I always have a little fight with myself, because in world of programming and everything related to computers, you'd need to always know your keyoard te best, and to that, you need to know the universals. I'm always scared I'd go to some place, And won't be able to use normal qwerty layout.
@@999samus7 Imagine you are doing a spoken interview and the team is very happy with your candidacy, and then they ask you to type some code.... I don't think that the "I can't type on this default keyboard" would sound very encouraging for them.
> vim > custom mechanical keyboards > rust next thing you will be telling me that your daily driver operating system is nixOS, and you make your own dogfood out of crickets.
Nice key map! One suggestion. An issue with home row shift key is what when you use shift while typing fast to capitalize the first letter you naturally roll from the shift to the letter in the exact same way you would roll from that same home row letter to that next letter. So there is no way your keyboard can tell if you are rolling between characters or shifting. If you want to type really fast in a situation where you are using capitals, it would improve your layout functionality even more to include in some way a dedicated shift key. All things considered, nice layout, thank you for sharing!
Why might someone be concerned with ergonomics *and* want a one-hand layout? A) Gaming socially B) If they often use a mouse while typing for other reasons (say, using design software) C) If they have a condition that impacts the use of one hand D) Any other reason somebody might want to have a hand free while typing - snacking, pets, the list goes on! That being said, a trackpoint on both hands of a split keyboard layout is looking really appealing 😂
Honestly i feel like this is so helpful. Additionally it makes RGB and dials have a purpose as Dials can now be your layer/profile switcher, and RGB can color code what the purpose of your layer is. "Orange? Im on symbols" "only 4 keys are highlighted in red and all other lights are dark? Oh im on WASD gaming mode"
I prefer dedicated arrows and one shot shift key. And as for left ctrl I obviously use ESCAPE since it doesn't damage my left wrist. having arrow keys on a second later is terrible for highlighting in my opinion, hence why I decided to stick with my 48 keys ortholinear.
That ferris keyboard seems very interesting. I've been looking up the repo to see if there are gerber files available to print the pcb's myself. I did find them finally between the releases. It looks like a great keyboard, but I will first go for the gergoplex
Great video! For me, the problem with even 40% keyboard is that my main language is Russian and it has 33 letters, and they are cyrillic (so, no dvorak/colemak/other keymaps). Of course I have to keep English keymap (for coding e.g.) so +1 layout at least.
For 40% it's just 2 or 3 rare letters that you put on another layer, also ь and ъ can be put on the same key with shift, as there are no words starting with capital Ь/Ъ. not a big deal you hold shift every day hundreds of times after all, and not complaining. I'm in the process of making 20% (24key split keypads), I did my own language layout because qwerty couldn't fit without cutting common letters. I'm pretty sure I can make it work for cirillyc as well, just more combos would be required and more time to learn.
Remember every key can be a modifier when held, the possibilities are almost limitless, so for rare letters you can hold any other letter and it will act as layer shift key.
Qwerty werks, I don't want to run into keybinding issues on every new program. Also setting up my vim bindings again will be too much. I'm a qwerty boomer
This is a great video. Very well scripted. As someone who is WELL deep down the QMK rabbit hole, I could tell that this was just the right mix of technical and layman to convince some people about efficiencies in layout. Well done! Will also be stealing some of your ideas when I move to a wireless Ferris :P
I tried using modtap a few times, but I use the keyboard for gaming too, and when the key feedback got delayed because it had to discern between tap and hold, it just didn't feel good.
I find I use movement keys a lot, and they regularly don't get featured in those metrics about best layouts cause having hjkl in a convenient location is critical to my workflow
I hear what you're saying about choosing any layout other than qwerty, but on the other hand, if you regularly have to use other computers, like laptops or those belonging to someone else entirely, how do you find the muscle memory going back to qwerty after using something like colemak in the meantime?
Using a different layout such as Colemak on a splergo (split ergo) keyboard like the Ferris and going back & forth to the default qwerty layout on a laptop keyboard is easy once you've learned the new layout. Using the different form factor + layout makes them more distinct in your head & hands.
They are not mixing in my brain, because my keyboard has split space with many keys and split ortholoner design. It is similar to the phones, you can use colemak dh on the computer and still type qwerty on the phone even after many years of no qwerty on pc, the neuro paths are distinct enough so that they occupy different sectors in the brain.
wow, this was suuuper helpful! And really well explained. I'd love to see more of these, for example on chording, and how you might be able to use callum mods or something similar to limit chording. Or just the different terms of QMK, like you did with mod-tap. That'd help a loooot for sure.
I've been trying to decide whether I want to go 42 hey or 36 but because of gaming I was leaning towards 42. I may consider doing what you did and go with the 36 and create a separate gaming layer. Thank you!
36 won't suffice for strategies. You need number row to group and manage units. As for FPS you can manage with 36, I was playing Q3 for 8 years and never used number row. Q - rocket gun, E - rail, F - plasma, Z - gauntlet x c v can't remember anylonger. But it gets tricky if your game has more than 9-10 types of weapons.
