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 want something generic that's not on the market:
* Doubleshot key caps (preferably PBT but I guess ABS is fine),
* White on black (or black with a dark brown nuance or similar),
* Variants of the Windows key that are blank, or say "System",
* No multimedia keys,
* Preferably traditional symbol prints e.g. arrows and menu keys are actually a geometrical arrow instead of a "DOWN", "UP" text,
And I want this in "NorDe" layout (= Swedish).
The closest on the market is Filco's SPKCS105D/SW (https://www.keyboardco.com/product/double-shot-filco-105-key-swedish-finnish-keyset.asp, review https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/286eu8/filco_iso_doubleshot_keycaps_review/, photo http://i.imgur.com/2RVwNNa.jpg ) however it has ugly Windowsy Windows keys and you can't buy blank Windows keys separately. I find Windows logos immoral, there is no relation to Windows. If https://zambumon.com/chocolatier/ was all-black it would have fit too.
The design that inspires me the most of all keyboard designs is maybe "GMK Eclipse" (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=91931.0 / https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=90360.0 and was retailed here https://web.archive.org/web/20171026075214/https://www.candykeys.com/product/gb-gmk-eclipse/), it has such a fresh, clear and professional feeling to it.
While there are high quality keyboards on the market (e.g. Filco, Wasd), most key caps suck. WASD for instance delivers UV keys (called "pad printing" here https://deskthority.net/wiki/Keycap_printing), for me they started wearing off in weeks, that's just totally unacceptable. I believe except for not wearing off, doubleshot key caps will have a special classic unmistakable shine to them that appeals to anyone who is quality-conscious. There must be a market for an all-black multilingual shiny black key set for constant sale, not just some random massdrop five years ago from someone who is now unreachable.
Who can make this?
Is it available today?
Who can I ask for it?
This question should apply to other language designs like French, Portuguese, German, Russian, and so on.
(For the great general relevance of the question, I doubleposted with https://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/generic-iso-norde-swedish-white-on-black-doubleshot-blank-win-whr-get-t20001.html and https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=97874 .)