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
Time and time again, I've have the pleasure to introduce mechanical keyboards to my colleagues, and walk many of them through the process of acquisition. Many of these friends have let me be apart of their first experiences, and I want to know yours too. Regardless of tenure and experience, you have a lot to share, and you all have something to share about your experience with keyboards that make them unique. If you don't even have one yet, you still are here, and probably have a reason why you're waiting for what lies ahead. What was your first experience finding this community? Do you have a keyboard? How has it made it's place in your life?
There's dozens of stories you can all share. There's also the chance that you're very new to them. The community contributors arouse creativity in us, and in doing so, creations emerge that weren't considered a reality until someone else shared their own flavor and ideas. This community benefits from fresh eyes being welcomed with open arms. The working example is that we have some amazing polls. Users generate plenty of ideas, and fresh eyes contribute to some very unique pieces that we've seen. Enough of you making enough noise can create access to products that aren't available from the resources of one everyman type of person, and can drive the momentum away from repetition to something fresh.
Here's some questions for you:
- What was/is your first Mechanical Keyboard?
Does it have a story behind it, or how you got it?- What are you using now?
If you have done some customization on it, I'd love to see.- What are you eagerly looking forward to?
I know there are some folks here mutually waiting for the 1976 set.