You mentioned using vim with workman. How was doing that switch? I'm thinking about switching to colemak or another alternative layout but I don't want to throw all that off. Especially if I wanna keep everything on the homerow, I need to modify not only vim but my window manager and any other programs that use vim keys, and using vim or vim like things without navigation on the home row just sounds cursed as hell
i use halmak (with qwerty types) and the modifier keys make the keyboard work like as if it was qwerty. i can use qwerty binds on halmak without too much effort and if i were to build such a keyboard i'd make the super key another modifier for the keyboard firmware and make it act like the game layer (switch to qwerty) and that's pretty much it
hjkl are essentially arrows but in vim world, stop using that. As for other navigation methods they are simantical or positional, it doesn't really matter where that letter is located, as long as you are very proficient at your language layout. For other programs make a layer for arrows. Hold like space and you have arrows under your fingers, you can place theme where hjkl were. Works in any program, not just vim-awere ones.
The snag I gave with home row mods is what if you need to hit that same letter as the mod? Ie, I think in your video h is Ctrl when held down. What about ctrl-h? I guess you have the other hand for that.... Hmmm
one thing I dont understand. Youre using tap dancing on the home row for modifers, but arnt that what you use for vim keys? how do you move around in vim without holding down the buttons on the home row
Btw you rate the ring finger as having the same ease of use is the index and middle however I find that those fingers are a little less capable and more likely to fatigue. Your index and middle fingers should be given the most valuable keys, while the ring fingers and thumb should be given next priority, with pinky being the last. So that mean a index finger homerow is the best, and a reaching pinky should be for the least used keys. One this you didn't mention that needs to be remarked is ease of learning, where mimicking a layout that people are familiar with is easier to learn.
This video is specifically about the process. If you feel a different way than me, you can apply the same process yourself (that's the whole point of the video!) Ease of learning is of little concern to me, since having something be distinct makes learning actually easier. That's why I strongly discourage people from using things like the Tarmak strategy for learning colemak in which you progressively swap keys until you fully learn colemak. With this process you are just progressively destroying both muscle memories, where as if you just went in cold-turkey you could maintain two distinct sets of muscle memories
Do you have a video on the Ferris yet? I'd love to get the GergoPlex, but I've already noticed that the stagger on my Moonlander simply isn't aggressive enough. The Ferris seems like a great solution.
0:55 you really did the letters K, X, Q, J and Z a dirty here :D Ok more substantially: at 4:29 in these scenarios I just bring over the right hand. It would never occur to me to try Ctrl-T with one.
My only question would how would I keep home row mod keys, since I like to use Vim and have other software configured to use "J" (using qwerty) to go down, move cursor, down, etc And sometimes I just keep the button pressed, is there a workaround for this instead of smashing the "J" to keep using the letter J? I'm pretty new to QMK.
Can you please make a video on what it's like to use vim with a non-qwerty layout? This has been my biggest inhibitor to changing layouts, and would love to hear your thoughts. Keep up the good work!
For vim, the keybinds are mnemonic not position based, so in general you should be thinking “diw for delete in word” not “index finger, ring finger ring finger”. So with that line of thinking (which was how vim was designed around) you should be able to switch over after you learn where every key is on your new layout. The only exception is hjkl, but that is a noob trap in vim, since the majority of the time there are larger movements that are more efficient (ie relative line jumping, w, b, f, C-d etc)
@@winterNebs hmm, I never considered this. Although I do use movements somewhat comfortably (always practicing), I still find myself "fidgeting" alot with hjkl and even C-e/C-y scrolling. But perhaps I can adapt and commit to using movements more firmly. Thanks for sharing :)
@@georgetroulis yeah, enabling relative line numbers and jumping using things like 10j will help a lot. Using C-d and C-u is fine if you are just browsing.
this is a very helpful video that helped me create my own layout, thanks :). But also, I'm very curious as to why you didn't just remap your vim binds? What you have looks very uncomfortable to use imo.
I am fascinated by your layout! But I am missing some keys: Del, ', ", ~,` .Could you please explain where are these? Don't you use Del or double quotes as a programmer?
I just ordered a Ferris v2.0 today. Looking to simplify and make my typing experience ergonomical. I am wanting to use a Colemak DH layout. I am new to QMK. How would I go about using your same keymap, but just changing your base Workman layer to Colemak DH?
What're the trade-offs between Ferris kyria and gergoplex? I think I've read that the kyria has the most severe Pinky offset which I like the idea of. I believe I've also read that with kyria you need a soldering iron to switch keys which I do not like the idea of. I want to have a cordless keyboard, are all three equally good in that regard?
Love this video!! I’m using Hands Down Layout (Alt-tx), on a 36 key board, and can’t agree more, “anything but QWERTY” Thanks for this. (Also, I would love a link to know more about your own board)
Eh. While having a split ergo keyboard is nice, I feel like all those extremely minimal layouts sacrifice a lot of functionality for the bragging rights. Yeah, cool, you have everything on layers. So can I with my 58 key split ergo. But I don't *need* to have home row mods, excessive layers and all that jazz. If you were to say you did want that for 'ergo sake' - okay, I can implement the exact same layout you have, just with basically a ring of freely assignable keys all around. I feel like the form factor around 58 keys is the most comfy because you're not too big, not too small, and can reach everything nicely without having to go all out putting everything on layers all the time. Even with my 58 key, I always need a minute or two to adapt to a 'normal' keyboard again. I can't imagine how much more extreme this would be with a 34 key kb.
