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 had generic blank PBT XDA caps from YMDK on original Box Jades for a couple of months and removed them all with no ill effects (no apparent cracked stems, no extremely loose stems), but when I installed those caps on a board with Cherry reds, they were noticeably loose (though still none so loose as to fall off). So my personal experience is that, while the caps were not damaged, they were certainly altered.
I bought new Box Jades anticipating Canvas -- I don't want to loosen an expensive set. Since I'm only covering a Planck, the switches were only another $17 from NovelKeys.