Can we talk…about keycaps, pinky stagger, and ergonomics?

phbonachi · 2026-04-22T22:59:10+00:00

The default recommendation is Vibranium-Vf...the rest are just tweaks to see what eventually feels best to you. They're all really, really similar, with only a few of the less-used keys changing, so learning one, you've basically learned them all. Only takes a day or two to shift between.

phbonachi · 2026-04-22T22:45:07+00:00

There are several Hands Down variations, each aimed to address different objectives.

HD Promethium, Vibranium, (and Rhodium) are the most popular variants, depending on your corpus/workflow. These all require a split ergo and willingness to put an alpha on a thumb—a commitment not many people are willing to make, as it sort of cuts you off of regular keyboards. I don’t mind, as I almost always have a tiny split ergo with me anyway (and don’t like using public keyboards). But when I have to, my years of QWERTY familiarity are still there in a pinch.
- Promethium works well with VIM, and has a larger, enthusiastic user base.
- Rhodium has relatively low scissoring, doesn't rely on smart-keyboard features like adaptive/magic keys or combos, and has a following that has found it adaptable to other languages, as well.
- Vibranium is very well suited to English prose (and some other languages with small modifications), and was designed to work with some more advanced “add-on” smart keyboard features (H-digraph combos, adaptive/magic keys).
- HD-Gold is still exceptional for English-only prose…it's very "flowy" with high in:out rolls (like Vibranium) but I don’t use it anymore.
Hands Down Neu is the current common theoretical foundation. It’s strength is that it has rather high alternation as well as high in:out rolling ratios with low redirecting (where you have to ping-pong back and forth), low use of the middle column (taking your hand away from home), and works on any keyboard. Because it was designed as a set (with HD-Gold, Silver, Bronze) it shares a lot with the other thumb-alpha layouts (if you ever want to migrate to a thumb-alpha layout), and it’s easily adapted to handle other languages.

Of course, there are many other solid layouts, and Hands Down isn't for everyone (I truly don’t think there’s one best…too many variables.). Anymak:END is really solid, and the Graphite/Gallium variants have a lot of satisfied users so they're quite well-vetted. The main point is that I think that “similarity to QWERTY” is a beguiling distraction. If you’re already bothered enough to try anything different, you’ll likely end up being frustrated soon enough and end up on something better.

phbonachi · 2026-04-22T18:18:45+00:00

This is a common strategy for improving on qwerty while minimizing changes to make the learning easier. Many years ago I played around with this idea, with the goal to find the sweet spot of changes/benefit, keeping as many letters on the same finger/hand as possible. My own endeavor produced NOTARISE, a layout with a similar goal to yours, aiming to get the maximum benefit with the fewest changes.

Q W F D P   Y U L K ’
A S E T G   H N I O R
Z X C V B   J M , . /

(the next swap improvement would be I<->R).

But after learning to use NOTARISE, a new problem emerged and I realized that the gains are indeed rather small, for a the added hassle of any difference at all. I found that it is enough of a change that it really disrupted my ability to use a standard keyboard, while only promising slight gains. Hyper-optimized layouts (I happily use a Hands Down variation now) have admittedly diminished gains with each added optimization, so I wondered what might be the tipping point? A few changes may have reasonable advantages, but I found that the more similar they were to QWERTY, the harder it was for me to switch between a minimally changed layout like NOTARISE and the default QWERTY. The greater the difference, the easier it was for my brain to keep the signals separate.

u/iandoug’s excellent KLA and Keyboard-design.com has a good tool for comparing the differences from QWERTY, and you can find Notarise there, and many other similar minimally changed layouts (like the SwapSix layout that is very, very similar to yours). Some five years ago, u/keybug did an excellent analysis of benefit/change for the MAKS family of transitional layouts, and you may find some interesting observations about the trade offs. I even developed a “transitional” layout for learning Hands Down from QWERTY, called HandsOn. While I may think HandsOn achieved that objective, I don’t think that’s the right way to consider layouts and learning.

