An Elixir-optimized keyboard layout

Sounds very interesting! Can you explain what you mean by “inward rolls”? I think I have an idea of what you mean but I’m not quite sure.

Another IGNORE_MOD_TAP_INTERRUPT user with modifiers on the home row! QMK is great.

I think I switch between languages too often to optimize for a particular language but my symbol layer was designed with ease of access and frequency of use in mind.

An inward roll would be the equivalent of typing SDF rapidly on QWERTY. This mimics the way we would normally tap our fingers on a table, rolling from 5th finger to 2nd finger. Try rolling the other direction (index to pinkie). It’s not so easy or comfortable. If you look at my 2nd link (the writeup on alternative keyboard layouts), I show the Colemak layout and give the examples of typing SENTENCE, FRIEND, or FIRST. This is why I paired the braces in the right half of the symbol layer in the opposite manner to the parentheses in the left hand. That way both sides roll inward.

I love home row mods, but in the README you’ll see my explanation for wanting 2 sets of Shift keys. I only use the home row shifts for selection and keycuts. But yes, it’s life changing—without QMK there is absolutely no way I would be comfortable on 36 keys, but with it I feel the sky’s the limit .

I’ve been playing with my layouts again lately after a long break.

Is my current. I did try having an elixir specific layer but I have too much muscle memory for layer 2 already so I never used it. I ran a few of my codebases through a character counting script and put the most used near my index fingers(I’m also a vim user hence the qwerty hjkl on layer two and the ctrl-[.

I’m still not super happy with it but its a work in progress. Biggest problem is I became so accustomed to my last layout I’m struggling remapping my mental model of my secondary layer. But I have a print out of that layer I put on my laptop which is helping.

It’s really interesting, because either consciously or subconsciously you’ve put a lot of the paired symbols in the left hand, where they happen to be inward rolls if placed in their usual order. I think for Colemakers this sort of thing becomes irresistible once you experience it on the alphas. Anyway, a very nice layout—my hands are not big enough for Ergodox thumb cluster reaches, which is a shame, because it’s a great community.

My hands aren’t big enough either and I’ve been looking at https://shop.keyboard.io/ for that reason.

On mine the two big buttons on the thumb clusters are the only ones used regularly. The outer are just media keys and the small upper inside ones I almost never use.

I also find the inner row hard to reach so its usually blank though in this case I stuck a \ in there which I’m still not sure on.

Do you do anything to speed up the process of learning a new layout? I’ve found a couple of things that work well for me.

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1. I add the layout to my wallpaper. That way when I’m having trouble remembering where a key is I can hit Win + D once to show my layout and again to restore my work space.
2. One of the things I make when learning a new language is this silly little program that helps me learn new layouts.

The ergodox ez configuration stuff lets you print out a layout sheet. I have one of those on my laptop keyboard and I’m forcing myself to look at it if I don’t 100% know the character so I don’t make mistakes. It’s working but its slow going. The left pinky finger keys are the hardest at the moment. I might move them to index finger area on the number layer soon.

Are you experiencing problems typing on the classic QWERTY keyboards after using those like the ErgoDox for a while?

I’m seriously considering the ErgoDox Glow – I like its idea, configurability and design a lot – but I really don’t want to lose productivity for no more than 1-2 weeks.