Emacs Keyboard Design Strategy

Keyboard design is a delicate balance between the subtlety of poetry and the simplicity of a sledgehammer.

Here is how I scoped down millions of permutations into something more manageable that may result in an actual keyboard within the next year.

Step 01: Talk Yourself out of Doing It

You already know how to use a keyboard?
- If yes: There are already excellent keyboards and layouts ready for you to use
  - You can use them faster than creating it up yourself
Do you need a new keyboard?
- If yes: There are already excellent keyboard manufacturers
  - To name a few: Kinesis, Maltron, Happy Hacking, Microsoft, WASD, Cherry, ErgoDox, Planck
  - You can buy one faster then making one yourself
Do you need a new key layout?
- If yes: There are already excellent key layouts
  - To name a few: Dvorak, Colemak, Workman
  - You can use one faster than making a new one yourself
Do you need firmware?
- If yes: ErgoDox-EZ and its progeny are probably fine
If you answered no to any of these questions
- Go back and read all literature and research everything out there additionally everything also not in the list
- You will use later
- Take good notes because you will discover what you value
  - My findings are in a sub-heading
If after reading everything, familiarizing yourself with all offerings, thought through the entirety of everything
- You still want to design your own keyboard
  - Then be sure you’ve studied everything available
  - Move on to the next heading

Things that I Learned that I Value

QWERTY Layout
- Fast
- Already know it
- Won’t scare the heck out of anybody I pass the keyboard
- Don’t care of it slows me down, it is fast enough
Grid layout
- When is the last time you used a staggered keypad on your cellphone or smartphone because it didn’t want you typing too quickly?
- Yup this one bugs me. Grid layout, no stagger.
Custom letter layout
- Fascinating topic
- Fun statistical analysis
- Only works for one person, I want it for my friends and family
- So no
Flat rectangle
- Split keyboards are nice
- I guess they cost more, so less friends can easily have them
- I don’t need one
- So no split keyboard
Led
- I love them on the MBP
- So if I can have them, great
Switches
- Cherry MX and Alps look great for quiet, and tactile loud
Caps
- Sculpted
- Ridges for home
- See light through them at night
Emacs pinky
- Not sure science backs it up; but my hands back it up
- Maximize use of thumb/index/middle fingers
Biomechanical studies / ergonomic keyboard
- Things like ulnar rotation
- I will ignore
- There are real studies
- I’m not doing one
- I’m just using a grid
Firmware
- No I don’t want to use ArmPit Scheme
- No I don’t want to use MicroPhython
- No I don’t want to use the LEDs for games like Breakout and Pong
- Yes I want to use an existing, stable, powerful option like ErgoDox uses this and that looks powerful, supported, and open.
Programmable
- I’d rather not have to program it and have everything there already
- Symbol keys should provide access to everything
- That said reprogrammable is great… maybe if it is Massdropped

Step 02: Define Some Simple Measure of Success

How will you know when you’ve successfully designed your perfect keyboard?
- When I’ve defined my measure for success and reached it
Who is your audience?
- Me: gift
- My family: gift
- My friends: gift
  - Want to be able to hand it to people and have them use it on their computer
    - Without special software
    - With USB
    - With legends and indicator so it is clear what is happening
- Other Emacs users
- Other LaTeX users
- Other programmers: Lisp, APL
What programs will you use it with?
- Everything typical of the OS
- Emacs so provide all meta keys
What operating systems will you use it on?
- OS X
- Windows
- Linux
Have you tried and failed every possible way and are convinced that you need a custom keyboard?
- I’ve spent hundreds of hours over the years tweaking my configuration for the different keyboards I’ve used. The Dell ISO and the MacBook Pro are the best. No matter what I try, I can’t make them he same, and I can’t move around the keys.
- Modifiers are great for helping my friends and family do stuff without switching to different layers. That is the obstacle, modifiers are complicated enough anyway.
- The Planck would be perfect if it were 8 columns by 16 rows!
  - Can make it do what I want, use layers or not

Step 03: Keyboard Modeling

If you can’t get what you want out of the keyboards above then you want something unique and uncommon. That is fine, I do to. For me the easiest way is to buy a large matrix reprogrammable keyboard.
I chose the XKE-128.
Model, develop, prototype, revise, retry, restart
This keyboard gives you a place to make the mistakes instead of wasting your precious time and money during your own personal learning process

Step 04: Implementation

Two possible paths
- Pre-package the keyboard
  - Non programmable
  - Certified
  - Available for purchase on Amazon
- Do it yourself
  - Same as a Planck, but bigger, talk to Planck

Conclusion

For now I’ll test out my ideas and document the why’s and the results. Can’t wait.

The grid-layout is perfect for what I want; just bigger.