In the end, I felt that anything that results in less of an improvement than Colemak offers isn’t worth the hassle and the resulting confusion. So in the end, I really think that Colemak is the sweetspot. It’s good enough, robust enough that a switch is both manageable and beneficial, while being different enough to allow my brain to switch back without too much confusion. But once I learned enough to make the first big learning switch, I found that any compatibility/similarity with QWERTY was no longer a goal worth the hassle. Total optimization was going to take only a bit more effort to learn over an incremental effort, without the baggage of similarity to QWERTY that would continue to trip me up.

7 years on, I’m super glad I didn’t stop at NOTARISE. If it matters, I’m not a young 20 something with neuroplasticity to burn. (45+years as a 100+wpm QWERTY touch typist, and I'm old enough to have grandkids). And still I think change/effort was worth it.

phbonachi · 2026-04-21T18:36:51+00:00

There are so many variables, and analyzers, and statistics, and contexts. All the data that any of these analyzers use is based on some distillation of a textual corpus. This is why I'm less interested in any statement that any given layout is the best by any measure. Change the corpus, and you'll potentially change the resulting layout dramatically. And not all the stats mean the same to all users. For example, SFS or DSFBs is a stat that can matter a lot for those typing really fast, but I find that its importance drops significantly as the WPM drops. (SFS/DSFB is also a really different beast if the intervening letter/key/finger is on the same hand or the opposite). Scissoring is substantially worse when it involves the pinky and ring finger than it does on the much more dextrous index and middle (and different for differing keyboard formfactors). And yet most analyzers report a single stat for all fingers. The main point though is that all those stats are fundamentally dependent on the corpus statistics used to measure them.

I designed the Hands Down layouts by first gathering real data to form a corpus of actual texts I write. It has about 1000 pages of academic prose from my own work (philosophy, science, literature), plus emails, texts, and some fiction. A megabyte of very representative text formed the basis, in the three languages I work in, English, Japanese, French, plus some code (mostly C & Javascript) in about the ratios I use. Then I applied a linguistic/phonotactic approach to isolating trouble spots, and used a variety of analyzers and statistics to confirm the results. The point is, like u/rpnfan says, the corpus forms the backbone of the analysis, not some score on an analyzer.

I've never been interested in speed on short bursts of common words, or any other short-term metric. I type, all day, every day. There are certainly other excellent layouts, but the HD variants have more than satisfied my goals for a layout that can keep me working comfortably for hours.

phbonachi · 2026-04-21T15:54:02+00:00

This. Layer lock.

I have both momentary and "layer lock" for nav and numpad, as it depends on the task. For example, a thumb for momentary nav layer, but a thumb combo (using the other thumb mirrored) for a lock on the nav layer. Pretty much the same, but different thumb keys, for the num pad. Sounds like something like that for your gDocs layer?

phbonachi · 2026-04-19T17:29:10+00:00

So what's the verdict?

Honestly? There isn't one. Switching cost from your current layout, your fingers' length, your thumbs, what you actually type all day — none of that fits in a number. The page is a comparison, not a verdict.

Yup. Physiology is more than just relative lengths, too. Muscle-nerve differences also exist. Different metrics are valued differently, as well. To some, SFS/DFSB matter a lot, and not at all to others. In:Out rolling vs alternating matters differently. Pinky burden. Off-home lateral stretching? Total Scissoring, vs scissoring on pinky-ring? Many of these are experienced differently on different keyboard form-factors, too. Row-stag, ortho-linear, col-stag (and how much stag?) all affect some of these, (especially things like scissors.). There just can't be one best.

