I have recently developed an interest in ergonomic computer keyboard design and have adopted a split keyboard called the Minidox, which runs on programmable firmware called QMK.
This is the first of a two part series. In this article I discuss the creation of a letter layout for a small split keyboard called the Minidox. A later article will deal with an alternative script system.
The minidox
A number of years ago, a computer keyboard known as the Ergodox was introduced. Its distinctive feature was that it consisted of two mirrored parts so that the user could adopt a more natural posture whilst typing on it. The design was ‘open source’ and inspired a number of similar projects, one of which was the Minidox on which I am typing this. The Minidox can be considered a smaller brother to the Ergodox.
I acquired my Minidox with a long term project in mind to develop a layout that uses a set of phonetic characters instead of the traditional (latin) alphabet. Clearly this would require a certain standard of familiarity with the firmware and the behaviour of its functions in practice and it made sense to start with a layout using the familiar latin letters. The best non QWERTY layout would also provide a benchmark for efficiency against which the phonetic layout could be compared.
As a MacBook user it must finally be said the keyboard on my laptop is horrific – designed to be thin and light it is okay for a bit of editing in front of the telly – but a better quality external board is needed for proper writing sessions!
QMK Firmware
The Minidox uses software known as firmware to convert the keystrokes into the letters and other commands that the computer receives. This firmware is written using a sort of programming toolkit for custom keyboards called QMK.
As a non programmer the code used in QMK appeared daunting but its popularity meant that there were large numbers of ‘keymaps’ for boards of all designs available to peruse and as a novice I simply picked ones that were broadly similar to what I wanted and modified them accordingly. QMK contains many possible functions and there are some authors who throw the kitchen sink at their keymaps. I started with such a keymap on the pretext that I could learn what functions worked best for me but found it too difficult as a user to use more than a small part of the functionality.
With respect to the above it must also be borne in mind that most of the actual keymaps that use the QMK firmware will be written by programmers, or at least those who like to code. This means that a lot of the symbols that are put in closest reach are not necessarily those used in writing. As a writer I think simple is better.
Choice of layout
I have made the bold decision to run an unconventional letter layout on my keyboard. This is a big commitment since almost all keyboards use the QWERTY layout. Why would you want to use something different to what almost all the rest of the (English speaking) world is using? QWERTY is notoriously inefficient and in the hundred or so years it has been the defacto standard many better schemes have come along. Some such as Dvorak are popular enough to be offered as an off the peg choice, but since the chances of encountering anything other than QWERTY in the wild is slim, if you are going to make a break from QWERTY you are pretty much free to pick anything.
The problem with choosing an alternative keyboard layout is that of choosing a new place to live: You have to indeed ‘live’ in it for a while before you really know whether you really get on with it. This makes you reliant to a considerable extent upon the sales pitch the designer or (if the layout is moderately successful, the user community) and on any previous experience you might have of using an alternative arrangement.
As far as the latter is concerned, I have previously trialled another split arrangement, the Maltron keyboard, using that firm’s own Malt layout. The Maltron is the granddaddy of all modern split keyboard designs and its Malt layout formed an early attempt at rethinking keyboard design in a truly systematic way. The design is almost the same age as myself, originating as it did in the late 1970’s
Of that layout perhaps the most apparent feature to the lay observer is the placement of the letter ‘E’ in the thumb cluster, since it is by far the most commonly used letter. Within the sphere of current split keyboard designs most will be configured with QWERTY or another layout adapted from the standard ‘typewriter style’ staggered key arrangement. Even amongst layouts designed with split keyboards in mind this is a rare feature with most layouts maintaining the orthodoxy of the thumb clusters containing more or less what you might expect to find on the spacebar row of a traditional board.
Following a spell of reading about different layouts I settled on the RSTHD layout. The designer had, like me, tried the Malt layout but had identified a number of shortcomings. He had decided he could do better and had gone about creating and then using a computer programme to generate and rate a number of different layouts. The best scoring layout was RSTHD, so called because these are the letters in the middle row of the left hand side. A number of layouts – Dvorak, Qwerty as well as less common ones including Malt – were scored against the same formula and were deemed inferior. The scoring system and results are shown on the layout author’s blog post.
Now I don’t claim to understand the methodology fully but I could recognise certain flaws with the malt layout that the author and his scoring system identified, particularly what is referred to as ‘pinky/ring twist’. The author thus convinced me he had a sound analysis, it leveraged the thumb located ‘E’ I was beginning to acclimatise to.