I totally get where you are coming from, and ironically, I feel the same way about keyboards that are less than 34 keys. The only I'd mention is that you got the process backwards. The idea was not to move to 34 keys because I wanted a smaller keyboard, it was actually the opposite. I don't need the keys so I got rid of them. I didn't start using homerow mods, because I didn't have enough keys to fit modifiers, I used them because they were more comfortable than having the physical keys themselves. Before switching to 34 keys, I had other keyboards, such as the kyria and nyquist. On the nyquist I originally had the mods where they normally were, and I didn't like that. On the Kyria I tried having mods on the thumb keys, and I also didn't like that. Now on al my programmable keyboards, regardless of the number of keys, I still use my 34 key layout. (I still use my nyquist for my work computer) also just on the point of layers, I actually think I'm pretty minimalist when it comes to layers, I only have 2 main layers, one for symbols and one for nav. Other than that I have a misc layer that has rarely used keys, but it's never been a problem for me.
Great vid. I'm curious, is there a program that would record the frequency of each key and mod combination of your current keyboard over a period of time to give you a breakdown of what characters and symbols you use the most? I imagine there could be some security concerns with a program like this though.
does holding to shift mess up your speed at all when capitalizing letters? im planning on replacing that shift long press with paranthesis on each side
ok I like the idea of homerow mods, but does it actually works ? Don't you get unwanted modifiers , or shifted letters fo -> of , le -> el etc ? I was trying to get it to work using kanata in my laptop's keyboard, would I have to buy a mech keyboard to be able to use home row mods ?
Got it!! That's how you code. Great vid. How do you use mouse ergonomically? I hate reaching for mouse. My current job involves using mouse and keyboard equally.
I wish there was a good answer for this. Unfortunately most things require a mouse, so that's just something you'll have to live with, but there are a few things you can try: 1. Try to avoid as many mouse things as you can. For example you can use Linux with a window manager and vim as your editor to cut down on mouse usage. 2. Add as many functions to your keymap as possible. Things like macros or shortcut for common actions can help you avoid reaching for the mouse. 3. Try a trackball. I don't personally use one, but a lot of people really like them. Many people put it in between the halves of their keyboard.
@@winterNebs Thanks for the reply man all these are great ideas. Why aren't you making a keyboard with trackball or some digitizer? That will make ultimate ergonomic design. The trackball idea gave me a spark to use phone screen as mouse and place it near the space bar so I can just use my thumb without reaching out mouse. Thank you man.
Although I find those special keyboards very tempting, many arguments for this special key-placement only apply to non-touch typists: for example at 4:40, a touch typist would avoid using left shift while also using left buttons and so on. So the first thing to do before experimenting with special key-placements is to get in touch (sorry XD) with learning touch typing a layout. For that I recommend using mnemonic technics: I couldn't believe that you can learn the quertz-layout in 7h with such lessons, but it worked and thats how me and my siblings learned touch typing and my mother needed a 2to3-digit number of hours with traditional methods, when she was young. I think this learning technique is 1 to 1 applicable to others like Colemak etc. . For users of iso-keyboards (especially DE) NEO2 maybe is a good layout-choice too (not tested yet myself).
@@9s-l-s9 It was a course at a public professional school I visited as a teenager. The course was started with some relaxation techniques, followed by a story played from CD that we had to listen to with closed eyes and hands on the keyboard in the regular starting position. The story connected each key to an object (F key to a green frog etc. ). The spatial relation and interactions of the objects in the story corresponded to the position on the keyboard and the fingers used for these keys. While the story was told, we were instructed to follow the story by typing on the keyboard and visualise it as colourful and vivid as possible (with the use of as much senses as possible). The course took 4h with additional 3h of "break-time" in between , where we had to do regular typing exercises on our own. Any type of distraction (other than eating and drinking) was "prohibited" during the whole course and it was recommended to anything too distracting between the ending of the course and the next sleep (which is funny, because driving is an extreme cognitive demanding task and only some people had a driver or came by bike). Hope this was helpful. Although this exact course doesn't exist any more, there are many similar courses you can find online, I guess.
@@haifutter4166 Interesting. But how much did it actually helped? I mean, in the end you kinda have to type by muscle memory, don't you? So you don't have time to think about where a key is located.
@@9s-l-s9 Me and my sister couldn't touchtype before and rarely typed before at all. We both forgot most of the story after 1-2 weeks after the training and barely typed anything in the 1-3 weeks after the training and when we tried to type the next time, we intuitively knew where each key was without any thinking. So we did the whole learning of the key-layout in one day and only had to train after that for getting faster. I would say that was a huge win 😅 If I had to describe it, I would say, that training created a soft muscle memory in only 7h by programming the layout into the subconscious mind.
F keys are not so rarely used (at least not in my workflow). Can't imagine having to press 2 modifiers just to get to an F key, especially if I also want to combine it with another modifier like Shift, Alt, or Ctrl, or even Alt+Shift for example. Navigation keys are also very frequently used and their layout needs to be intuitive (i.e. definitely not Vim-like). Otherwise nice vid, thx.
Hi great video I am using the neo2 Layout on a mechanical 75 % Layout but I thought about building a more egonomic Keyboard Could you maybe do a video on the ferris?