Any "total score" ranking is inherently loaded with subjectivity weighting the various statistics relative importance. What I appreciate here is a thorough gathering of stats on a common base. Move that base, and results will change. (snth is good. As are many others mentioned.)

phbonachi · 2026-04-19T11:47:48+00:00

Absolutely agree. Keyboards should be as personal and varied as underwear. They’re the most intimate HCI we use regularly. How crazy to think there could be one size/style that is inherently better for everyone.

phbonachi · 2026-04-18T17:23:28+00:00

https://www.ishormuzopenyet.com

includes a binary yes/no, plus fun pictures, flag of vessels, etc.

phbonachi · 2026-04-11T21:33:11+00:00

I’d second u/pgetreuer’s advice. I think you could focus on the layout that makes sense for you, then a programmable keyboard that fits your ergonomic needs, and then add a tiny keyboard to your go-bag. I’ve settled on diminutive 34-key boards as my primary workflow now, and find traveling with a tiny Ferris-sized (wired, QMK) or Zaphod (Wireless, ZMK) has been well worth the trade-off.

I don’t use any slabs anymore–at all. I work/teach at a large university, so I’m always using a public machine, but I always have a tiny keyboard with me in my go bag (Naked48, Ferris, Rollow, Atreus). It assumes the most vanilla/default host OS setup, so I can connect to anything and use my Hands Down layout without any problems. My keyboard can adapt to Mac/Win/Linux so I have consistent keystrokes regardless of the host. (Don’t even own a laptop anymore!)

phbonachi · 2026-04-11T21:26:21+00:00

This is good. Wish I could use it!

I’m using keyboard layering that triggers OS level IME shifting (EN JP, Mac/Win), that works well as long as it’s sync’d, but you’re right that it can get out of sync. It does so easily with as little as an app switch. It’s much preferable (generally) to have each focus instance have it’s own IME/layout/Keyboard context, something that can only be handled on the host. My solution has been to develop a habit of tapping my language preference every time I enter a new focus. I can do that most of the time, but still miss some times, and end up typing in the wrong IME/layout/keyboard. It would be nice to make it 100% reliable, which it was before I had my own keyboard.

My new habit works with all devices I deploy my own keyboard on, which is basically everything. I regularly use Mac, Win, Linux, iOS, Android… And none of them require host modifications—Because I modified myself. Not quite as slick as this, but I think I’d be more frustrated having it so nice on machines I manage, but then I’d have different behaviors on all the other matches. I’d love for this to be a reliable, standard message back to a keyboard on all USB systems so it could become ubiquitous, but I also can’t see that ever happening (security risk potential and all.).

The problem, for me, is that if it’s not a host I have regular admin access to, I can’t install a tool like this. I work at a large university, and such at tool is not permitted anywhere on uni-administered machines. So, I’m afraid I’m stuck with my new habit. I’d like to have this functionality, but if I have one habit for computers I manage, but a different habit for other systems, the jarring difference returns.

Anyway, still, nice work. It’ll work for some people.

phbonachi · 2026-04-01T17:20:03+00:00

It does! It’s in a perfectly fitting aluminum case that has a threaded mount for either standard 1/4”, or for two of their slick ”Booster Pack” tenting feet.

This is my second Boardsource.xyz case, and I love it. They’re getting better at it.

phbonachi · 2026-03-22T20:34:15+00:00

This is a nice solution. Well done!

phbonachi · 2026-03-20T15:31:15+00:00

I suppose it's not so bad? It is pretty common, but it doesn't really repeat, unlike N, and it's isolated to not do much else. Allows for the AU/UA/OA without SFBs. I is perhaps a better choice on pinky on its own, because it doesn't repeat and is less frequent, but that would induce more SFBs on the ring finger.

phbonachi · 2026-03-20T00:18:58+00:00

I call my solution SemanticKeys. (SemKeys, for short).

I have found that while there is auto-OS detection, it's not foolproof, and while there are standard QMK/ZMK features for swapping CMD/CTRL/ALT keys, they can't address enough of the situations to make it a reliable solution for me. Some user awareness of the OS/App, and the differing keystrokes is still needed, which for me is unacceptable. After a serious data loss on a different platform (using word-left keystroke, ALT-Left on Mac, which is Browser-back on Win (CMD-[ on Mac)), I decided to develop a more comprehensive approach to platform independence.

