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
Thanks again.
I only have a Novatouch, not a RF. It's noisier than a fully rubberdome keyboard, but not because of the tactile bump. The bump is created by the rubber sheet, just like in a rubber dome. The noise comes from bottoming and topping (?) out. For that reason, ANY mechanical switch is prone to noise, unless you modify it to have a soft landing (or use something like Matias quiet switches, which have cushioning built-in). I think the Novatouch is a bit quieter than my MX browns, and MUCH quieter than my MX blues.
I like my Novatouch a lot, but to me, the switch feel seems very different to Cherry switches. It initially felt much heavier than MX browns, despite having the same actuation force, though I think it's broken in a bit and is now more in line with the browns. But the feeling is still very different. MX switches are basically linear, with maybe a tactile bump in the middle of the slide. I think the Topre switches feel less linear, though my board is at work right now, so I can't check it. My guess is that Topres are going to feel more like rubberdome than Cherry switches.
As a Novatouch owner, I'm torn on this drop. I'd like to see what a Realforce is like... but I'm not sure that it'll be different enough to be worth the cost.
Curious, did you switch out the stock keycaps of your NT? I hear switching from ABS to PBT makes a big difference.