Not sure it fits inside this category. But it's related to keyboard. But not especially to the switches.

Due the lack of (good) ISO layouted keyboards in general or missing availability I'll go for the switch. I'm trying to move from my good old german layout to the american layout. At the moment I'm not touch typing at all. Tried learning it years ago but never really "finished". So the big switch will be to learn touch typing with programmer Dvorak as well.

How many user in here are using ANSI layout with beeing a native ISO user? What's your experience? Any thoughts on programmer Dvorak?

BTW. The new keyboard will be a Filco Majestouch-2 Cherry MX Red. It hopefully arrives the next days.

I am also German and learned typing on a German keyboard. I switched to the US ANSI layout about 10 years or so ago for reasons I don't even fully remember. The switch itself was rather painful at first, but eventually you will learn to adjust. There are many work-arounds for Umlauts, so that is not a problem for me. The only problem you might run into is that you actually forget how to type on the German layout. This can be problematic if you are often forced to change keyboards in your work environment or similar.

Overall I can now type fluently(?) on both layouts, ANSI and ISO. While I do keep m OS set to US ANSI all the time, I have no problem with the physical ISO layout (small left shift, big enter).

I've switched to ANSI US and yes I have some problems with the ISO IT now

I'm an English ISO to ANSI convert, only last year. The only thing I regularly have to think about is £ (Alt-3) but apart from that it's been a breeze. I prefer ANSI now and use it at home for both Win PC and Mac (with a couple of remapped keys on OSX). Trouble is, I go to work and have to use the cheapest, most horrid ISO keyboards on earth. Sigh.

nathanscribe wrote:I'm an English ISO to ANSI convert, only last year. The only thing I regularly have to think about is £ (Alt-3) but apart from that it's been a breeze. I prefer ANSI now and use it at home for both Win PC and Mac (with a couple of remapped keys on OSX). Trouble is, I go to work and have to use the cheapest, most horrid ISO keyboards on earth. Sigh.

I bought myself a cheap ansi board for work, I'd like to replace it with a mechanical soon. Sometimes you have to do things by yourself. See http://www.thinq.co.uk/2011/4/12/workers-will-smash-their-pcs-get-upgrade/

pantarhei wrote:...
How many user in here are using ANSI layout with beeing a native ISO user? What's your experience? Any thoughts on programmer Dvorak?

BTW. The new keyboard will be a Filco Majestouch-2 Cherry MX Red. It hopefully arrives the next days.

What is the programmer Dvorak layout? At least a Dvorak kit will be part of the next double shot key group buy.

I've never been a native ISO or ANSI typist. However, as US-layout is the only layout suitable for programming, I've always used this layout with any keyboard which came under my fingers. If you need accented or special characters, just use Alt Gr or Compose.

There are many work-arounds for Umlauts, so that is not a problem for me

That's one thing I'm eager to see in real life. Not to sure about it works out with the Umlauts with an ANSI keyboard. But good to know that you're experienced with it.

The only problem you might run into is that you actually forget how to type on the German layout. This can be problematic if you are often forced to change keyboards in your work environment or similar.

That's not a real issue. Usually there's no need to switch layouts. It's my machine and I don't have to switch machines. Only from work (Windows) to home (MacOS). Maybe I'm going to use an ISO keyboard from time to time to keep a bit used to it.

What is the programmer Dvorak layout?

I'm sure you found it already. In case if not take a look here [1]. Basically it's a Dvorak layout with the same positions for the letters but the "sepcial" signs and symbols are moved to a better reachable position.

But nice to see that the switch from ISO to ANSI is not really uncommon. My co-workers are calling me crazy as I've talked to some of them. They don't see the point in buying a pricy mechanical keyboard and switching to an unknown layout. Maybe I'm a freak (geek). But hey. That's why we're here, right?

Thanks for your input so far. Will report later about the sitching progress. Hopefully there will be some progress...

[1] http://www.kaufmann.no/roland/dvorak/

7bit wrote:However, as US-layout is the only layout suitable for programming, I've always used this layout with any keyboard which came under my fingers. If you need accented or special characters, just use Alt Gr or Compose.

This isn't true

If its true that some national layout aren't good for programming and shell usage, others are very good.

The UK extended layout is likely the best of both worlds, good for programming, and way better than US international (which is misleading for US users and unhandy for the international ones) for writing in many European languages.

@The Solutor

The quote is a bit out of sync.

Thanks, sometimes the board buttons aren't too Solutor friendly.

Edited the unwanted nesting.