Shrinking RSTHD onto the minidox
The RSTHD layout was created on the Ergodox, a larger board, so I had to adapt it a bit in order to fit it onto the Minidox. In common with most split keyboards since the Maltron, the Ergodox and Minidox arrange most of the keys of each hand into a rectilinear array with a smaller cluster positioned for thumb operation. Both the main array and thumb cluster have fewer keys than the Ergodox. The Minidox has fifteen finger keys and three thumb keys on each half, so there is little space for much more than the basic alphabet.
Fortunately help is at hand with the various capabilities of QMK. Amongst other wheezes it allows for the configuration of what are known as modifier/tap keys within the standard letters. In my layout these provide the main modifier keys (Shift, Ctrl, Alt and Cmd) within the otherwise normal resting keys of the fingers of each hand. Tap these keys normally and they print the usual letter. Hold them down and they modify the behaviour of the keys you subsequently tap.
QMK firmware also makes extensive use of ‘layers’, which can be entirely different key layouts mapped onto your keyboard and are accessed through various commands. Most Minidox keymaps designate at least two further layers – upper and lower – and in my layout they are accessed by a function called layer/tap. This works similarly to modifier/tap referred to above and I have applied it on the ‘E’ and space keys. Holding ‘E’ makes the ‘space’ key output ‘Enter’. Upper layer is predominantly the number pad and some symbols, Lower contains mostly the navigation keys – arrows and so forth. A fourth ‘System’ layer is dedicated mainly to the F-keys but also contains a key that has ctrl-alt-del under one finger. With great power comes great responsibility!
After ‘space’ and ‘E’ on the biggest keys occupying the ‘inside track’, I was clear in my own mind that another opposed pair of the thumb keys could be designated as backspace and tab, which are a popular choices for the thumb clusters for split boards. This left me struggling to work out how to employ the final pair of thumb keys. I tried several different things such as layer locks but nothing seemed totally satisfying. With only six thumb keys to play with they seemed too precious for duplication of modifiers that were already accessed through ‘modifier/tap’ on the main body of the layout. Furthermore the Maltron style thumb located ‘E’ made it impossible to blindly copy thumb cluster layouts I liked. I also harboured a suspicion this uncommon letter location unbalanced what many layout designers had gone for in which the space and backspace mirrored each other.
Eventually it occurred to me that the two most common punctuation marks – the fullstops and the comma – could move onto the thumb cluster. To my knowledge this is unique but seems a logical extension of putting space, backspace and return on the thumb keys. It also frees up even more prime real estate on the finger keys for other useful characters.
The migration of these two punctuation marks from the finger layout leaves two gaps which in an ideal world would probably be filled by a reshuffle of the remaining letter keys. I was loath to simply shift letters inwards to fill these gaps since it would probably break the RSTHD layout in some way. Instead I am experimenting with alternative uses for these gaps. The full RSTHD layout was originally developed for larger Ergodox. In the minidox, with fewer keys, we can bring back keys that would otherwise have been cropped when downsizing. The quotation mark seemed to me a no-brainer for inclusion and that went into the top central gap vacated by the comma. Other useful punctuation are the semicolon, hyphen, forward and backslash and grave key. Ideally I would like to have it so that keys that mirror each other in either form or function would also mirror each other on each half of the keyboard. In some instances this is not possible, for instance where on other layouts the space is mirrored by backspace but on my board the letter ‘E’ occupies that spot. The comma and fullstop (and thus the opposing chevrons that share those keys) are mirrored. Other opportunities are the slash and backslash. The various bracket keys. The plus/minus and multiply/divide are mathematical examples of the same.
Further considerations
The problem can come with the interaction that keys have on other layers. For instance you ideally want access to most of the mathematical symbols in conjunction with the ‘Upper’ (numbers) layer but you might want such things as the hyphen (minus sign) and the stroke (division sign) for normal typing on the basic layer. Ideally you don’t want the same symbol to move around between one layer and another.
For my writing work I use a programme called ‘Ulysses’ which relies on a formatting system known as ‘markdown’. This uses basic tags to format the text and claims to allow the writer to work without the distraction of worrying about the end appearance or the vast paraphernalia of formatting menus found on Microsoft Word especially. These tags can use similar symbols to those in computer programming and real world experience shows that I need regular access to certain symbols like the hash which is used for designating titles.
Conclusion
The installation of RSTHD onto my Minidox has been generally successful although there are a few rough edges to address. I hope that in future I am able to similarly report on the development of the phonetic character system.
Ecotechnia Radnorshire 