My preferred way is to have one symbol layer with all the symbols. It prevents having to constantly doing shift/unshift or switching layers (I personally call this "shift dancing") 😀
It looks like this:
this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2023
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ErgoMechKeyboards
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Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards
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Posts must be of/about keyboards that have a clear delineation between the left and right halves of the keyboard, column stagger, or both. This includes one-handed (one half doesn't exist, what clearer delineation is that!?)
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This is a nice clean layout! I appreciate that it isn’t trying to be tricky, but just lay everything out simply. The only part I’m not really getting is the equals sign relative to things like plus and times? Seems like typing equations, and things like += or *= kinda awkward? Beautiful all the same.
On my 34-40 key layouts I put all the symbols typically used together in programming on the same layer, including symbols that usually require Shift, along with all the numbers. This makes it comfortable to type whole formulas without leaving the symbol layer and without needing Shift. Important bigrams that I can type without switching layers in the middle include <= >= != += -= *= /= %= &= |= -> /* */ => := :) ;) . I also optimize the layer so that none of these are same-finger bigrams. Because = appears in so many bigrams, I found it convenient to map it on a thumb key.
I make sure all the mods are comfortable to use and in the same place on all my layers, either as bottom row mod-taps or on opposite side thumb keys or worst case as a oneshot mod. I don't need Shift on my symbol layer, so one less mod to worry about.
Probably my favourite feature for a programming key map is _ on a base layer thumb key. That makes typing snake_case_names a breeze.
I use a 30% split keyboard as my daily driver for work as a software developer. I use a keymapping where holding the F key down turns the right side into a numpad plus some of the other punctuation, and holding D down gives me the shifted versions of all that. So I have to chord to get the esoteric symbols but I don't have to actually move my left hand from home row to chord. I don't think this is a very common way of doing things though. I'm not sure it's any better than using a bigger keyboard, but I'm used to it now.
Many people are forgetting the simplest answer here. Just use a full size keyboard. They are abundant and cheap. They come with ALL THE KEYS and don't make you layer shift in order to efficiently achieve what you need to do.
🤔 This is posted in ergomechkeyboards; full-size true ergo boards are pretty uncommon.
It sounds like an ergo board isn't the tool for the job then
I'm a developer and I use a (slightly modified) miryoku layout for my daily driver. I know not everyone loves the home-row mods, but I really like how I can use the layer keys on one hand to get all the symbols on the other. I have to move my hands waaay less than I did with a full size.
I ended up with pretty much my own entire layout. For the most part, I don't use layers, but instead use pairs of keys for symbols, numbers, etc. I also kept things largely where they are on a traditional keyboard, so that I'm not fighting against several decades of muscle memory.
The main issue with what I've done is that I'm kind of pushing past the limits of combining features with QMK. I use pairs of keys as modifiers (my left shift is 'E'+'D' for example), this key pressed is also '3'. If I roll on numbers, I end up with stuck modifiers. I've gotten fairly used to it, but it still hits me from time to time.
I do use a layer for things like cursor keys, though.
You should be able to cmd down > layer shift > symbol > layer release > cmd up. It sounds like a lot, but I don't need to do anything like that very often.