Qwickly VS ergodox-ez-shine-dvorak

I'm using a typical ten-keyless keyboard that otherwise has a standard US 103 ANSI layout. My need for remapping keys is for the letters as I accidentally developed[0] my own custom non-Qwerty layout[1] that turned out to be very similar to NIRO.

[0] https://github.com/qwickly-org/Qwickly

[1] https://github.com/qwickly-org/QwickSteps

I specifically looked at Colemak and Tarmak. I didn't like the number of transition steps of Tarmak that reassigns already moved keys.

Ultimately, I came up with my own easier layout[0] and transition steps[1] that's on par with Colemak, or better IMO (on English prose).

One advantage is that it's closer to QWERTY which makes the transition less frustrating. A disadvantage is that the similarity makes it actually harder to easily switch between it and QWERTY until substantial new muscle memory is gained.

One final observation is that I was never a very fast typist and the new layout didn't make me faster. In fact, the amount of typing that I do as a developer in a day wasn't enough to learn a new layout smoothly and had to use typing practice websites to make up the volume. What I do appreciate is that my hands feel much more comfortable all the time now, whereas I was having occasional cramps and on rare occasion shooting pains on the backs of my hands that prevented me from typing for several days at a time.

I have layouts for Mac and Windows. If anyone has an easy to follow how-to reference for Linux (console + X/Wayland?) that would be appreciated. Ultimately an inline USB mapper would be ideal.

[0] https://github.com/qwickly-org/Qwickly

Over the years, I've written many apps and utilities for myself or others (that didn't end up get used). These are the interesting ones I remember. Many not quite complete/usable. Other than hackerer.news none of them are 'up' and running. Some have and others haven't been published as opensource.

- https://hackerer.news HN viewer (source[0]): I use daily so I can see today's top stories in reverse chronological order with mainstream topics sorted to the bottom.

- qwickly[1] keyboard layout: I use all the time as an easier to learn and more comfortable to type than Colemak/Tarmak

- safeql[2]: Java type-safe SQL expression composer that reduces constant expressions and eliminates N+1 queries loading associations by always operating on set relation or array of models.

- moja[3]: Composable computation pipelines for Java: Async, Lazy, Option, Try, Result, Multi (List), Stated, Reader, Logger, Writer.

- gitgrep.com[4] Opensource SaaS version of etsy/houndd (now called hound-search).

- statuspages.me: Status page aggregator with dynamic javascript for scraping each source using selector expressions.

- movies to watch aggregator: with links to sources to watch. It was hard then to get 3rd party deep links into streaming sites so included some torrent links. Got a DMCA phone call, so took it down. Combined thumbnails, summaries, actors(?), imdb ratings, links.

- java2cpp: Translate a moderately sized java app with test suite to c++, not 100% required final manual fixups.

- swift2java (or maybe it was java2swift, it's fuzzy now): translate Swift to Java obviously, using ANTLR4. Not 100% required final manual fixups.

- gui2log: to make an ASCII rendition of on-screen GUI widgets into an application log file when form submitted, so users couldn't complain that they saw X, but got Y.

- some basic stats/ML algorithms: k-nearest neighbour, RNN back-propagation, etc?

- Java in-memory DB: Small SQL-like memory tables with indexing/searching.

- wwwsqldesigner: This exists as opensource and I extended it to infer foreign key relationships based on naming conventions used in a MySQL schema. It was great for zooming around a large ERD.

- tracelog: combination of microservices parent/child span logging and generated high level events shown as a sequence diagram. Integrated with Loggly for full/verbose logs of selected high-level events.

- pcl2bmp downscaler: Reduce high resolution HP LaserJet (PCL5) printed to file to lower resolution bitmap pages for screen display (before retina DPI was common). It aimed to shrink same-color areas and preserve black/white transitions while reducing.

[0] https://gitlab.com/karmakaze/hackerer-news

[1] https://github.com/qwickly-org/Qwickly

[2] https://github.com/karmakaze/safeql

[3] https://github.com/karmakaze/moja

[4] https://github.com/gitgrep-com/gitgrep

I'm also 50+ and had issues with shooting pains along the back of my hands. My solution was to use a keyboard layout that reduces awkward finger movements. I tried some alternative keyboard layouts but wasn't happy with how hard they were to learn and ended up making my own[0] that ends on the Qwickly layout[1] that was easier to transition to compared to Colemak/Tarmak.

My error rate is probably still higher than using Qwerty but my hands are more comfortable so worth the tradeoff. I also learned that I don't type all that much while coding, spending much more time thinking than typing and had to use a practice site[2] to get enough practice to learn a new layout.

[0] https://github.com/qwickly-org/QwickSteps

[1] https://github.com/qwickly-org/Qwickly

[2] https://www.keyhero.com/free-typing-test

Qwickly

I'm a software dev and thought that learning a new layout would help me. It does, but not in the way I thought it would. I found that the normal amount I type every day isn't enough to actually learn a new layout and that I had to go to sites like keyhero.com a few times per day to get enough typing volume. The greatest benefit I've learned is that my hands are so much more comfortable and I never get pains along the backs of my hands that I used to get. I too struggled with Colemak (and the Tarmaks) then gave it up to learn a layout I made that I thought was easier to learn and as fast or faster. I use the Qwickly-KZ (pinky comma) variant and there's QwickStep layouts along the lines of Tarmak.

I love the similar journeys and rediscovery that happens in this area. Before committing to a big layout change, I also wondered what's the minimum set of changes from Qwerty that would give a significant benefit. I came up with a similarly inspired Qwickly-1 layout swapping more frequent keys to home row rather than entire row-swaps.

The golden path is to start with Dvorak hardware mapped keyboard (TypeMatrix 2030 USB) and then later buy a programmable keyboard (ErgoDox EZ Shine) and make your own Dvorak-based layout with your own affordances for programming.

That’s what I did.

https://github.com/ctsrc/ergodox-ez-shine-dvorak

I have the ErgoDox EZ Shine split keyboard and use it with a custom Dvorak layout that I created for it inspired by the layout of the keyboard I used to use before it, the TypeMatrix 2030 USB.

My custom Dvorak layout for the ErgoDox EZ Shine: https://github.com/ctsrc/ergodox-ez-shine-dvorak