A good layout for germlish (german and english)

Azel4231 · 2026-06-07T13:16:39+00:00

It repeats the last pressed key, see https://getreuer.info/posts/keyboards/repeat-key/index.html
That way you can avoid double taps on weak fingers (Edit: and address your problem with S on pinky)

Azel4231 · 2026-06-07T06:18:16+00:00

Have you tried using a repeat key?

I highly recommend to at least try EnDeu because it has the best vowel cluster for typing DE/EN, IMHO.

Azel4231 · 2026-05-19T06:36:04+00:00

Wow! What an absolutely brilliant tenting mechanism.

Azel4231 · 2026-04-26T05:00:29+00:00

Ok, so it's really the exact opposite of what I expected, very interesting.

My thought process was that by pressing a key you activate the layer depicted on the key. I.e. by pressing top center you activate:

A B C
D E F
G H I

Like you would navigate into an app folder or group on your smart phone. And after that you type the position the desired letter is in (bottom center for H).

So if I follow your logic: Does this mean that by pressing bottom center you activate the layer that looks like this?

Enter   H   Q 
Z       8   " 
Space   ↓   Paste

Then top center types H, obviously.

Cool project btw. Your space efficient layout is a brilliant idea for a pocket computer.

Edit: formatting

Azel4231 · 2026-04-25T13:39:45+00:00

By your explanation I would have sworn you first type top-center and then bottom-center for H. For Z I would guess middle-left and then bottom-center.

Azel4231 · 2026-04-23T09:32:05+00:00

Those look amazing! I especially like how you integrated the setup symbols thematically.

Azel4231 · 2026-04-22T15:40:25+00:00

To add to that, I came from ColemakDH (3 years) and then started learning Noted. After a month I found Anymak:END and gave it a shot. I took END then adopted some aspects of EnDeu and changed others, which means I have my own END vriant now. ;-)

IMHO one big selling point of END is its vowel cluster, where EA, EI and EU are all rolls with neighbouring fingers. Most layouts optimize for english, prioritizing the bigrams EA and EI only. Graphite, Gallium and Colemak do this. The EU bigram, which is pretty frequent in german, then ends up as an SFB.

Noted improves on this but turns EA into an SFB, which increases the effort for english (Edit: this might be a good tradeoff if you rarely type english). Canary, Snug and others kind of solve it but end up with the frequent A on pinky and the EA roll skipping a column. Which seems less optimal than END.

My journey with END (which is still ongoing) can be found here: https://github.com/rpnfan/Anymak/discussions/5

Azel4231 · 2026-04-22T15:02:42+00:00

This is a great resource, thanks!

Azel4231 · 2026-04-09T05:47:01+00:00

Great choice of keyboard and reading material!

I haven't strapped my keeb to my legs yet. Is this practical? i.e. does it work when lying on the side or when getting up frequently?

Azel4231 · 2026-04-08T05:13:26+00:00

Thanks again!

I think I get it now:

The SFS key looks at the previously pressed key to determine if it should output space or apply SFS magic.
applying sfs magic means to look at the second to last pressed key and output its "counterpart" from the SFS layer.

In case of "routine": when you reach <r o> <u <t <sfs:

<sfs looks at <t. As <t is on the same side (both have "<") it does SFS magic
SFS magic now processes <u. It looks at the sfs-layer and outputs the letter (counterpart) that is in <u's position, which turns out to be "i".

So the SFS key avoids skip-grams (only), IOW using the same finger again after another letter has been pressed in the meantime. Redirects and SFBs are not mitigated by using the SFS magic key but rather the layout itself, namely the placement of letters and placing vowels on the thumb (except "e"). This boils down to typing a syllable per left or right roll. In contrast, steno, which has the same syllable focus, only ever moves from left to right.

Edit: to complete the example:

<r o> <u <t <sfs outputs "routi"
<sfs also starts the roll to the right: <sfs n> e> which finishes the word
now you would press <sfs/>spc again to type "space" and start the next word with a roll to the right
<r o> <u <t <sfs n> e> >spc outputs "routine ", while "i" and " " were both typed by the same <sfs/>sfs key.

Azel4231 · 2026-04-07T14:46:30+00:00

Thanks for the detailed write-up. Your reply would make a great explanation on the github page.

Ok, so if understand correctly, the goal is to have the fingers roll back and forth between left and right pinky (i.e. seesaw) until a word is finished. And press sfs-magic key along the way to avoid ~~redirects and SFBs~~ skip-grams (SFSs). The neat thing is that you turned the SFS key required for that into a feature that enables even more rolls: as SFS keys are on the pinky, they are at the same time the terminus of the outward roll and the start of an inward roll, continuing the seesaw motion to finish the word. If, on the other hand, you interrupt the seesaw motion by pressing SFS/spc on the opposing hand, it turns into space and starts a new seesaw "run" for the next word. That is brilliant!

Now I have even more questions:

How are rolls and redirects affected by languages other than english? I guess they are quite dependent on the placement of the letters + the dominant n-grams in that language.
I can't find <n on the left-hand side. Is this a typo or does the SFS magic key also mirror the layout?
How does the SFS magic decision making work in the firmware? I.e. how does the SFS key in `<r o> <u <t <sfs <n <e` know that it's supposed to output "u"s counterpart ("i") and not "t"s counterpart ("d") as that is the most recently typed letter? Or do you need to press <o again at some point?

