So I actually have a setup like this using a JIS keyboard Moom and Karabiner.
JIS keyboard in QWERTY mode with left thumb key (??) mapped to cmd and right thumb key (??) as a modal key that allows me to access a custom layer with:
- esdf as arrow keys
- w/r as backspace/delete
- a/g as home/end
I also map left cmd (??) + esdf and w/r to behave like holding ctrl on windows. i.e. move and delete by word.
Used to have another mode with phone-like numpad mapping for number entry but never used it enough.
I then have Moom for window managment with shortcut set to ctrl + space and then the following hot keys:
QWERTY, keyboard shortcuts for window management via Rectangle, numbers and symbols, mouse control. Media keys are on one of those layers but that knowledge resides in my fingers not my head, and I’m not at my keyboard.
I want to try a 40-key board so I’m trying to make more use of the layers.
That makes sense. I recently got a keyboard with configurable layers, but I'm using mostly standard qwerty to start out, adding custom bindings one at a time. I think I'll try out your suggestion, would you mind sharing more details of your configuration?
Cool to see a keyboard without a big spacebar. I've thought that that would be a good way to put multiple additional modifier keys on your thumbs, for things like controlling the arrow keys from the homerow without overloading the standard modifiers.
I even purchased the [Japanese version of my daily keyboard][1] to try this out. Haven't planned the functions or made the switch yet though.
I really like https://github.com/jbensmann/mouseless as it will also let you remap keys to control the mouse. I went down a rabbit hole of key remapping, and can't remember exactly why I settled on it, but posting as an alternative for others to look at.
I thrive off caplock as a toggle for remapped keys. I turn my sdf-234 into a numpad and jkl; for arrows and some other text navigation binds so I never need to veer far from the home row. caps-/ for ~ I can't live without.
As another non-QWERTY user, I usually want desktop keybindings (excluding games) to follow layout changes, because I'm remembering the function by the mnemonic. Most applications have this behavior on my existing FDO/Linux system. On the Windows machine I use sometimes, by contrast, it seems like holding Control effectively forces QWERTY, which has been an unending source of little pains. If I didn't already have the QWERTY keymap memorized and I had to figure out which keys were “actually” which to configure things, it would be a lot harder.
But then, I'm an X user still; I'd like to dip into Wayland, but a combination of fragmentation of protocols and the seeming relative “hardness” of the stack in terms of customizability have caused me to hesitate thus far. And maybe that Windows behavior also means that's what you want to mimic for a lot of other people?
Not plugging to promote it, just to call attention to a design pattern I used in my 34-key layout (same number as the author's) that made it less hellish to learn (albeit, one has to know dvorak, but it's probably adaptable to something more intuitive.) The layout has two layer keys that can be used together to switch between 4 layers in total, with the default one being dvorak alphas, the left one being Mods for modifiers, the right one being Nums for numbers, and combined Mods and Nums for extra modifiers. Here's an except from the readme:
Hold Mods + Tap E = Enter
Hold Mods + Hold Nums + Tap E = Escape
Hold Mods + Tap B = Backspace
Hold Mods + Tap D = Delete
Hold Mods + Tap T = Tab
So I found this was very easy to adapt to because the most important modifiers are in places that are very intuitively memorized. It's something to consider if you want to go down this road.
Thanks for this! I wanted to have a space that doubles as a layer key if kept pressed, and I wasn't having great success trying to do it with a custom program using the X bindings. This seems way simpler, while also more powerful.
Have you considered an Ergodox, or one of the other programmable keyboards supported by the http://qmk.fm/ project?
I have an Ergodox Ez that I've created a custom key-map targeted towards my vim and i3-wm: left of "a" is a key that if I tap it does ESC and if I hold it does the Windows key. Right of ";" is quote/Win. "z" and "/" if I hold them become control. Among other things.
It took me around 2 weeks of un-learning some bad habits I had, to become really proficient at the Ergodox. Some of it was that I used to hit the "b" with my right hand but Ergodox only has it on the left. A large part was that I was borrowing a friend's keyboard with blank keycaps and though I was a touch typist, I would regularly look at the keyboard to "get my bearings". Plus, I always looked to do numeric entry. Plus, moving keys around for enter/space/backspace/tab took some getting used to.
If you think "my ideal keyboard would", Qmk firmware plus one of the dozens of supported keyboards may just get you there.
JIS keyboard in QWERTY mode with left thumb key (??) mapped to cmd and right thumb key (??) as a modal key that allows me to access a custom layer with:
- esdf as arrow keys
- w/r as backspace/delete
- a/g as home/end
I also map left cmd (??) + esdf and w/r to behave like holding ctrl on windows. i.e. move and delete by word.
Used to have another mode with phone-like numpad mapping for number entry but never used it enough.
I then have Moom for window managment with shortcut set to ctrl + space and then the following hot keys:
- 2/3 set up for 50:50 left right split
- 1/4 set up for 30:70 split
- w/e/r for 30:40:30 split
- q/a for top/bottom left quarter
- s/d/f for even 1/3 split
- t/g for 40:60 top/bottom for vertical monitors
This is good enough for 99% of my cases.
manytricks.com/moom/
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