Kenkyo: my take on a layered keyboard layout

[argenkiwi]

I just wanted to share the repository I put together to share the layout I developed for myself but with the aim to keep it as generic as possible.

I chose Kanata as one of the keyboard mapping/customization applications to represent the layout. The multi-platform support plus the ease and flexibility of configuration made it one of my preferred candidates and I'm happy to encourage its use.

I have also put together a little JS playground to measure dwell (or key-hold) time attempting to measure how long it takes me to press and release a key in my different setups. This is to inform the timeout settings to use with tap-hold-release, for example. It's just an experiment motivated by the lack of tools to measure this kind of stuff. Unsure of how precise my approach is, I'm sure there is plenty to improve.

Finally, I wrote a short article on Medium to explain why I designed my layout around the space-bar more than anything. I mention Kanata there too.

I put a bit of effort in this journey, so I thought I'd share it with a like-minded community before my curiosity wanders somewhere else. Thanks @jtroo for this amazing project and your help.

[gerhard-h]

• I like your concept of 'layer-pinning with space' because the space bar is really the only key that is fun to hold down for longer.
• And when space is the only layer-while-hold key a carousell function (change the layer without releasing space) makes alot of sense.
• I also think holding space as shift, wich I used in the past, is much more beginner friendly than running into the timing hell of exclusive homerow shift (what I use now). But for fast typing there is no time to pin, it has to be the default.

But if space = shift and space=layer-while-held than I still need something like home row shift at least on some layers.

So what I suggest (and also really use) is not 'layer-pinning' but 'mod-to_layer-pinning'
example:
hold-J => rshift
hold-space => lshift (or nav-layer for me)
hold-J + hold-space + (release-J) = symbol-layer

The other thing I use is auto carousell meaning a layer or at least some keys will only be available a short time after activation.

[argenkiwi]

Thanks for the feedback, some really good food for thought there. I am actually considering ditching the shift-bar pattern, mostly because I use shift with the numbers and symbols layer very frequently and I often find myself holding shift before the space bar when trying to type a symbol and I end up pinning the shift instead of shifting the Fumbol layer. My aim is to minimize the mental effort and this outcome goes against that. If I understand correctly, what you call auto-carousel is what in keyd (and also Kanata I believe) is called one-shot layer. I experimented with one-shot shift, but it didn't flow naturally for me. But I will consider it for accessing other layers. The idea of pinning a layer from a home-row modifier is interesting. I will think about how it could be implemented in an intuitive way. The reason I have not bound the navigation (or extend) layer to the space-bar is because I find myself going in and out of it frequently and quickly. I chose to bind the Fumbol layer instead because I tend to spend more time on it, particularly when typing pin numbers, times, dates, 2FA codes, etc. If I need to make a correction while typing a long number, I just reach for the caps-lock key, do a correction and go back to typing the number without letting go of the space-bar. Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg>

…

________________________________ From: Lindwurm ***@***.***> Sent: Friday, May 24, 2024 8:51:29 PM To: jtroo/kanata ***@***.***> Cc: Leandro ***@***.***>; Author ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [jtroo/kanata] Kenkyo: my take on a layered keyboard layout (Discussion #1064) * I like your concept of 'layer-pinning with space' because the space bar is really the only key that is fun to hold down for longer. * And when space is the only layer-while-hold key a carousell function (change the layer without releasing space) makes alot of sense. * I also think holding space as shift, wich I used in the past, is much more beginner friendly than running into the timing hell of exclusive homerow shift (what I use now). But for fast typing there is no time to pin, it has to be the default. But if space = shift and space=layer-while-held than I still need something like home row shift at least on some layers. So what I suggest (and also really use) is not 'layer-pinning' but 'mod-to_layer-pinning' example: hold-J => rshift hold-space => lshift (or nav-layer for me) hold-J + hold-space + (release-J) = symbol-layer The other thing I use is auto carousell meaning a layer or at least some keys will only be available a short time after activation. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#1064 (comment)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABVXPIFLMKATX3KSZSVXUJLZD35RDAVCNFSM6AAAAABIGQAPF2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43SRDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHM4TKNBUGYYDA>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[gerhard-h]

If I understand correctly, what you call auto-carousel is what in keyd (and also Kanata I believe) is called one-shot layer.

one-shot never realy worked for me.

What I meant was

(tap-hold-release-timeout 0 1100
							spc
							(layer-while-held symbols)
                                                        (layer-while-held numbers)
 )

the reason I implemented this was, to have another way to enter numbers with just one hand, with two hands I have a no-timeout-way to reach the numbers-layer.

another example use case: hold-space to Shift, but if no input follows shortly thereafter, go to navigation-layer.

