I LOVE my Plancks! I know at first this may seem VERY intimidating, from the small form factor to the ortholinear (non-staggered) keys, but after a week typing on this will seem very natural!
Making your own layout is essential to using a Planck! It is very easy to do and very well documented (but if you need help I'm always around to lend a hand!)
This is the layout I use (below). It looks chaotic, but it is easy for me to remember so it works. One thing I've found that helps me a lot is to have A) FN layer with a numpad layout (because I suck at hitting numbers on top row without legends) and B) using a number row that is Shift+"#", meaning I can hit the number row symbols without having to do FN+Shift+"#". The duplicates on my FN1: layer (such as [ ] { }) are the same. One of the pairs is already SHIFT+[ so I can access the symbols without the need to hit 3 keys at once.
I never get a layout right the first go, so I'd recommend playing with it until it feels natural! I know legends helped me a lot too, even though I can tough type it just makes the transition so much easier and makes my overall speed reach normal levels very quickly. I cant recommend this keyboard enough!!!!
Base:
CarlWyeah, first few days i just have these up to reference but then it becomes easy. I always save pics of my layouts in a folder with the current firmware as well just in case i need a refresher ever!
livingspeedbump " B) using a number row that is Shift+"#" "
I'm not sure what you mean by this. In your keymap it looks like you still have to hit 3 keys to get '#'. FN to get to the layer with symbols, and then shift and the key with the symbol you want. Am I missing something?
livingspeedbumpHey, did you use sips for your leds? Do you know if they fit with all switches? I've never bought something like this and not found much in the way of instructions for adding leds. Thanks for the layouts it's really helpful! :)
GenuineEssentially the number row already has shift pressed when I hit a key on that layer, so by hitting FN+1 I get "!" printed. There is no way to hit "1" on that particular layer, instead I have to use FN2 layer for any numbers.
livingspeedbumpThanks for the reply! That's fair enough I only plan to use white as well. I'm just thinking it will be easier to replace if any die. I read somewhere they won't fit with cherry blues but I'm sure that's not true.
livingspeedbumpYou seem to know a lot about remapping on the Planck so I have some questions that I'd be grateful if you could help me with. I would like to press a key once, and have it send me to a new layer without requiring me to constantly hold down the key. Is there any way to do this, or can I only switch layers by holding down a designated key? Thanks for the help.
livingspeedbumpThanks for this! This will be of great help as it will be my first mechanical keyboard and I'm pretty excited. I chose gunmetal, beige xda and zealios 65g. I also joined the drop for gmk plum :)
livingspeedbumpThe only thing I ever had a problem with was one single Shift key. Mapping Enter to Shift (hold) + Enter (tap) is the single best improvement to my planck experience. The second best was mapping ESC to CTRL (hold) + ESC (tap).
livingspeedbumpAs a normal heathen who owns a standard fullsize board, I've never understood the appeal of Poker or Planck boards. It seems like you're making a ton of more work for yourself by removing essential keys and you're not really saving any desk space.
Anyone want to fill me in? They look cool and all but it seems to me that a tenkeyless would be the best for this sort of "space conscious" setup.
SolomonRSome reasons for me about 60%:
1. I need more space for my desk, for mouse movement, papers, drinks, etc, this reason alone affected some of following reasons
2. I don't need numpad "all the time", and when I do I prefer to have it on the left side so my mouse space isn't obstructed
3. I don't need F key, heck I don't even know what are those keys for (mostly using macOS here)
4. I prefer to move my hand less and remember some combo-key so I my eyes can focus on the monitor, instead of turning my head down and look for the key I need (and again I don't need those scroll-lock, page up, end, etc all the time)
5. Because most of the time 60% and under is programmable, I can hold spacebar and access directional arrows via ESDF, and this, again, saving my hand movement.
Some reasons for me about Planck:
1. All of the reason above
2. My hand is moving less than on 60% because the keys I can access are already around my resting finger
3. Having a ortholinear layout helps my mind and hand coordination better, as the location of each key is far more rational than standard staggered one (like, where is X located in staggered? below S or below D? in planck I can easily said it is below S)
livingspeedbumpDoes that destroy your muscle memory though? Ortholinear to staggered? The spacebar being the size of a quarter would personally drive me insane.
SolomonRTake a look at your standard spacebar. If you're using ABS keycaps, you should easily be able to see where you hit the key (look for the shine). How much of it do you actually use? For me, I only space with my right thumb, and it's always in the exact same spot. There is so much unused space (pun intended). Why not make it actually useful?
GenuineI have odd muscle memory when it comes to hitting the spacebar while typing. I hit it with my index finger and I use the center and right side the most as my right index finger is the one to hit it every time. Using the smaller Planck spacebar wouldn't be impossible but it would certainly be weird.
I use my mechanical board for gaming mostly and type on my laptop, so the thought of using a mech board with a tiny space seems tricky in my personal experience even though I know other people have differennt use cases.
SolomonRI've never seen someone use their index finger for spacebar. What kind of wpm do you get with that method?
Switching to the Planck would be easier to use if you already know proper touch typing. I can definitely see how it would be very difficult if you are already in the habit of using odd fingers for certain keys.
GenuineMy wpm isn't really affected by me hitting the spacebar with my index finger. I'm not a slow typer by any means but I used to hit it with my thumbs a long time ago but I have since shifted away for some reason.
I don't know my exact typing speed but I do know it hasn't changed and if anything has gotten faster. Most certainly not as fast as if I were proficient at the 'proper' typing technique.
livingspeedbumpI would be so lost. I think your first layer + a numpad would do fine for me :D maybe with delete in place of one of the FN keys... but then what about punctuation? argh!
Making your own layout is essential to using a Planck! It is very easy to do and very well documented (but if you need help I'm always around to lend a hand!)
This is the layout I use (below). It looks chaotic, but it is easy for me to remember so it works. One thing I've found that helps me a lot is to have A) FN layer with a numpad layout (because I suck at hitting numbers on top row without legends) and B) using a number row that is Shift+"#", meaning I can hit the number row symbols without having to do FN+Shift+"#". The duplicates on my FN1: layer (such as [ ] { }) are the same. One of the pairs is already SHIFT+[ so I can access the symbols without the need to hit 3 keys at once.
I never get a layout right the first go, so I'd recommend playing with it until it feels natural! I know legends helped me a lot too, even though I can tough type it just makes the transition so much easier and makes my overall speed reach normal levels very quickly. I cant recommend this keyboard enough!!!!
Base: