Emacs Keyboard Design 17

This layout feels a little more true to it’s goals.

• Only place keys that I know that I use from experience
• Utilize Emoji, turns out I don’t use much at all
• This is a keyboard for Emacs
• This isn’t a keyboard for APL
  • I haven’t learned it yet and I can add it later
• Greek letters make sense
• Some unicode symbols make sense
• Assuming that I’ll switch to XeTeX or LuaTeX at some point
• Use symbols for modifier keys wherever possible; some found and some made up
  • ISO for CONTROL ⎈ and ALT ⎇
    • This makes them easier to appreciate instead of confusing them with Super between the OS and Super on Emacs
  • GUI (the vintage monitor)
  • Double-struck for meta, super, hyper
  • Escape ⎋
  • Shift ⇧ and double shift ⇧⇧
  • Numbers 2 and 3 for the 2nd and third column of symbols on a symbol key
  • Unicode tab ⭾ and backspace ⌫
• Color the keys
  • Symbols: White
    • Letters
    • Alpha Numeric
    • Space
    • Return
    • Caps lock
  • Modifiers: Aquamarine
  • System calls: Yellow
  • Point/Cursor/Movement: Green
  • Function keys: purple
• Thoughts
  • This is layout #14 there are so many refinements that it is more like 28
    • Refinements are small and mostly internal to my cognitive landscape
  • By only including keys that I know that I use frequently I feel better about getting this layout “right”.
  • “Right” means “configuring it and trying it out for a month”
  • F19-F24 will probably be exclusively for the OS
  • The modifiers are really “all thumbs”
    • You’ll only ever need to use your thumb, index, and middle finger
  • Colors reveal some order to the layout
  • Un-staggering an ISO-104 layout fits perfectly in a 8×16 grid
  • No layering or chording required, want to hand this to anyone, more or less
  • TMK2F for ERgoDoxEZ defines super and meh like this: Hyper (Control, Shift,
    • Option and Command) and Meh (Alt+Ctrl+Shift). The idea is cool because your get another modifier for your OS in addition to Emacs. This Hyper is not an option because it uses the GUI key and every OS steals keystrokes there. This Hyper though is a nice idea for single key bindings. That chord is ugly in my layout, so I’m going to add Meh. Very cool to see people thinking about making lives easy for OS users here.
      • For Emacs users open to using Alt, this opens up yet another namespace
  • Had to move Return to the outer edge
    • This could be a great idea if the operator uses the side of her hand to hit it
    • Not sure where else to put it since I want arrows keys on both side to make it easy for lefties and righties
  • Added concept of columns per key
    • Each key has 3 columns
      • No-shift is first symbol
      • Shift is second symbol
      • Double shift is 3rd symbol
    • Allows for any keyboard for anything
      • Can add APL later
    • 2 and 3 keys move to 2nd and third column
    • Everything is nearby each other to make it more pleasant
    • Layout should be intuitive and maximally easy to read (largest fonts possible)
      • If only one character with one or two cases, put it in the dead center
      • If only two symbols put them in center bottom and top
      • If a letter with upper and lower case and another letter with upper and lower case put letter 1 in the top left and letter two in the bottom right.
    • Keep symbols near their logical counterpart
  • The concept of 3 columns and shift and double-shift should allow for lots of characters for normal users (like me) never to use layers.
    • Being reprogrammable, would love to see what layers people come up with if we could put them all in one firwmare
  • Time will tell, this needs to be tried out.