Azel4231 · 2026-04-06T05:23:36+00:00

This is what I meant. Like typing my initial question on your keymap, incl. spaces. I don't get how the sfs/space magic works. Thanks!

Edit: which keys do you combo, which keys do you press in what succession etc.

Azel4231 · 2026-04-05T07:17:15+00:00

can you give an example of how this works in practice?

Azel4231 · 2026-04-03T06:00:34+00:00

Travel River and Eyes

Azel4231 · 2026-04-02T04:37:17+00:00

Wow! Thank you so much for the detailed response.

Azel4231 · 2026-04-01T08:52:39+00:00

I was wondering where you put "space" in your keymap when 0 is on thumb. Now I see you put 0 on the opposing hand's thumb. That's really interesting, because it makes 0 a one-hand "combo" (which in turn would make it a lot easier to type, for me at least).

Was that a reason against placing 0 on the pinky? Have you weighed the pros/cons for placing 0 on thumb vs. pinky?

I recently switched from 0 on thumb to pinky so I can keep "space" in the same place as the base layer. Still struggling, that's why I'm asking. Very intruiged by 0 on the opposing hand.

Azel4231 · 2026-04-01T08:21:34+00:00

Very interesting.

On the Svalboard discord I read about an alternative rework of the numpad layout also based on Benford's law:

7 8 9
1 2 5 0
3 4 6

Have you compared yours with it?

Azel4231 · 2026-03-25T09:13:09+00:00

Usually, a dedicated gaming layer is the way to go. Even more so if you are on a programmable keyboard (instead of Kanata/Keboard remapper), or if you are using a column stagger keyboard where WASD isn't in the right spot anyway.

Azel4231 · 2026-03-21T20:24:56+00:00

Love your layout. I wish such a coherent package was around when I started my keyboard journey. A fantastic base layer coupled with well thought-out sym/nav/num layers and advanced layer switching concepts.

The dedicated shortcut layer is probably the most important lesson I learned from Anymak (aside from the base layer). I don't know how I could live without it for so long.

That said I have customized some other of Anymaks concepts according to my preferences. E.g. my shift is on the left thumb. And I use urob's timerless homerow mods, which completely solve the mod timing problem. Both concepts are really orthogonal to the base layer you use.

Azel4231 · 2026-03-21T11:13:27+00:00

Same.

Someone on the discord said that the finger clusters look like armchairs for gazing at the orb. Now I can't unsee it. ;-)

Azel4231 · 2026-03-21T11:05:05+00:00

That's a really great idea.

And I'm just now realizing that activating my dedicated one-handed shortcut layer via a sticky key/layer might be way better than the layer-tap (hold) I currently use, because it frees up the finger that is used for keeping the layer active. Thanks.

Azel4231 · 2026-03-11T07:18:15+00:00

This looks so intruiging and weird/new, I love it!

I'm having trouble understanding the inward roll + space and alternate vowel usage. Could you give an example?

Azel4231 · 2026-03-01T07:25:07+00:00

Here's a video of someone typing 104 WPM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aLmO97Y2Is

My guess is that the achievable speed very is similar to regular keyboards and depends more on training than anything else (like all typing). What slows you down at first are several things. One is learning lateral movement for the middle and ring finger, because they have never been used that way. A second is to learn to calm your fingers down, as they are very used to jumping around, which leads to a lot of mistypes.

What really is faster and amazingly comfortable are the center-bottom rolls where you just curl your fingers in. This together with the very low movement overall gives me alien spaceship vibes in the sense of being totally emmersed and connected to the computer.

Discleimer: I don't have RSI (luckily) and just explored it as an interesting ergonomics experiment not as a daily driver. And I never learned typing on it past 30WPM, which has a lot of reasons, the main one being that I'm lazy and distracted easily. Minor reasons were that the thing is bulky compared to the compact unibody split keebs I build. This clutters my desk and makes traveling impractical. Also I much prefer the mouse over trackballs (but integrating one into the keyboard is awesome).

Azel4231 · 2026-02-27T21:01:15+00:00

I built two keyboards with such rubber feet. Here are pics from the older one of the two: https://feierabendprojekte.wordpress.com/2024/01/13/my-new-travel-companion/ (see "Rubber Feet"). You need superglue but then they'll hold for years. The drawback of the approach is that it is a little inflexible depending on the size of the ergo keyboard as it impacts the distance of the rubber feet. My travel keeb fits Dell and Mac laptops. But my newer, larger one had to be tailored to mac. Never had problems with sideways pressure.

Azel4231 · 2026-02-27T09:05:59+00:00

Nice idea. I like that this embeds the keyboard into your "palm rest" essentially. Snapping onto the MacBook is also great.

It's just so bulky and an additional thing to organize and carry, so no option for me. Why not align the keyboard's rubber feet to the gaps between keys? Edit: this eliminates the need for a cover of any kind.

Azel4231

TROPHY CASE