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I'm thinking about creating a new keyboard layout for programming. Now I mostly program in HTML, JavaScript/jQuery/CoffeeScript, CSS/LESS/SASS, though I may dabble in shell scripting & RegEx soon, with perhaps LUA, C++, & Java in a few years. I want to have scientific proof to the key's placements. I do have ideas/requirements, some invented myself, some taken or derived from others:
- Almost All keys may be re-arranged
- RETURN, Left SHIFT, Left CONTROL, SPACE-bar, & TAB need to stay, but all others, including numbers, symbols, & movement keys are open to moving
- Might be optimal to leave zxcv & perhhaps s to stay in place, due to common Undo/Cut/Copy/Paste/Save habits :)
- DELETE key likely to be moved to where CAPS LOCK is :)
- Unlikely to keep matching brackets like (){}[]<> next to each other; see below
- The only accurate way IMHO to count key usage is by key-logging, not key counts of files:
- Much of "programming" is sending emails, posting to forums, twitter, bug reporting, web surfing, etc.
- I believe much of keyboard usage is "movement"; tabbing between fields, page down, moving cursors around, etc. These are not captured by file outputs
- Many editors use auto-complete & macros, so close-deliminators: )}]> may not be as often typed as openers, thus only key-logging & not parsing files will accurate.
So my questions:
- What are safe free/open source software keyloggers, that will not upload files unless you send a separate file yourself? I would prefer NOT to collect log-in names & passwords, not only for security but also for because that can throw of my analysis IMHO.
- What programs can be used client-side to digest single & pair key-counts? Or how to best build one?
- Where is it best to find volunteers to help out?
Best research so far: http://www.michaelcapewell.com/projects/keyboard/layout_capewell.htm
http://viralintrospection.wordpress.com/category/technology/keyboard-layouts/
& Wikipedia: Keyboard_layout#Non-QWERTY_keyboards_for_Latin_scripts
TIA!
An interesting question, but let me propose one of my own: Are we better off abandoning the staggered chocolate bar layout we have been using for decades for something completely different? – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams – 2012-04-11T02:52:41.423
Do ou mean Ignacio to switch to a entire new layout like Kinesis' Contoured keyboard for $300USD? No, just remapping keys in existing cheap keyboards one can find in a normal store for $5-20. – tomByrer – 2012-04-11T02:58:04.130
If you are used to a standard QWERTY (or other) keyboard it may be more efficient to just use it, rather than learning a new layout. Especially if you use other computers, which will not have your customised layout, on a regular basis. – Bob – 2012-04-11T03:02:20.333
I thought about that Bob & assumed that to be best myself. Though I've read a few others have no problems using both layouts in the same day, so I'd like to give it a try.
I'm used to speaking 2 different languages in the same hour, like English & Italian. Though I still want to call eggplant "melanzana", even though I haven't lived in Italy for 12 years :) – tomByrer – 2012-04-11T03:14:31.007
1By the way, in order for people to receive replies, you need to ping them with @tomByrer, for example! – slhck – 2012-04-11T05:17:20.887
@ekaj yeah, that was just an example for Tom, don't wanna complicate things – slhck – 2012-04-13T07:21:19.623
2I suspect that the best thing to do would be to giv
<>{}[]
(and other keys that currently require shift) their own keys - I wouldn't really consider myself a programmer, but I know that's what find most annoying when writing up bash scripts. – evilsoup – 2013-05-28T04:59:36.987