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
I don't have a Planck or Atomic layout, and I don't believe I could ever stand actually using one. I use numbers far to frequently to EVER consider them something to hide. The closest thing I have to such a compact layout is my Apple //c keyboard, which I'll mod into a bluetooth portable keyboard (Alps SKCM Ambers... aka Taxi Yellows). It looks like what the keyboard guys call a 60%. It does have a top border, with a reset button (will be Esc), and two push to toggle switches. One will be power, the other will toggle the number row between numbers and function keys. I actually have room for 4 modifiers on it, since reset will be repurposed. Hmm... I'm drifting off topic... Alps switches won't take MX keycaps. It'll be a fun project, but it'll stick to Apple keys.
I snagged the Planck/Atomic because of the High, Low, Super, Hyper, and Meta caps, plus the 2u blue blank, which I may put on either my Kerbal controller or my number pad, if I feel like it. But seriously, I honestly couldn't turn those down. Nothing screams retro like Space Cadet keys! :D
My plan is to either make extra character layers for unicode characters I frequently use, or just have them as a few macro keys. either way, They'll look cool. As cheap as the Planck/Atomic kit is, compared to some of the child packs, I would rather just have the keys, than not.