@Peter Mortensen you could use the number pad as numbers hit this special key and it would make it act as the arrow keys and stuff and then release it to go back to typing numbers and if you hit num lock then it becomes the opposite.
The problem is not how efficient your symbol layer is. The problem is how you change your habit of typing ', ?, `, ", {, }, |, _, and etc. I have to say this is the most time consuming part of designing a new keymap.
What if you need to use an another language to type in? For example Russian? Would you create an another layer/mode or would you create a seperate configuration?
Just make another shift-like key which shifts layers and put least frequent keys there. Put that key on the home row, so you don't need to stretch or move your fingers at all.
For sure make more content in this context. There is not that much of it. Observation while learning Colemak-dh: Now when I switch to Qwerty I really noticing how much more my fingers are traveling. So definitely invest some time to try different layouts and to see which one suits better for you.
wait... where did you put the escape key? I didn't see it in the video and I didn't see it in the config file. aren't you using that to get to normal mode in vim?
Hey there, nice video :) Im thinking about getting the minidox (36 keys). So i am wondering how it is to use vim with the additional layers, meaning you ever felt locked out of some functionality because you had to press another mod key? eg the becomes c+mod1+]. did this kinda thing create problems for you?
What keycaps were you using there? I've had a harm time finding concave caps for choc switches, but suspect they'll be a LOT nicer to use than the convex ones I have now.
Thank you for this and your last video, I really upped my QMK game thanks to your inspiration. You know that you can assign mappings in your vimrc or is there another reason that you left it default? One Problem that I have with this, is that I use a lot of vim inspired Software and configuring it each time can be a bit of a hassle, so I am curious what your reasoning is.
You shouldn’t remap things in vim unless you want to play an extreme game of shuffle. Not to mention that most things in vim are mnemonic so the letter they are assigned to has meaning. If you find something awkward you can instead add a secondary bind, maybe using your leader key.
@@winterNebs I didn't have any side effects after remapping my bindings but I had to remap almost everything. After that everything is easy to reach, although it is certainly not mnemonic but YMMV. I guess it boils down if you want that little bit of extra ergonomics or to easily remember things.
love love love this. most people look at me like I'm crazy when i start talking about layout efficiency and layers.
you probably are
I always have a little fight with myself, because in world of programming and everything related to computers, you'd need to always know your keyoard te best, and to that, you need to know the universals.
I'm always scared I'd go to some place, And won't be able to use normal qwerty layout.
@@somnvm37 I just accepted it and if I'm forced to use qwerty, I'll just hunt and peck.
@@999samus7 Imagine you are doing a spoken interview and the team is very happy with your candidacy, and then they ask you to type some code.... I don't think that the "I can't type on this default keyboard" would sound very encouraging for them.
@@JamesSmith-ix5jd oh no, I'd do it, I'd hunt and peck my way through it, and there are a lot of programmers that code like that.
> vim
> custom mechanical keyboards
> rust
next thing you will be telling me that your daily driver operating system is nixOS, and you make your own dogfood out of crickets.
I use Vim, custom split keyboards and nix
I'm so deep into the rabbit hole
😢 i am on nix... typing in vim, build custom spli mechanical keyboard... what am i doing with my lifr
Learning Rust, building a keyboard, omr to NixOS. I'm far gone friends
Nice key map! One suggestion. An issue with home row shift key is what when you use shift while typing fast to capitalize the first letter you naturally roll from the shift to the letter in the exact same way you would roll from that same home row letter to that next letter. So there is no way your keyboard can tell if you are rolling between characters or shifting. If you want to type really fast in a situation where you are using capitals, it would improve your layout functionality even more to include in some way a dedicated shift key. All things considered, nice layout, thank you for sharing!
I have proved the layout which he shared and I can relate
Why might someone be concerned with ergonomics *and* want a one-hand layout?
A) Gaming socially
B) If they often use a mouse while typing for other reasons (say, using design software)
C) If they have a condition that impacts the use of one hand
D) Any other reason somebody might want to have a hand free while typing - snacking, pets, the list goes on!
That being said, a trackpoint on both hands of a split keyboard layout is looking really appealing 😂
Honestly i feel like this is so helpful.
Additionally it makes RGB and dials have a purpose as Dials can now be your layer/profile switcher, and RGB can color code what the purpose of your layer is. "Orange? Im on symbols" "only 4 keys are highlighted in red and all other lights are dark? Oh im on WASD gaming mode"
After years of trying to teach people about programable keyboards I have to say you explained it very well
I’m currently working on my own 34 keys layout, this video is released with the perfect timing ! Thank you ! :)
I prefer dedicated arrows and one shot shift key. And as for left ctrl I obviously use ESCAPE since it doesn't damage my left wrist. having arrow keys on a second later is terrible for highlighting in my opinion, hence why I decided to stick with my 48 keys ortholinear.
With the amount of effort he is putting in he is about to blow up! Just like nothisisjohn.
John the madlad
'Good' Layout < 'Own' proficiency < 'Actual' uses < 'Value' created < 'Meaning' for mankind
I got a ferris sweep recently and this video was really helpful in setting up my own layout. Much appreciated man.
Such an awesome video. I love the heat maps and you layout example for each problem you note. Will look for more content like this :)
Your videos on this are so approachable but full of information! High quality as well. Definitely deserves more attention.
