Support for Alternative Layouts
This is a summary of how alternative layouts have been supported by kits such as Colevrak and Homing. It is not a discussion of alt layout performance and development, but if that interests you I highly recommend starting with Pascal Getreuer’s A guide to alt keyboard layouts (why, how, which one?). It’s a concise and comprehensive overview with links to some great sites that go deeper. He also has a separate Links about keyboards page. The Keyboard layouts doc he recommends explains layout goals and metrics in detail, summarizing the alt layouts discussed here as well as more than one hundred others. Sculpted-profile The majority of custom keycap sets are sculpted-profile (Cherry, SA, MT3, KAT, etc. - more on profiles generally here) so let’s start there. Because each row has a unique keycap shape, alt layouts require a unique keycap for each legend that moves off its QWERTY row. At first there were two The Dvorak layout was patented in 1936 by August Dvorak & William L....
Apr 23, 2024
These caps aren't bad, considering the relative dearth of Alps caps that are generally available. I use them to fill gaps left by sets harvested from vintage boards.
It would be even better if the Tai-Hao sets were expanded to include a stepped Caps Lock, 1.50x Ctrl and Alt keys, and a 7.00x spacebar. Currently, I get these from Matias.
Tai-Hao should also consider producing dye-sub PBT sets for Alps-mount switches -- just be sure to omit the horrible antibacterial coating!