Halmak, the AI designed keyboard layout (2016) [video] | Hacker News Reader

Halmak, the AI designed keyboard layout (2016) [video]

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22 pointsdsego14 comments

I was toying with the idea of using a different layout than QWERTY because I already remap almost all my keys with Karabiner.

However I think it's not worth it in the end because on iOS for example I wouldn't be able to use Halmak or Colmak so it's not worth the context switch.

My Karabiner layout: https://wiki.nikitavoloboev.xyz/macOS/apps/karabiner/Karabin...

Why wouldn't you be able to use it on iOS, other than perhaps someone not having implementing it yet? If its a decent keyboard it should be too long till someone does

Have been using Dvorak for 6 years now. But only on my laptop/desktop. On the iPhone I continue using the standard Qwerty layout. I don't notice the context switch. Probably because switching to a mobile screen keyboard is an even bigger context switch, and we are already used to that. I tried using some 3rd party Dvorak keyboards on iOS but my typing was slower than with Qwerty.

I'm very happy with QFMLWY [1] because it greatly reduced my wrist pain.

[1]: http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/carpalx/?full_optimization

How long did it take you to learn the new layout? Why this one instead of Dvorak or Colemak?

About one month (going cold turkey). Supposedly it's more efficient than the two. It certainly feels less strenuous than QWERTY.

I am fearful of switching because of all the keyboard shortcuts I'd have to relearn. Sometimes an established layout like Dvorak and Colemak has scripts/modifications readily available from the community that can help you to get things working quickly, for e.g. Emacs and Vim rebindings.

How are you finding the keyboard shortcuts after your transition?

Is there any community around QFMLWY (forums/mailing list)?

The keyboard shortcuts remain the same, except of course that they then use the new keys. For instance, my "Ctrl+C" is QWERTY's Ctrl+V. You get used to it. It don't think it's an issue. I also don't know of a community behind QFMLWY, but I'm not sure you really need one.

Very interesting, but as a vim user I will have to retrain my muscle memory. And say goodbye to :inoremap jk <esc>.

Edit: typo.

Love the idea of keeping the cmd+ based commands on a different layer.

not a programmers keyboard. semicolon at the hardest to reach position

There are plenty of programming languages that don't use semicolons. And it's not even the hardest position to reach.

I could see getting used to its placement - rather than a oft wasted key under your right pinky (really, how many letters do you type before you finally hit a semi?), its now only a lazy index-finger stretch to where 'Y' used to be...and you get an 'i' for your pinky. I'd hardly describe it as hardest to reach!

I have been waiting for a better layout for long, and I had already assumed the ideal layout would be determined by software. I like that there's effort being put into it.

But I don't like that one of my major complaints about qwerty while programming is not being solved: Of the times I use the top row, almost always I'm using it with shift in order to insert a symbol. That's why I have a custom qwerty layout that reverts the situation: shift+key is number, key by itself is symbol. Same with other usually-shifted keys.

I also dislike that the graphs shown are only for English. The graphs should be shown for the most popular Latin script languages: Spanish, English, Portuguese, German and French (+programming, related to my previous complaint). People that write in at least two Latin-script languages far outnumber the people that only write English.

But props for the setup, looks cool and I expect great things from it!

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