P.S. I have numbers and navigation on the same layer. This is the only layer I spent significant time on. Having fewer layers is obviously an easy way to avoid layer changing
P.S2. The mods on the right(@.⏎⇧ @.␡⎈ ...) are not perfect and almost never used
To do CTRL+1 I don't use @.␡⎈ + 1 but instead I hold down CTRL before entering the layer.

(deflayer numbers
;;****************   NUMBERS + NAVIGATION   ****************************************************
  _         @-_:      1       2     3     esc         esc   home    ▲        end        pgup   pgdn 
  _         @.⌘    @.4⎇   @.5⎈  @.6⇧      0         bspc   ◀      ▼        ▶   
  _         @,:       7       8     9     del          tab   @.⏎⇧   @.␡⎈ @.l🖰⎇  @.r🖰⌘
              
)

[argenkiwi]

I have not tried `tap-hold-release-timeout`, I can see its value from what you describe. In any case, after our exchange I have decided to do without layer pinning and to simplify the layer carousel concept to something more like a layer holder. I will test-drive these changes in the coming week and see if I release a [V2](https://github.com/argenkiwi/kenkyo/blob/v2/kanata/kanata.kbd#L4) of the layout. Thanks!

[argenkiwi]

I am pretty pleased with how the project turned out after just over 6 months. I tweaked and simplify the original implementation, although the overall concept remains the same. I have made the first "beta release" with the hope more people will give it a go and provide feedback.

[gerhard-h]

First I didn't like, that symbols on the Fumbol layer still need shift to be down.
But then I realized that I could do
<home row shift> + <space> + <any key> or
<space> + <home row shift> + <any key>
and get the same output. so it does feel like a two step efford.

I would prefer to have the expand/navigation layer also on the spacebar

1. easy way: on expand layer map space to (layer-while-held expand) that way <caps> + <space> + <release caps> does it.
2. put a v2-chord on g spc and on h spc. With all-released option I can hit the two key combo to go into the layer and stay in even after I release on of the keys

In additon to home row mods I also have cords on the home row, wich works supprisingly flawless for me.

(defchordsv2
  (k l) del 30 all-released  (game numbers)
  (j k) bspc 30 all-released  (game numbers) 
  (j k l) C-bspc 30 all-released  (game numbers)
  (m ,) esc 30 all-released  (game)
)

maybe an inspiration for you.

[argenkiwi]

Thanks for the feedback. I have not experimented with v2-chords yet. I'll have a good look into them.

Regarding anchoring the Extend layer with the spacebar, that was actually part of the original design. I personally didn't end up using it that much and decided to remove it for simplicity, but it is good to know other may be interested in it. I have intentionally avoided persistent layers to prevent inexperienced users to lose track of what layer they are in, I would probably go with the easy option.

Finally, I admit that reaching some of the symbols is a 2 step process and it's probably the hardest part to learn in this layout. I remember trying to use tap-dance to double tap to get the shifted symbol for a key, but it introduced other issues. One-shot shift is also something I considered, but once you get used to home row mods it doesn't feel natural to go for the physical shift key. Maybe what I've been missing is the use of chords.

[gerhard-h]

For most of the symbols I just get them by (tap-hold 200 200 q S-1)...
for all letters that are not home row mods already

For US layout the pattern could be simalar to this

┌───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬──────┐
│ ` │ 1 │ 2 │ 3 │ 4 │ 5 │ 6 │ 7 │ 8 │ 9 │ 0 │   │   │ ←    │
├───┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬────┤
│     │ ! │ @ │ # │ $ │ % │ ^ │ & │ * │ ( │ ) │ { │ } │ |  │
├─────┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴┬──┴────┤
│      │   │   │   │   │ + │ = │   │   │   │   │   │   ⏎   │
├──────┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┯─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┯─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴─┬─┴───────┤
│    ⇧   │ ` │ " │ ~ │ - │ _ │ § │ : │ < │ > │ ? │   ⇧     │
├────┬───┴┬──┴─┬─┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴─┬─┴──┬┴───┼────┬────┤
│    │    │    │                       │    │    │    │    │
└────┴────┴────┴───────────────────────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘

that way I only need to use my symbols layer for a few extra symbols that don't fit here

[argenkiwi]

That's a good one! I am afraid I can't use in the main layer because one of the principles of the layout is not to interfere with standard behavior (e.g., holding a key on Mac shows the special character selector). I would like to use it on the fumbol layer. Unfortunately, it will not play well with the tap-hold-release-timeout on the space key. If I go with tap-hold-press-timeout it becomes easy to activate fumbol by accident. However, I may try doing something like the following instead:

 m (tap-dance-eager 200 ((macro -) (macro bspc S--)))

I think it may be easier to double-tap for the shifted symbol, instead of holding shift, when you only need one.

[argenkiwi]

Oh, but if I want to tap the same number consecutively or multiple dashes I'm screwed... 😞