ", replace " n " with " and ", etc.

Br1ll14nt!!!

...or perhaps, 3k5(3ll4nt? 5t1ll, vvh4t 4 (0nc3pt.

ugh, I feel dirty now.

Bloody hell, Nuance is getting their fingers into everything these days. ... It does look a whole lot easier than the 8-pen though.

Colemak has one of the best same finger ratio but has a bad alternation of hands  against Dvorak.

Win 1% of same finger and lost 10% of alternation is not a solution.

Actually, be the best in one thing is not enough!

Arensito, Capewell, & Colemak have the shortest distance.
Arensito, Capewell, & Colemak have the best same finger ratio <2%.
Dvorak has the best alternation hand.
Carlpax has the lowest pinky use.
Arensito, Capewell, Workman have 50/50% hand use

Workman tried to find a good compromise of all, but forgot something else; the "rolls"!
When you don't alternate the hands, fingers of the same hand must "flow" from the pinky to the index. The best way I find to have a good rolls is to use the finger next to the one you just type with; even if you can't have the flow "pinky to index". For ex: the best move is major->index, and prefer  a ring finger->pinky than a middle->pinky.
Why? Because it will be easier to make a same hand/different finger/different line.

I try to find a good compromise of all.
good alternation 71%, good repartition of hand, same fingers 2,5%, lowest distance for text, low pinky (under 9% of use), and good "rolls"

BvoFRak EN V0.5

One drawback it's not improve for total developper.

Try it:
http://patorjk.com/keyboard-layout-analyzer/

{"label":"BVOFRAK EN V0.5","fingerStart":{"1":29,"2":30,"3":31,"4":32,"5":56,"6":56,"7":35,"8":36,"9":37,"10":38,"11":56,"false":-1},"keyboardType":"standard","keys":[{"primary":96,"shift":94,"finger":1,"id":0,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":35,"shift":49,"finger":1,"id":1,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":61,"shift":50,"finger":1,"id":2,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":40,"shift":51,"finger":2,"id":3,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":41,"shift":52,"finger":3,"id":4,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":47,"shift":53,"finger":4,"id":5,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":42,"shift":54,"finger":7,"id":6,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":43,"shift":55,"finger":7,"id":7,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":45,"shift":56,"finger":8,"id":8,"altGr":8212,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":37,"shift":57,"finger":9,"id":9,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":64,"shift":48,"finger":10,"id":10,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":91,"shift":38,"finger":10,"id":11,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":93,"shift":126,"finger":10,"id":12,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":20,"finger":10,"id":13,"shift":-1,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":9,"finger":1,"id":14},{"primary":120,"shift":88,"finger":1,"id":15,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":99,"shift":67,"finger":2,"id":16,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":100,"shift":68,"finger":3,"id":17,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":118,"shift":86,"finger":4,"id":18,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":106,"shift":74,"finger":4,"id":19,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":34,"shift":95,"finger":7,"id":20,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":39,"shift":92,"finger":7,"id":21,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":117,"shift":85,"finger":8,"id":22,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":103,"shift":71,"finger":9,"id":23,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":33,"shift":63,"finger":10,"id":24,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":60,"shift":123,"finger":10,"id":25,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":62,"shift":125,"finger":10,"id":26,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":36,"shift":124,"finger":10,"id":27,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":8,"finger":1,"id":28,"shift":-1,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":110,"shift":78,"finger":1,"id":29,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":115,"shift":83,"finger":2,"id":30},{"primary":116,"shift":84,"finger":3,"id":31,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":114,"shift":82,"finger":4,"id":32,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":104,"shift":72,"finger":4,"id":33,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":112,"shift":80,"finger":7,"id":34,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":97,"shift":65,"finger":7,"id":35,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":101,"shift":69,"finger":8,"id":36,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":111,"shift":79,"finger":9,"id":37,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":105,"shift":73,"finger":10,"id":38,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":98,"shift":66,"finger":10,"id":39,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":13,"finger":10,"id":40},{"primary":16,"finger":1,"id":41},{"primary":102,"shift":70,"finger":2,"id":42,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":119,"shift":87,"finger":3,"id":43,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":109,"shift":77,"finger":4,"id":44,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":108,"shift":76,"finger":4,"id":45,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":122,"shift":90,"finger":4,"id":46,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":44,"shift":59,"finger":7,"id":47,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":46,"shift":58,"finger":7,"id":48,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":121,"shift":89,"finger":8,"id":49,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":107,"shift":75,"finger":9,"id":50,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":113,"shift":81,"finger":10,"id":51,"altGr":-1,"shiftAltGr":-1},{"primary":-16,"finger":10,"id":52},{"primary":17,"finger":5,"id":53},{"primary":-91,"finger":5,"id":54},{"primary":18,"finger":5,"id":55},{"primary":32,"finger":5,"id":56},{"primary":-18,"finger":6,"id":57},{"primary":-91,"finger":6,"id":58},{"primary":-93,"finger":6,"id":59},{"primary":17,"finger":6,"id":60}]}

Holy shit, lots of great stuff going on here. I'll just comment on the tools to create corded/layered layouts: on GNU/Linux, the combination of xchainkeys and crikey (or xdotool, or xte from the xautomation bundle), will let you do all of that. Check it out.

Sorry but I'm a perfectionist. I don't take roads less traveled. :)

Now brb, I'm learning dotsies!