That ferris keyboard seems very interesting. I've been looking up the repo to see if there are gerber files available to print the pcb's myself. I did find them finally between the releases. It looks like a great keyboard, but I will first go for the gergoplex
Yooooo past gerbers my way. Im trying to make a PCB for a Azeron styled keyboard build
Thanks for the video. This was the most down-to-earth guide to get into this subject.
I have seen two of your videos and I have to say that I love them. Thank you so much
Are you going to make a video on the Ferris ? I would like to know how it feels compared to gergoplex with extra pinky stagger.
Damn you are the creator of Ferris... nice, I just ordered a Sweep last month, waiting to arrive to have some ergo/layered fun. Have a great day!
Great video! For me, the problem with even 40% keyboard is that my main language is Russian and it has 33 letters, and they are cyrillic (so, no dvorak/colemak/other keymaps). Of course I have to keep English keymap (for coding e.g.) so +1 layout at least.
For 40% it's just 2 or 3 rare letters that you put on another layer, also ь and ъ can be put on the same key with shift, as there are no words starting with capital Ь/Ъ. not a big deal you hold shift every day hundreds of times after all, and not complaining. I'm in the process of making 20% (24key split keypads), I did my own language layout because qwerty couldn't fit without cutting common letters. I'm pretty sure I can make it work for cirillyc as well, just more combos would be required and more time to learn.
I can share my custom cirillic layout if you want, it's quite comfortable.
Remember every key can be a modifier when held, the possibilities are almost limitless, so for rare letters you can hold any other letter and it will act as layer shift key.
@@JamesSmith-ix5jd That would be great! I'd like to see this layout
You can have separate layouts for English and Russian to support Colemak/Dvorak/etc. in the English layout without breaking the Russian one.
Qwerty werks, I don't want to run into keybinding issues on every new program. Also setting up my vim bindings again will be too much. I'm a qwerty boomer
i never thought of putting mod tap directly on the alphabet keys, thank you for the idea!
This is a great video. Very well scripted. As someone who is WELL deep down the QMK rabbit hole, I could tell that this was just the right mix of technical and layman to convince some people about efficiencies in layout. Well done! Will also be stealing some of your ideas when I move to a wireless Ferris :P
Also, your moving of the gaming layer over one column is a revelation! No idea why I didn't think of that.
That is a really good video on how to customize the layout. thank you for that.
Where is your escape key? Isn't esc used a lot in vim?
My escape key is actually a combo, so I’d press Q and Space to get escape
@@winterNebs Ah cool 😁 You should do an addendum on combos in qmk. I have mod tap keys but haven't tried combos in qmk yet
dude, your videos really inspire me to build ferris sweep. I like the design and it's philosophy
Thank you man, your video helped me a lot with my 1st keyboard
6:47 this is why i wish ESDF was the standard movement keys for gaming (also bc it uses the same resting hand position as typing)
I tried using modtap a few times, but I use the keyboard for gaming too, and when the key feedback got delayed because it had to discern between tap and hold, it just didn't feel good.
I find I use movement keys a lot, and they regularly don't get featured in those metrics about best layouts cause having hjkl in a convenient location is critical to my workflow
I hear what you're saying about choosing any layout other than qwerty, but on the other hand, if you regularly have to use other computers, like laptops or those belonging to someone else entirely, how do you find the muscle memory going back to qwerty after using something like colemak in the meantime?
Using a different layout such as Colemak on a splergo (split ergo) keyboard like the Ferris and going back & forth to the default qwerty layout on a laptop keyboard is easy once you've learned the new layout. Using the different form factor + layout makes them more distinct in your head & hands.
They are not mixing in my brain, because my keyboard has split space with many keys and split ortholoner design. It is similar to the phones, you can use colemak dh on the computer and still type qwerty on the phone even after many years of no qwerty on pc, the neuro paths are distinct enough so that they occupy different sectors in the brain.
wow, this was suuuper helpful! And really well explained. I'd love to see more of these, for example on chording, and how you might be able to use callum mods or something similar to limit chording. Or just the different terms of QMK, like you did with mod-tap. That'd help a loooot for sure.
I've been trying to decide whether I want to go 42 hey or 36 but because of gaming I was leaning towards 42. I may consider doing what you did and go with the 36 and create a separate gaming layer. Thank you!
36 won't suffice for strategies. You need number row to group and manage units. As for FPS you can manage with 36, I was playing Q3 for 8 years and never used number row. Q - rocket gun, E - rail, F - plasma, Z - gauntlet x c v can't remember anylonger. But it gets tricky if your game has more than 9-10 types of weapons.
0:45 Backspace is very often used...
Great vid !
I have a moonlander M1 and I always looking for new keyboard tips. I'll try your number and mods !
Great video. Can you make avides about the pcq to the key switch to the mapping.
Thanks.
And good look for school.
Freaking beautiful! Take my money!
How would you use a modifier key with a key that is on another layer for example window 1?
What I do is hold modifier key - tap/hold layer toggle key - tap desired key on new layer
This was confusing AF. Perfect!
