100% of the layouts still treat symbols as second class citizens.
my typing would vastly improve if a keyboard simply added another row for symbols so they are one key press only.
changing layouts only help in a few cases and turns using somebodyelses computer or a phone or a tablet or a virtual keyboard or remote vim sessions, etc a royal pain in the ass, because they will be qwerty.
Here's a link to download my .keylayout file (goes in ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts): https://www.dropbox.com/s/8hy5391ay2u0dta/US%20Symbols.keyla...
it also makes ç and é easier to type, which is a must for all latin languages i know!
will remap my number row to azerty's
it seems to work with ^ but with the vim plugins, following a link requires numbers. pressing shift every time is less ideal. and in vim you use numbers quite a bit too (for moving and editing).
So I suggest you try this mode and see for yourself if it suits you.
> I don't need to look down on keyboard or move my hands to numpad.
that does not happen for me anyways. i use my numbers too much (e.g. switching windows/tabs).
I do understand that there should be room for improvement. The situation is just so much worse if you look at other layouts as base line..
As a bonus I map Shift to the right Win key so that I can press it with my thumb as well. Using the thumb for Ctrl is also doable but it's a little annoying when you need to use the same hand for the combo.
Hover your mouse over "Ebene 3" here: http://neo-layout.org/