Symbol Layer Suggestions for v42-rc9 (Go60 & Glove80)

[emesterhazy]

With the Go60 coming out I've recently been revisiting the symbol layer. Overall I like the new v42-rc9 version, but after carefully reviewing it I ended up making several changes which I'd like to propose for the official version.

My art skills aren't the best, but I took a screenshot and highlighted everything I changed. Here's the legend:

• Red: changes from v42-rc9
• Green: Glove80-ONLY convenience symbols

I had three main goals:

• Improve ergonomics and symmetry (| and & are neighbors, as are - and +).
• Make the layout usable on the Go60 without any changes (you can simply drop the missing keys).
• Minimize duplicate symbols on Glove80-ONLY keys. This is to avoid overly relying on them and making it hard to switch between Go60 and Glove80.

Here's my rationale for the changes, from left to right:

Left Hand

1. The & key is moved from its current position which is unavailable on the Go60. It's new position is next to |, since these often appear in the same line when programming conditionals. This also makes it easier to remember where & is, and places it in an easier to reach position.
2. Punctuation keys (backtick, single quote, double quote) are moved to the bottom row ringy-index positions. These are better locations for typing these frequent symbols since they're on the opposite hand from the layer key. I think I actually messed this up by changing the order of single and double quotes (muscle memory), but that can be easily fixed.
3. I removed all of the upper thumb keys which don't exist on the Go60, except for the period key which is still in an ideal spot. I think period is typed frequently enough to allow special treatment in this case.
4. I swapped : and % for personal preference since I type a lot of C++ code, but you can leave it as-is. This is totally optional.
5. I moved \ to the furthest thumb key. For me at least, this is a stretch, so it makes sense to put this infrequently typed character there. I also needed to free up it's current location to accommodate the ringy mod on the Go60.

Right Hand

1. I moved @ to the R5 index finger. This symbol is somewhat frequent when writing emails, and it's used in the jj Git-compatible version control system (which is becoming quite popular) system to represent the current commit.
2. I moved - and + to R5 middy and ringy where the quote symbols were before. These keys are less frequently typed than the quotes, so placing them on the right hand is less problematic. This placement also allows rolls to type @- and @+, which refer to parent and child revisions in the jj VCS. Symmetry between - and + is also improved. I never found stacking _ and - to be particularly useful, so I don't think we loose much there.
3. The \ key is removed from the right hand side and a second ringy mod is added instead to accommodate the missing C5R6 key on the Go60.

Hopefully some of these ideas are helpful. They're informed by my own personal preferences, but I think they also stand alone, particularly the changes to the &@_+ symbols. Thanks for making this great layout!

[emesterhazy]

After test driving this a bit I decided to swap the @-+ and "'clusters. The right hand cluster is slightly easier to type despite being on the same hand as the symbol layer, and since quotes are more common than@-+`, I think they should be in the easier position.

Edit: After more testing I take back what I said here. I think it's better to have the quotes on the left hand side. Something about using the same-hand thumb and index at the same time to type " is more difficult than reaching down on the other hand.

[emesterhazy]

I had to tweak this slightly again and move the quotes back to the right hand in order to preserve the left-handed inward roll to type -> which is quite common in C and C++. I placed the " double and ' single quotes on the ring and index finger since to me those fingers are easier to roll with the right hand thumb that activates the layer.

On advantage from a cognitive overhead perspective is that |& and -+ are now vertically aligned. It's also still easy to roll @- and @+ for jj, you just have to roll outwards instead of inwards.