X11-xkb description of keyboard layout optimized for mixed Swedish/English/C++
On a traditional keyboard, it works best with caps-lock as 3rd level selector (I use L-shift + R-shift as caps-lock, for the rare situations when caps lock is desired.)
Plain:
| # | ' | " | < | > | ( | ) | / | - | * | + | = | ^ | ||
| w | y | u | b | ä | k | m | s | h | f | $ | ! | ? | ||
| o | i | e | a | å | v | t | r | n | l | z | ||||
| . | , | j | x | ö | g | d | c | p | q |
Shifted:
| ® | @ | ¨ | { | } | [ | ] | \ | % | & | | | ~ | ^ | ||
| W | Y | U | B | Ä | K | M | S | H | F | _ | ´ | ` | ||
| O | I | E | A | Å | V | T | R | N | L | Z | ||||
| : | ; | J | X | Ö | G | D | C | P | Q |
3d level:
| ¶ | ¡ | @ | « | » | € | ¥ | 7 | 8 | 9 | ± | \ | ± | ||
| @ | ¥ | µ | ß | æ | ← | 4 | 5 | 6 | þ | £ | ¡ | ¿ | ||
| ° | ß | € | ª | ŋ | ħ | 1 | 2 | 3 | ø | æ | ||||
| · | » | © | “ | ø | 0 | 0 | © | þ | ̣ |
Shifted 3d level:
| ¾ | ¹ | ² | ³ | ¼ | ¢ | ⅝ | ÷ | ¬ | × | ¦ | ¿ | ¬ | ||
| Ω | Ł | ¢ | ® | Æ | ¥ | ↑ | ß | ¾ | Þ | ¤ | ¡ | ` | ||
| º | § | ¢ | º | Ŋ | Ħ | ¹ | ² | ³ | ↑ | Æ | ||||
| < | > | © | ‘ | Ø | N | ½ | ˛ | Þ | ˙ |
The placement of the most frequently used keys are generated by a cost analysis from frequencies of moving 3-key combinations (filtering out space and same key repetition.)
The rules for determining good vs bad layouts are most frequent triplets are cheapest. Cost are based on:
- Fingers located where they already are, are cheapest.
- Strength, reach and stamina on pinky is less than index and long finger.
- Alternating hand sequences are cheaper than same hand sequences.
- Fingers on same hand moving in same direction is cheaper than one finger moving and one in same place.
- Fingers on same hand moving in opposite directions is more expensive than one finger moving and one in same place.
For the less frequent keys, symmetry has been prioritized. For the least frequent keys, placement is more or less random.