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
Video comparison on plate mounted Cherry Browns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSmqPbCp2_s
I didn't break any clips, but I can definitely see how you could - they do require quite a bit of force to get on - enough that I'm not sure you'd really want to install these on PCB mount switches with lead-free solder.
I found the best way was to very gently lower it angled, and pushed left or right so that you get a very very faint click, clipping one side in, then to lever it while pulling in the opposite direction and pushing down to clip the other side. About 2/3rds of them have a distinct 'click', the rest are a little more finicky.
Also, make sure the left and right walls of the clips are straight and not bulging. If they are bulging out slightly, it means the clip hasn't attached properly. A quick press down with a spudger on that side fixes this.
So far, highly recommended.