You mentioned using vim with workman. How was doing that switch? I'm thinking about switching to colemak or another alternative layout but I don't want to throw all that off. Especially if I wanna keep everything on the homerow, I need to modify not only vim but my window manager and any other programs that use vim keys, and using vim or vim like things without navigation on the home row just sounds cursed as hell
i use halmak (with qwerty types) and the modifier keys make the keyboard work like as if it was qwerty. i can use qwerty binds on halmak without too much effort and if i were to build such a keyboard i'd make the super key another modifier for the keyboard firmware and make it act like the game layer (switch to qwerty) and that's pretty much it
hjkl are essentially arrows but in vim world, stop using that. As for other navigation methods they are simantical or positional, it doesn't really matter where that letter is located, as long as you are very proficient at your language layout.
For other programs make a layer for arrows. Hold like space and you have arrows under your fingers, you can place theme where hjkl were. Works in any program, not just vim-awere ones.
what if you need to use a mod key thats not in combination with a letter key? like ctrl-alt-left, ctrl-shift-%, or alt-f4?
Works just fine.
Please, PLEASE make a QMK video, i am struggling to death on creating a keymap for my 15 key pad, and dont have a template to even start with.
The snag I gave with home row mods is what if you need to hit that same letter as the mod? Ie, I think in your video h is Ctrl when held down. What about ctrl-h? I guess you have the other hand for that.... Hmmm
Yeah, using the opposite hand for the home-row modifiers is one of the keys to making home-row modifiers really work well.
one thing I dont understand. Youre using tap dancing on the home row for modifers, but arnt that what you use for vim keys? how do you move around in vim without holding down the buttons on the home row
This is madness ... i want to build a corne instead of a sofle now ...
Btw you rate the ring finger as having the same ease of use is the index and middle however I find that those fingers are a little less capable and more likely to fatigue.
Your index and middle fingers should be given the most valuable keys, while the ring fingers and thumb should be given next priority, with pinky being the last.
So that mean a index finger homerow is the best, and a reaching pinky should be for the least used keys.
One this you didn't mention that needs to be remarked is ease of learning, where mimicking a layout that people are familiar with is easier to learn.
This video is specifically about the process. If you feel a different way than me, you can apply the same process yourself (that's the whole point of the video!)
Ease of learning is of little concern to me, since having something be distinct makes learning actually easier. That's why I strongly discourage people from using things like the Tarmak strategy for learning colemak in which you progressively swap keys until you fully learn colemak. With this process you are just progressively destroying both muscle memories, where as if you just went in cold-turkey you could maintain two distinct sets of muscle memories
Do you have a video on the Ferris yet? I'd love to get the GergoPlex, but I've already noticed that the stagger on my Moonlander simply isn't aggressive enough. The Ferris seems like a great solution.
Ok but how do you long press a dual function key then? What if i want to press "a" and hold it to write "aaaaaaa"
What happened to your layout eval tool? Would love to try it.
My only question is how do you press escape
0:55 you really did the letters K, X, Q, J and Z a dirty here :D
Ok more substantially:
at 4:29 in these scenarios I just bring over the right hand. It would never occur to me to try Ctrl-T with one.
My only question would how would I keep home row mod keys, since I like to use Vim and have other software configured to use "J" (using qwerty) to go down, move cursor, down, etc
And sometimes I just keep the button pressed, is there a workaround for this instead of smashing the "J" to keep using the letter J?
I'm pretty new to QMK.
Great content, you just speak a bit fast for non native speakers. Thankfully TH-cam can slow down the video speed 😂
Can you please make a video on what it's like to use vim with a non-qwerty layout? This has been my biggest inhibitor to changing layouts, and would love to hear your thoughts.
Keep up the good work!
For vim, the keybinds are mnemonic not position based, so in general you should be thinking “diw for delete in word” not “index finger, ring finger ring finger”. So with that line of thinking (which was how vim was designed around) you should be able to switch over after you learn where every key is on your new layout. The only exception is hjkl, but that is a noob trap in vim, since the majority of the time there are larger movements that are more efficient (ie relative line jumping, w, b, f, C-d etc)
@@winterNebs hmm, I never considered this. Although I do use movements somewhat comfortably (always practicing), I still find myself "fidgeting" alot with hjkl and even C-e/C-y scrolling. But perhaps I can adapt and commit to using movements more firmly.
Thanks for sharing :)
@@georgetroulis yeah, enabling relative line numbers and jumping using things like 10j will help a lot. Using C-d and C-u is fine if you are just browsing.
this is a very helpful video that helped me create my own layout, thanks :). But also, I'm very curious as to why you didn't just remap your vim binds? What you have looks very uncomfortable to use imo.
Great video! I'm really tempted to construct a ferris.
new video when
I am fascinated by your layout! But I am missing some keys: Del, ', ", ~,` .Could you please explain where are these? Don't you use Del or double quotes as a programmer?
~ is on my symbols layer, but the rest ar combos. On qwerty del would be a+space, backtick would be z+space, and quote is ;+backspace
@@winterNebs Thx , did not notice the file: github.com/winterNebs/qmk_firmware/blob/master/users/winternebs/combos.def
so if 'a' is control how do you do 'ctrl a' ?
how did you find the most used characters in programming languages
I just ordered a Ferris v2.0 today. Looking to simplify and make my typing experience ergonomical. I am wanting to use a Colemak DH layout. I am new to QMK. How would I go about using your same keymap, but just changing your base Workman layer to Colemak DH?
im thinking the same, and I didn't find some key functioning in QMK that showed in this video, otherwise I would make it myself.
