Programming on 34 Keys (2022)

Summary

Minimizing your keyboard layout is a slippery slope. A few months ago, I built the Ferricy, a 34-key-split-ortho-ergo keyboard. The Ferricy is a fork of the Ferris Sweep MX Bling. The Ferricy, designed by icyphox My daily use consists of a bit of prose and a lot of program, my layout has evolved accordingly. Base Layer Colemak with no mods The base layer contains alphabets, four symbols and four whitespace keys: Alphas: Stock Colemak, with no modifications whatsoever Symbols: . , / ; Whitespace: tab, space, enter, backspace (from left to right) Layers Keyboard input is complex and it is impossible to skirt around it. You can either use a keyboard with enough keys to supply all possible inputs (a mechanical burden), or you can use firmware to supply all possible inputs (a cognitive burden). Layers are a cognitive burden. I use 3 layers, heavily inspired by Miryoku, but tuned for programming. Excluding the base Colemak layer: NAV: activated on holding space (left thumb) NUM: activated on holding tab (left thumb) SYM: activated on holding enter (right thumb) The NAV Layer As the name suggests, this layer is focused on navigation. Arrow keys and the likes. NAV, on holding space Using Vim and Colemak means you lose out on HJKL navigation. However, on activating the NAV layer, the right home-row is converted into arrow keys. In essence, by holding space, I can navigate Vim with the home-row, or Firefox, or my PDF reader. I no longer need to look for software that allows Vim navigation keys, because it is baked into the firmware! My Vim motions are not limited to HJKL. In fact, my Vim motions are rarely HJKL. I tend to use } (next paragraph) and ) (next sentence) more often. As a result, these have found their way into my NAV layer, over the likes of PgDown and End. Having brackets at my index and middle fingers is nice for programming too. The SYM Layer SYM, on holding enter This layer contains all the symbols that you would find by hitting Shift and a key on the number r...