3 ms·

So cool that they're using the QMK firmware and open hardware. They also include a split space-bar, taking one of your digits "off the bench" :) [1] I made a cr

So cool that they're using the QMK firmware and open hardware. They also include a split space-bar, taking one of your digits "off the bench" :) [1] I made a crazy ergonomic keyboard, but I think the most useful things in practice are to have a keyboard be programmable and to have multiple keys for the thumbs to use. Backspace is one of the top three most used keys for common computer usage, putting it on the thumb is a huge win over the corner to be used with the pinky (or a Shift, Control, Enter, etc.). The layout is otherwise fairly conservative with dedicated function keys, arrow keys, and navigation keys (albeit in a non-standard cluster). [1] see key layout and mapping: http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/8ec5e9026d616ebad6b2c7e9d943e7c0 http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/8ec5e9026d616e...

fouric 6y ago
> Backspace is one of the top three most used keys for common computer usage Where did you get this from? I'm trying to come up with a good layout for my Dactyl-Manuform, so it would be very helpful to know which keys are the most commonly used.
- autocorr 6y ago
  I was in the same situation for designing my layout too. Most key frequency analyses only look at text corpora. Actual key logging of typical computer usage seems harder to come by. This is a post[1] from a fella who ran a key logger for a while. He found the top three most keys for his usage were Space, Backspace, and E. There are probably better datasets out there because it doesn't break things down, but I suspect Backspace is almost always up there. For my layout, I have Enter and Space on the two home thumb keys and Shift and Backspace on the next outer keys. You can find my layout here[2] for more ideas if you're interested. It does however use palm keys that wouldn't be available on a DM. [1] https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2014/11/12/keyboard-key-frequency/ https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2014/11/12/keyboard-key-frequenc... [2] http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/8105b7f97f89fa09b1414e11bad41a9c http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/8105b7f97f89fa...

fouric 6y ago

> Backspace is one of the top three most used keys for common computer usage Where did you get this from? I'm trying to come up with a good layout for my Dactyl-Manuform, so it would be very helpful to know which keys are the most commonly used.

autocorr 6y ago
I was in the same situation for designing my layout too. Most key frequency analyses only look at text corpora. Actual key logging of typical computer usage seems harder to come by. This is a post[1] from a fella who ran a key logger for a while. He found the top three most keys for his usage were Space, Backspace, and E. There are probably better datasets out there because it doesn't break things down, but I suspect Backspace is almost always up there. For my layout, I have Enter and Space on the two home thumb keys and Shift and Backspace on the next outer keys. You can find my layout here[2] for more ideas if you're interested. It does however use palm keys that wouldn't be available on a DM. [1] https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2014/11/12/keyboard-key-frequency/ https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2014/11/12/keyboard-key-frequenc... [2] http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/8105b7f97f89fa09b1414e11bad41a9c http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/8105b7f97f89fa...