And now for something completely different...

[jpatters]

Ortholinear (mostly) with digraphs!

outward.png (68.32 KiB) Viewed 1674 times

This layout has a number of intentional properties:

1) Most of the top digraphs can be typed with the eight home keys, but they have been re-arranged from the Colemak standard so that when they are on the same side, such as "IN" and "AS" they are accomplished with an outward finger roll.

-but-

2) Of course, all those keys would normally have the same profile, so they can be swapped around to accommodate all of you inward rolling muggles.

3) Dedicated keys for the top 9 digraphs that don't fall on the eight home keys. I attempted to place them where they would most likely be used following or before an opposite hand keystroke. In all, the top 28 digraphs can be typed with either the eight home keys or a dedicated key.

4) "THE" can be typed in two keystrokes two different ways.

5) Lots of things for the thumbs to do.

6) Large Escape key.

7) Amongst all of this, found room for Back Tab and Clear.

I'm really considering ordering a plate for this. Thoughts?

Revision update:

outward_revised.png (69.55 KiB) Viewed 1661 times

[Muirium]

Digraphs are cool. I originally got a Tipro with the intention to using it as an input device for a syllabary rather than an alphabet. (Constructed language pet project!) Syllabaries use syllables instead of letters, so you essentially type the sounds. Japanese is a language which uses one (actually several redundant systems because Japan!) But I had no idea how awful Tipro controllers are for anything other than henpecking on Windows boxes. In hacking my own matrix, I found their plate is too thin to hold switches without PCB support either. So one dead Tipro…

I never got as far as laying out the sounds. But I'm still enthusiastic about trying it out. That's why I got a much more solid Access-IS matrix keyboard (with detachable controller) which I'll use essentially in digram mode (consonant+vowel) exclusively! When I get around to it.

Strict ortholinear though. I don't want to monkey with my finger English.

[SL89]

Very cool, I jump between different writing systems a lot and digraphs would be super helpful.

@Muirium, is the conlang for your space opera? I've read most of your site and it looks interesting. Also where did you get the Access-IS boards?

@jpatters, I really like the revision, as much as I like hat keys, they seem to be better used as solid ones. (this board would look glorious in SA even if it was just all R3) do you have a specific language (or conlang) this board is meant to be used with? (besides english thats is)

[Muirium]

Yeah, I want to play around with sounds and writing systems a bit. And I'm a keyboard nerd, so… there must be a keyboard for that purpose!

The boards were from a wee GB I ran back in December:

http://deskthority.net/photos-f62/topic ... lit=Access

Access is one of the few UK based keyboard companies, so for a change my location was helpful instead of significantly inconvenient! We got a whole pile of NIBs for a nice low price. I like them a lot more than Tipros. So much better made. (Is that a sizzling chocolate bar I hear?) And the detachable controller is a godsend because Access's configurator is just as drooling and irritable as Tipro's. Tear it out and go Teensy + Soarer. Done! Well, I will be when I'm up to detail work again. Still recovering from the old wallop!

[SL89]

Same, I have been using Aurebesh ever since I got the BoB set from Ivan, the only thing that sucks is its been a pain to map out digraphs from the board, to the os, to the fonts, so its been rather sloppy on my part. But i found a composer app that does it pretty well.

[jacobolus]

If you’re going to add digraphs, you’ll have to do some serious analysis to figure out how to correctly place them (my snap judgment of your proposed layout is pretty lukewarm, but it would take trying it to really judge), and there will be a noticeably steeper learning curve than a standard new logical layout.

Why not just go all the way and switch to a chorded stenography keyboard?

Or if the goal is improving efficiency while mostly preserving the way the keyboard works, I’d recommend moving both shift keys, return, escape, etc. to easier to hit spots, moving the arrows and F keys onto layers near the home row, and so forth.

On the other hand, experimenting is always fun. Let us know if you actually build this thing, or some kind of prototype.

[salsaverde]

That's an excellent idea. My mind is blown. I'm going to think about this some more.