bits-of-static / wide-querty

Super memorable and ergonomic keyboard layout for programmers. QUERTY-based, minimal transformations.

Programmer's wide-QUERTY keyboard layout

I tried out really a lot of various layout variations and I came back...
This is what is currently commited:

,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,---------,
|  `~  |  !1  |  @2  |  #3  |  $4  |  %5  |  ^6  |  &7  |  *8  |  \9  |  |0  |  -_  |  =+  |  bkspc  |
|------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,------|
|  tab    |  q   |  w   |  e   |  r   |  t   |  [{  |  ]}  |  u   |  i   |  o   |  p   |  y   |  /?  |
|---------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'------|
|  caps      |  a   |  s   |  d   |  f   |  g   |  '"  |  h   |  j   |  k   |  l   |  ,;  |  enter   |
|------------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'----------|
|  shift        |  z   |  x   |  c   |  v   |  (<  |  )>  |  n   |  m   |  b   |  .:  |       shift  |
'----,--------,-'---,--'---,--'------'------'------'------'------'----,--'------'--,---,--------,----'
     |  ctrl  |    |  alt  |                                          |    altgr   |   |  ctrl  |
     '--------'    '-------'------------------------------------------'------------'   '--------'

I pushed the the right hand one position to the right

• super trivial to get used to
• easy on the right pinky & shoulder

programming

• In the middle, I opened a space for parentheses, curly and other braces that a programmer needs all the time
• I swapped the shift on the numerical row, numbers are used more seldom than operators
• The single quote is more often used in programming than the double, so the double is on the shift
• comma, period, semicolon, colon grouped and exposed by usage frequency
• I swapped the shift on curly braces. Array indexes are usually stream-typed.

minimal amount of transformations

• Y and B moved from inside to the outside
• backslash \ on the 9, pipe character | on the 0.
• the question mark and the slash(division) moved as whole to the vicinity of enter

international support (you won't find anywhere more of it - fork me)

• intuitive expectation
  • AlrGr+~ tilde ãÃẽẼĩĨñÑõÕũŨṽṼỹỸ˘
  • AlrGr+/ combining short solidus overlay ∅ⱥȺȼȻɇɆłŁøØⱦȾ
  • AlrGr+|0 degree sign åÅůŮẘ°ẙ°°
  • AlrGr+!1 a dot above resp. no dot above ıİȧȦḃḂċĊḋḊėĖḟḞġĠḣḢṁṀṅṄȯȮṗṖṙṘṡṠṫṪẇẆẋẊẏẎżŻ˙
  • AlrGr+@2 diaeresis (two dots) ßäÄëËḧḦïϨ¨öÖẗ¨üÜẅẄẍẌÿŸ¨
  • AlrGr+^6 circumflex accent âÂĉĈêÊĝĜĤģîÎĵĴôÔŝŜÛûŵŴ^^ẑẐ^
• intuition extension
  • AlrGr+&7 caron ǎǍčČďĎěĚǧǦȟȞǐǏǰˇǩǨľĽňŇǒǑřŘšŠťŤǔǓˇˇžŽˇˇ
  • AlrGr+*8 breve ăğĂĞ˘
• central "X space"
  • AlrGr+[{ cedilla ņçģşļķŗţŅÇĢŞĻĶŖ޸
  • AlrGr+]} ogonek ąęųįĄĘŲĮ˛
  • AlrGr+'" double acute accent űőŰŐ˝
  • AlrGr+(< grave accent àÀèÈìÌòÒùÙǹǸẁẀỳỲ
  • AlrGr+)> acute accent áÁćĆéÉǵǴíÍḱḰĺĹḿḾńŃóÓṕṔŕŔśŚúÚẃẂ´´ýÝźŹ´

There are a couple of missing positions: those are missing in Unicode altogether.

Usage

• Windows, .klc file

Use with Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator 1.4.

• Linux, Unbuntu

The install script rather simple, one-time use only - informs&exits on successive attempts. No uninstall script. No internationalization support yet.

• Mac

Nothing yet - let me know.

DIY / even more conformance

• keep B and Y where they were for the trade-of of having less extra keys in the middle
• OPT: keep the numerical row like it is: numbers without shift, operators with shift
• standard keys on expected positions: ;:, <,, >., |\
• standard keys on different positions: /?, "'
• better availibility for curly braces, brackets

,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,---------,
|  `~  |  !1  |  @2  |  #3  |  $4  |  %5  |  ^6  |  &7  |  *8  |  (9  |  )0  |  -_  |  =+  |  bkspc  |
|------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,------|
|  tab    |  q   |  w   |  e   |  r   |  t   |  {}  |  y   |  u   |  i   |  o   |  p   |  /?  |  |\  |
|---------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'------|
|  caps      |  a   |  s   |  d   |  f   |  g   |  "'  |  h   |  j   |  k   |  l   |  :;  |  enter   |
|------------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'----------|
|  shift        |  z   |  x   |  c   |  v   |  []  |  b   |  n   |  m   |  <,  |  >.  |       shift  |
'----,--------,-'---,--'---,--'------'------'------'------'------'----,--'------'--,---,--------,----'
     |  ctrl  |    |  alt  |                                          |    altgr   |   |  ctrl  |
     '--------'    '-------'------------------------------------------'------------'   '--------'

2021 edit of README.md - my current favorite fluctuates around this:

,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,------,---------,
|  `~  |  !1  |  @2  |  #3  |  $4  |  %5  |  ^6  |  &7  |  *8  |  /9  |  ?0  |  -_  |  =+  |  bkspc  |
|------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,------|
|  tab    |  q   |  w   |  e   |  r   |  t   |  {}  |  []  |  u   |  i   |  o   |  p   |  y   |  |\  |
|---------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'------|
|  caps      |  a   |  s   |  d   |  f   |  g   |  "'  |  h   |  j   |  k   |  l   |  ,;  |  enter   |
|------------'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'--,---'----------|
|  shift        |  z   |  x   |  c   |  v   |  ()  |  <>  |  n   |  m   |  b   |  .:  |       shift  |
'----,--------,-'---,--'---,--'------'------'------'------'------'----,--'------'--,---,--------,----'
     |  ctrl  |    |  alt  |                                          |    altgr   |   |  ctrl  |
     '--------'    '-------'------------------------------------------'------------'   '--------'

Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator is super simple to use, linux users need to edit just one straightforward file.

Background reading

This is what A Modern Keyboard Layout: wide, prg, num, dead, dvrk, rl evolved into.