sharing programmer-to-programmer. please enjoy. pages are formatted for landscape tablet, laptop, or monitor.
colemak/arensito keyboard layout
greek, …
used every minute of everyday ;)
no git sources,, just not that hard
developers may drag-and-drop widgets, but programmers live by the keyboard. long term, the keyboard’s efficiency and ergonomics are a top priority, but normally completely neglected. make your own a personal choice.
like many programmers, i studied it. my priorities are speed and safety — oddly closely related in keyboard design. i chose a hybrid of traditional speed demon and programmer symbol access. made the move, never looked back.
maximize speed. faster input means code can flow rather than wait for last idea to be input.
great ergonomics. programmers tend to suffer from preventable hand and wrist issues.
long-term stability. make a big change once rather than slowly. maximize benefits.
english letters. easy decision, i choose colemak, a true speed demon. but, just for letters.
numbers/symbols. lifeblood of programmers. i choose arensito symbols, using “mode key”.
don’t waste thumbs. technology proved thumbs are versatile — moved real capability there.
desktop control. added hyper and super/win modifier keys to negate mouse (time waster)
great keyboard. move to an adjustable goldtouch split keyboard and never looked back.
objectives
here’s the layout, finger-by-finger. it doubles qwerty’s home row use from 35% to 74%. and, better, there are no two-row jumps such as qwerty has to get to numbers and symbols. i could have used dvorak or some other rather than colemak. any good layout will be a huge improvement.
the upper-left character in each key is reached by using the shift thumb key below on the left thumb. the lower-right character is reached by using the mode thumb key on either thumb.
here’s another high value addition, the thumbs are very actively involved and have none of the finger vulnerability to sideways movements ;) it was the most comfortable adjustment i every made. it’s scary easy and relaxing as can be. 15+ years of this, 8+ hours a day, and zero finger or wrist issues. maybe lucky genetics, but i am stacking the deck in my favor this way.
the mode key is actually the space bar on normal keyboards. it makes it fast. and, yes, that means my fingers sit one row higher on the keyboard than everyone else’s ;)
better home row. 74% of keystrokes on home row vs. qwerty at 35%
no double row jumps. vs qwerty has all numbers and most punctuation far away.
zero strain. i program 8+ hours, 7 days a week. i have zero finger, hand, or wrist trouble.
new position. my home row is up one from normal, my left pinky sits on the qwerty ‘Q’ key
long-term. been using for 15+ years; but, your mileage my vary ;)
results
as the name implies, this is the colemak layout for letters (minor change). then i mapped the arensito layout for symbols (more changes). i added the crazy thumb thing and got addicted. oddly, i can still type on a qwerty keyboard faster than most folks. but, on this layout, heaven.
no git repository