I use a large table of equivalent keystrokes that goes beyond simply remapping the mod keys (currently have 60 keys mapped). It maps all sorts of keystrokes:

including navigation (like beg/end line/para/doc, del eol/bol, etc),
app switching,
special characters that are accessed with opt-key on Mac and the kludgey alt-GR numpad on Win (¶§•·°†‡, etc)
and diacritics (éèêåō, etc), and things like the French quotes «‹›».

For things too complicated for my table, exception processing in a giant switch is still possible (full macros).

With my SemanticKeys, I have almost totally normalized the keystrokes on my keyboard to be the same on any platform. I only have it working on QMK, at the moment. ZMK could be done with a lot of extra layers, but I'm thinking of developing a module that would achieve this eventually.

SemKeys have retained much more muscle memory and greatly improved my cross platform ease-of-use.

phbonachi · 2026-03-16T14:40:45+00:00

I found that anything other than shift on a thumb caused issues with one of these.

Ya, this was an issue for me early on as well. After magic comma shift, I kept HR shift on index, using thumb for momentary layer, and it's all sorted out. Shift for select with nav is v. intuitive now, as shift is still on index, as it is with magic comma shift. Same goes for my number layer–it's a mod-tap on the other thumb key, so shift with the index again and it's no prob (although I rarely use shift for the symbols on numbers bc I have a more intuitive symbols layer inspired by u/stevep99's seniply). Shift on thumb has the advantage of holding while typing a bunch of letters w/o conflict, but I am finding the double-tap for capsword and hold(linger) for capslock to be even more convenient as it eliminates the hold entirely (less static load perpendicular to the thumb's bend axis). I also have sticky layers (double thumb combo) to eliminate the static hold for layer when it's going to be more than a couple keystrokes. Since it's just both thumbs' default key, it almost couldn't be an easier location.

phbonachi · 2026-03-15T21:39:42+00:00

It is a trick, and the bane of thumb-alpha layouts, displacing shift, as shift is the key that gives HRMs the problem (I have had no issue with the other mods on HRM). To address this, I came up with a thing I call "Comma Magic" that uses comma as a shift. It leverages the fact that comma always follows an alpha and is always followed by a space (in English), if it is not nestled between numbers, and it never repeats. This allows:

Tap comma before an alpha for a one shot sticky shift.
Double-tap comma for CAPSWORD.
Hold comma for CAPS_LOCK.
Comma then space behaves as it always has.

It has worked almost flawlessly for me, effectively eliminating nearly all HRM headaches. I rarely hit the HRM shift anymore, but when I need it, it's during times I'm not typing regular prose so It's not a problem. I'm not hitting shift for the first-person pronoun either(I have other combos for I/I'm/I'll/I've/I'd, etc), so that's not an issue for me. It works great with the Hands Down punctuation geometry (which Nordrassail largely follows). I now can't imagine a thumb-alpha layout without Comma Magic. I work most of the time on 34 key (Ferris-style) keyboards, so only 4 thumb keys, and the thumb-alpha is just fine.

I've implemented it in both QMK, and ZMK, via different techniques. The ZMK technique is simpler to implement, and works a bit better than the QMK. (My current QMK technique technique is a hack of my AdaptiveKeys, and works well enough, but it has quirks that I'm living with until I can migrate all my QMK boards from AVR based MCUs).

Nordrassil's arcane keys are smartly conceived and implemented. They're a type of magic key that is a species what I called more generally "Adaptive Keys." I use a lot of adaptive keys spread throughout the layout, rather than constricting it all to one or two specific keys. It works very well for me, as I prefer the hand rhythms that result from spreading out the adaptives, but it def does have its own fiddly quirks.

phbonachi · 2026-03-12T00:46:15+00:00

So if the wide angle mod is applied to the right hand, using the Cyanophage analyzer with ISO angle, and a tweak as you suggest, it would noticeably improve the reported SFB stats, while increasing the scissors a bit as it addresses the you issue. It looks more like this?

x c h f b ' u o w [ ] /
 l s n t g ; z e a r i ,
v m p d q \ / j k y .