What're the trade-offs between Ferris kyria and gergoplex? I think I've read that the kyria has the most severe Pinky offset which I like the idea of. I believe I've also read that with kyria you need a soldering iron to switch keys which I do not like the idea of. I want to have a cordless keyboard, are all three equally good in that regard?
lol came here from "CSGO Inferno solo ninja boost" vid. Glad I clicked that from the feed and got to a keeb vid
Love this video!! I’m using Hands Down Layout (Alt-tx), on a 36 key board, and can’t agree more, “anything but QWERTY” Thanks for this. (Also, I would love a link to know more about your own board)
Layout code is in the description, the keyboard is the ferris 0.1 compact that is open source here: github.com/pierrechevalier83/ferris
How can you make the key that Enter when tapped, move to layers when hold?
where are the quotes and double quotes in this layout????
these symbol layers all dont have the ? mark :(
Eh. While having a split ergo keyboard is nice, I feel like all those extremely minimal layouts sacrifice a lot of functionality for the bragging rights.
Yeah, cool, you have everything on layers. So can I with my 58 key split ergo. But I don't *need* to have home row mods, excessive layers and all that jazz. If you were to say you did want that for 'ergo sake' - okay, I can implement the exact same layout you have, just with basically a ring of freely assignable keys all around. I feel like the form factor around 58 keys is the most comfy because you're not too big, not too small, and can reach everything nicely without having to go all out putting everything on layers all the time. Even with my 58 key, I always need a minute or two to adapt to a 'normal' keyboard again. I can't imagine how much more extreme this would be with a 34 key kb.
I totally get where you are coming from, and ironically, I feel the same way about keyboards that are less than 34 keys.
The only I'd mention is that you got the process backwards.
The idea was not to move to 34 keys because I wanted a smaller keyboard, it was actually the opposite. I don't need the keys so I got rid of them.
I didn't start using homerow mods, because I didn't have enough keys to fit modifiers, I used them because they were more comfortable than having the physical keys themselves.
Before switching to 34 keys, I had other keyboards, such as the kyria and nyquist. On the nyquist I originally had the mods where they normally were, and I didn't like that. On the Kyria I tried having mods on the thumb keys, and I also didn't like that.
Now on al my programmable keyboards, regardless of the number of keys, I still use my 34 key layout. (I still use my nyquist for my work computer)
also just on the point of layers, I actually think I'm pretty minimalist when it comes to layers, I only have 2 main layers, one for symbols and one for nav. Other than that I have a misc layer that has rarely used keys, but it's never been a problem for me.
how do you mod+ ?
This is really interesting, where can I buy one of these keyboards?
Great vid. I'm curious, is there a program that would record the frequency of each key and mod combination of your current keyboard over a period of time to give you a breakdown of what characters and symbols you use the most? I imagine there could be some security concerns with a program like this though.
how make a reset vial
I’ve been using homerow mods as of late and it’s been hard to match my previous typing speed even with the mod tap interrupt settings etc.
does holding to shift mess up your speed at all when capitalizing letters? im planning on replacing that shift long press with paranthesis on each side
ok I like the idea of homerow mods, but does it actually works ? Don't you get unwanted modifiers , or shifted letters fo -> of , le -> el etc ?
I was trying to get it to work using kanata in my laptop's keyboard, would I have to buy a mech keyboard to be able to use home row mods ?
Do the qmk video pls
Got it!! That's how you code. Great vid. How do you use mouse ergonomically? I hate reaching for mouse. My current job involves using mouse and keyboard equally.
I wish there was a good answer for this. Unfortunately most things require a mouse, so that's just something you'll have to live with, but there are a few things you can try:
1. Try to avoid as many mouse things as you can. For example you can use Linux with a window manager and vim as your editor to cut down on mouse usage.
2. Add as many functions to your keymap as possible. Things like macros or shortcut for common actions can help you avoid reaching for the mouse.
3. Try a trackball. I don't personally use one, but a lot of people really like them. Many people put it in between the halves of their keyboard.
@@winterNebs Thanks for the reply man all these are great ideas. Why aren't you making a keyboard with trackball or some digitizer? That will make ultimate ergonomic design. The trackball idea gave me a spark to use phone screen as mouse and place it near the space bar so I can just use my thumb without reaching out mouse. Thank you man.
@@brainybeast9789 They do exist already, just not a priority for me at the moment
Isn't the "inefficiency" of qwerty just based on the English language?
doesn't homerow mods have the issue of rolling?
Although I find those special keyboards very tempting, many arguments for this special key-placement only apply to non-touch typists: for example at 4:40, a touch typist would avoid using left shift while also using left buttons and so on. So the first thing to do before experimenting with special key-placements is to get in touch (sorry XD) with learning touch typing a layout.
For that I recommend using mnemonic technics: I couldn't believe that you can learn the quertz-layout in 7h with such lessons, but it worked and thats how me and my siblings learned touch typing and my mother needed a 2to3-digit number of hours with traditional methods, when she was young. I think this learning technique is 1 to 1 applicable to others like Colemak etc. .
