> It’s common to use a program to optimize the layout, letting the computer explore tons of layouts very quickly. I did not go this route, as I found it difficult to write down my exact preferences.

I am reminded of a paper about optimizing the specialized characters on a French keyboard[1][2]. The accent and ligature layout got accepted into standard, and the authors write that they had to adjust the criteria based on feedback from the standards body about which layouts felt more right.

What it shows is that it is possible to turn optimization into an interactive process when it's unclear what the objective function is.

The paper also mentions a new method to solve very large scale problems. I wonder if it could optimize a whole keyboard, whether chorded or straight.

[1] http://resources.mpi-inf.mpg.de/keyboardoptimization/MOTOR20... [2] https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2021/2/250082-azerty-amlior/f...