Just to give my humble experience, having bought a VIA-compatible keyboard was the opportunity to reorganize keys and test which options make sense for me. I am still in my early phase, but (for example) I discovered that a 60% keyboard would suit my needs just fine (with CapsLock as my favorite choice as a mapping switcher). I wonder how to check if an even more compact layout could work for me. Does that mean additional mapping switching keys? [i wonder how to handle a Ctrl-Alt-Shift-F9, then ;) ]
Check out the Miryoku layout (https://github.com/manna-harbour/miryoku). I use a modified version. For me, that keypress is inner-right-thumb, right index, middle, and pink pressing homerow keys, and the key above my left index.