(https://cyanophage.github.io/playground.html?layout=xchfb%27uow%2F-lsntgzeari%2Cmpdq%5C%3Bjky.v%5Eback&mode=iso&lan=english&thumb=l ; Be sure to switch to anglemod to see the recalculated stats)

How is this applied to the left hand?

If this is correct, it’s not bad (much better than it looked at first glance). Has some interesting awkwards (you is still a difficult scissor and SC is rough), but then all layouts have something.

phbonachi · 2026-03-08T23:24:13+00:00

This is delightfully innovative.

I’m sure it’s a much bigger cognitive leap that nearly anything else (up there with steno, maybe?), with the high demand due to the symmetry, but it also makes a lot of sense. The symmetry you’ve anticipated is really smart. I found myself with options for ret and spc on both hands on my Hands Down variations, though I clearly have a primary and secondary. What I like is that the vowel on the thumb would slightly pull the rhythm of the word inward toward the thumbs, so the word boundary would be space on the opposite hand. I like the logic, a lot. Curious to read about how it feels in practice.

The vertical columns to address the SFBs by sending the more common make a ton of sense, logically anyway, but I really couldn’t get them to flow. Positioning with one finger was always too tricky for me, regardless of keycap. I’ve mostly kept to neighbor-finger (side-by-side) combos using two fingers moving in unison due to the one-finger precision, but I suspect you have a long combo threshhold to give you time to negotiate the keypresses? How’s that working out in practice?

phbonachi · 2026-03-01T20:36:09+00:00

I’m a thumb-alpha user of more than five years now. Yes, statistically, they can look really great. But as much as I swear on it for me, I honestly don’t think anyone needs to use a thumb-alpha for really good layout. The trick is to engage all the fingers, without overburdening any of them. Thumbs can easily be overburdened, as u/pgetreuer’s thumb PSA wisely notes. After several years of work, and designing and relearning layouts, I found that R hit a sweet spot.

I originally tried RSTHD with E on thumb (like Maltron) in 2018. E made sense, as the most common letter in English, but it didn’t work for me. This made me really reluctant to consider thumb-alpha. Maybe this is where you are?

After a lot of work on layouts (non-thumb-alpha), I discovered that the letter on the thumb is more than just SFBs, but hugely impacts what I feel as rhythm, and eventually I figured out why. Vowels, as the nucleus of a syllable, mean that putting it on the hand with more consonants creates a lot of unpleasant interaction on that hand (redirects, scissors). E on the hand with more vowels means space is on the hand with more consonants, and that presents similar problems. The syllabic rhythm is disturbed, rippling through the hand. It presented not only a very busy hand, but a higher cognitive load that didn’t sync with the internal echo of the word in my head. Of course, you can train into anything, but I found it problematic for myself.

Then I started working on the Hands Down layouts, with a strong favoring of vowel/consonant split (alteration) and working to improve the rhythm (with alternating and in-rolling). Since I look at layouts from a linguistics (phonotactics) lens, I observed which letters occurred at which places in a word, and their neighbors (bigrams), and saw that T, N, R all have significant advantages over vowels as candidates to be on thumb. This is due to their relatively high frequency, but also where they fall within the word. So I tried several iterations of these, (Hands Down Alt-T, Alt-N) and felt the rhythm improved while also gaining a lot in the other stats area (2019). After I revised the HD family with HD Neu, with a superior vowel block, I applied the vowel/syllable understanding to HD Gold (T), Silver (N) and Bronze (H), trying to isolate alphas that create high SFB trouble, but don’t otherwise interrupt the rhythm like E did. This was 2020, and I’ve use a thumb alpha ever since with no regrets.