For users of iso-keyboards (especially DE) NEO2 maybe is a good layout-choice too (not tested yet myself).
What specific mnemonic technics are you talking about?
@@9s-l-s9 It was a course at a public professional school I visited as a teenager. The course was started with some relaxation techniques, followed by a story played from CD that we had to listen to with closed eyes and hands on the keyboard in the regular starting position. The story connected each key to an object (F key to a green frog etc. ). The spatial relation and interactions of the objects in the story corresponded to the position on the keyboard and the fingers used for these keys. While the story was told, we were instructed to follow the story by typing on the keyboard and visualise it as colourful and vivid as possible (with the use of as much senses as possible). The course took 4h with additional 3h of "break-time" in between , where we had to do regular typing exercises on our own. Any type of distraction (other than eating and drinking) was "prohibited" during the whole course and it was recommended to anything too distracting between the ending of the course and the next sleep (which is funny, because driving is an extreme cognitive demanding task and only some people had a driver or came by bike).
Hope this was helpful. Although this exact course doesn't exist any more, there are many similar courses you can find online, I guess.
@@haifutter4166 Interesting. But how much did it actually helped? I mean, in the end you kinda have to type by muscle memory, don't you? So you don't have time to think about where a key is located.
@@9s-l-s9 Me and my sister couldn't touchtype before and rarely typed before at all. We both forgot most of the story after 1-2 weeks after the training and barely typed anything in the 1-3 weeks after the training and when we tried to type the next time, we intuitively knew where each key was without any thinking. So we did the whole learning of the key-layout in one day and only had to train after that for getting faster. I would say that was a huge win 😅 If I had to describe it, I would say, that training created a soft muscle memory in only 7h by programming the layout into the subconscious mind.
Great video. Thanks
F keys are not so rarely used (at least not in my workflow). Can't imagine having to press 2 modifiers just to get to an F key, especially if I also want to combine it with another modifier like Shift, Alt, or Ctrl, or even Alt+Shift for example. Navigation keys are also very frequently used and their layout needs to be intuitive (i.e. definitely not Vim-like). Otherwise nice vid, thx.
just became the one 1000th sub :D
Hi great video I am using the neo2 Layout on a mechanical 75 % Layout but I thought about building a more egonomic Keyboard Could you maybe do a video on the ferris?
I wish there was a shift style key for the number pad
@Peter Mortensen you could use the number pad as numbers hit this special key and it would make it act as the arrow keys and stuff and then release it to go back to typing numbers and if you hit num lock then it becomes the opposite.
@@bland9876 With QMK that's easy but unfortunately common keyboards don't support that. Would be nice indeed.
yeah colemak dh is love
The problem is not how efficient your symbol layer is. The problem is how you change your habit of typing ', ?, `, ", {, }, |, _, and etc. I have to say this is the most time consuming part of designing a new keymap.
What if you need to use an another language to type in? For example Russian? Would you create an another layer/mode or would you create a seperate configuration?
Just make another shift-like key which shifts layers and put least frequent keys there. Put that key on the home row, so you don't need to stretch or move your fingers at all.
For sure make more content in this context. There is not that much of it.
Observation while learning Colemak-dh: Now when I switch to Qwerty I really noticing how much more my fingers are traveling. So definitely invest some time to try different layouts and to see which one suits better for you.
great video dude :] really interesting and informative! i have carpal tunnel so i've been thinking a lot about making my own mk with a custom layout
This is the next step for vim users
Do you used an esp32 or what kind of microcontroller?
wait... where did you put the escape key? I didn't see it in the video and I didn't see it in the config file. aren't you using that to get to normal mode in vim?
bro, discord server where?
2:41 I've instantly felt sick when I saw this. not even a second has passed, just instantly
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Hey there, nice video :)
Im thinking about getting the minidox (36 keys). So i am wondering how it is to use vim with the additional layers, meaning you ever felt locked out of some functionality because you had to press another mod key? eg the becomes c+mod1+]. did this kinda thing create problems for you?
an ortholinear and multiple layer keys changed my life
just wondering how it is possible for you to type so fast with homerow mods even though you didn't use ignore mod tap interrupt
I dont know what ignore mod tap is. Set your tapping term to 250ms and then decrease it with 10ms increments until you notice miss-types.
How do you feel about using non-qwerty layouts with vim? Doesn't it feel weird for hjkl to not be all on the home row?
What keycaps were you using there? I've had a harm time finding concave caps for choc switches, but suspect they'll be a LOT nicer to use than the convex ones I have now.
Thank you for this and your last video, I really upped my QMK game thanks to your inspiration.
You know that you can assign mappings in your vimrc or is there another reason that you left it default? One Problem that I have with this, is that I use a lot of vim inspired Software and configuring it each time can be a bit of a hassle, so I am curious what your reasoning is.
You shouldn’t remap things in vim unless you want to play an extreme game of shuffle. Not to mention that most things in vim are mnemonic so the letter they are assigned to has meaning. If you find something awkward you can instead add a secondary bind, maybe using your leader key.
@@winterNebs I didn't have any side effects after remapping my bindings but I had to remap almost everything. After that everything is easy to reach, although it is certainly not mnemonic but YMMV. I guess it boils down if you want that little bit of extra ergonomics or to easily remember things.