#Jeremy's Atreus Key Mapping
I am a programmer by trade that suffers from the beginning stages of RSI. As a programmer I use letters, symbols and cursor navigation most often. To prevent strange finger gymnastics, I wrote a script to rank which non-letter characters occurred in my primary source projects most often and then placed these characters in the easiest to reach locations, for me. I made heavy use of momentary layer toggling.
My layout is also geared toward a software based Colemak mapping. I would like it to be hardware, but I use my Laptop on the go frequently and thus my laptop keyboard. I have moved the keycaps to reflect the Colemak layout. My laptop is a MacBook Pro (2015).
#Main Layers
- Letters
- Symbols
- Navigation
- Numbers
- Function Keys
#Notes
#General
Some characters can be accessed multiple ways. This was done because you may be in a given layer, such as numbers, where when doing math, you may need quick access to the parentheses characters for grouping. This prevents some layer switching.
I own an ErgoDox and plan on porting this as a base layer, then using the extra keys the ErgoDox provides accordingly. My goal, though, is to be fully functional on this base setup and build everything into muscle memory.
#Symbol Layer
- I placed characters that deal with an if statement close together, such as !, & and |.
- All matching brace/bracket characters are together as well.
#Number Layer
- Everything I did was a compromise when trying to mimic a ten-key. I did the best I could.
- Operators are duplicated on the right and left. I do not find it comfortable to use my pinky much, so I tend to use my left hand for +, -, * and / but those were also placed on the right hand to mimic the ten-key.
- Parentheses were added for typing on the calculator.
#Cursor Layer
- It includes basic audio controls because they didn't really fit anywhere else
- It contains basic file manipulation. I'm not sure that was a good idea. I do save all the time, but Cmd+S isn't exactly hard.
- It contains the backspace and delete keys right on top of the left and right arrows.
- Cmd and Opt keys are duplicated. This makes for very easy navigation, for example on a Mac, Opt+Left/Right moves word by word. It also backspaces or deletes word by word.
#Function Layer
- Almost all other layers I saw grouped the F keys into a bunch of three. This only gives nine function keys in order if you attempt to stay as close to the home row as possible. I went with a group of four, which gives all twelve function keys to the right hand, one row below and above the home row.
- I duplicated the Command and Option keys the same as on the cursor layer. This makes it dead easy to hit modified function keys such as Cmd+Opt+F5. It's also easy to toss in a Shift modifier in there with the right thumb since the bottom row is preserved.