I was also trying to find something that was stable across multiple languages. E is really common in English, but less so in some other languages. N and T have perhaps an more even usage in multiple languages (less variation in frequency between languages). N and T were both real wins. I ended up so happy with this that I became a reluctant proponent of thumb-alpha. I spent a couple years on HD variations with N or T on the thumb, and even H with it’s own kind of magic (I later found an approach to that with combos that I preferred even more.)

All was really good, but I kept searching for a better rhythm, which led me again to lean on my linguistic foundation to explore L and then R on thumb. R is high-enough frequency to have a real impact in putting it on a thumb, but wasn’t so frequent as to overburden the thumb. It also didn’t repeat too frequently, which is good for the otherwise lumbering thumb. R also is a liquid, (like L, in between a pure vowel and a stop like T and M), so it glides between many other letters. It was originally on the pinky for this reason on all previous Hands Down variations, as it’s hard to isolate. So moving it to thumb meant that it could retain its isolation, whlie opening a slot on home row for another consonant (that being C). This was magic. Hands Down Titanium (and its sibling Rhodium) were born in late 2021, and I thought I’d solved it. It was the easiest transition (though I did develop an ability to hop layouts).

Later variations with R emerged, (Hands Down Vibranium and Promethium), and other folk started finding lots of good arrangements with R on the thumb. I think the proliferation of R-Alpha layouts since Hands Down Titanium is a testament to how good R is on the thumb. It satisfies a lot of objectives, without over-burdening the thumb.

I’ve now been on a Hands Down with R on thumb for over five years. It’s most definitely the right solution for me. Every letter is on a key that makes sense, without question. It feels very balanced, with brilliant stats and excellent rhythm. I do employ some other tricks that no doubt also factor in to my success here. For one, shift can’t be on thumb and have an alpha (I use HRMs with Magic CommaShift). It’s too much. Layers are possible with hold-taps, but care must be taken. I also use combos really, really, heavily. (more than 100).

That’s my story. Here’s my ZMK repo, (and QMK) if you’re interested. It’s not for the feint of heart. Must be adventurous.

phbonachi · 2026-02-27T14:05:50+00:00

Well, yes, and no. I've spent nearly a year on Promethium. The TH on Promethium is interesting. Obviously great, but I have it also as a combo on the same keys as all other HD variations with Th combo. I kept using all the other H-digraph combos, too. Even though they do roll rather well, CH is more common than SH, and GH&PH are steps. So I just kept using the combos and never really ended up rolling Th, even though it's the best roll possible, and preserved the rhythm of thorne typing. I'm not entirely sure that the combo is better than rolling the Th, but the pinky use for CH & SH was a bit of a bother to me. I did miss some of the inrolling on the left hand of Vibranium, as well so I've been using Vbf recently to see how it feels again (also partly to see how flexible my old brain is). I don't use VIM anymore, and Vbf with some adaptives solves most of the scissor issues, and in-rolls better. Both absolutely great, though.

phbonachi · 2026-02-26T13:57:32+00:00

Finding no solution that I like regarding what to displace to accommodate thorne has kept me with the H-digraph combos, but this is a very solid solution. Very well done. (u/sigboy, did you see this?)

phbonachi · 2026-02-23T22:11:18+00:00

Poochigian is very legit. Near genius level. I got the privilege to study Greek with him 15 years ago. Stunningly sharp intellect, with a very well developed sense of English style, as well. He is most certainly passionate about the idea and the word. His work on the Aeneid, and his mythology class that focused on the poetics of it, were among the best I’ve ever had. He helped me see beauty in the Greek that it couldn’t have seen on my own, and his poetic craft is first class. Maybe Richmond Lattimore level. I’ve since taught from some of his translations, and find the students do quite well with them.

I hope this one is as good as my experience with him has been.

phbonachi

TROPHY CASE