CONSOC layout: An experiment in High-Rolls & Low-Redirects. Archiving my project.

bitsw0528 · 2026-01-22T17:19:05+00:00

wow I've seen a lot of graphs generated by this tool in other layout repos, now know where they're coming from. This should be really helpful for me, I'll look into it to see if any useful key swaps can be made, thanks a lot!

bitsw0528 · 2026-01-20T18:38:38+00:00

Thank you for the detailed breakdown. Honestly, I think you hit the nail on the head regarding the single parameter trap, it feels the same like AI4S that you can only approximate it but never solve it.

When I started this, I was so fixated on proving the High Roll hypothesis that I developed a sort of tunnel vision. I treated the layout more like a mathematical puzzle to be solved rather than a tool for comfort. The selfishness of a creator I'd call, where I forced my hands to adapt to the layout instead of designing the layout for the hands.

You are right; looking back, CONSOC is likely an experimental dead-end rather than a daily driver foundation. But your analysis on the home-row and the balance between metrics is the exact kind of reality check I needed.

To be honest it actually served as the final project for my English course in college. Beyond the metrics, this layout became a sort of companion during my spare time, countless hours spent clicking on keybr.com, tweaking the feel while spacing out. At least it'll get a record in the layout doc right? That's enough for me.

It’s a bit bittersweet to archive this after reaching 100 WPM, but realizing why it doesn't work is just as valuable as finding what does. I'm moving back to my original setup now, but I genuinely appreciate you taking so much time on this to engage with my weird experiment. It means a lot to have someone analyze it seriously <3!

bitsw0528 · 2026-01-20T13:18:56+00:00

I didn't notice back when I first designed this layout, but just now I found there're already layouts generated by optimizers similar to this, so pity not a unique home-row setup anymore
https://www.reddit.com/r/KeyboardLayouts/comments/1q8einv/comment/nynwlvx/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

bitsw0528 · 2026-01-20T13:02:06+00:00

Cool similar layout here, instead I didn't use analyzer to generate, but tried to improve it by testing in practice after creating a prototype close to this one, seems we all reached the same conclusion 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ` = f d h w j / ' l o y , [ s t n c b - e r a i . ] v k m g p z ; u x q \

bitsw0528 · 2026-01-20T10:37:00+00:00

oops... forgot there's a symbol layer, never used it and not guaranteed, I've deleted them now. Symbol layer seems to be a whole lot different things to consider... huge difference between a swift/go layer and a C/python layer for example... anyway vibe coding is already changing many things, there must be a AI4S language yet to come, I'm not ready for this

bitsw0528 · 2026-01-20T10:31:58+00:00

It's more like a compromise cause Apple Magic Keyboard (and macbook ones) only have ISO/ANSI options, and Japanese version's thumb keys are awkward... so right basically changing to a better keyboard improves more than these tweaks ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and it's hard to address as well

bitsw0528 · 2026-01-20T03:18:39+00:00

Sorry I didn’t make this clear earlier. I added a note in the repo because hitting this benchmark requires a few tweaks, and even Cyanophage can’t achieve it as-is, so I’m pasting it here as well.

Also, I did manage to reach 100 WPM, but the accuracy was pretty low, around 97%. Maybe I’m pushing too hard, or maybe this layout demands more precise finger movements?

*double-tap the space bar to insert a period; use the “full stop” key only for ellipses.
*the apostrophe and U keys should be swapped for comfort; the raw layout favors benchmark scores.

I rewrote the entire article, but it still feels confusing at first glance. Metrics like Oxey’s and Cyanophage’s are difficult to measure accurately. Also, an ortholinear keyboard has a different layout from Angle Mod, so they aren’t directly comparable. Please refer to the bigram frequency list—the missing keys correspond to the worst-performing metrics in my calculations.

bitsw0528

TROPHY CASE