What does HackerNews think of miryoku?
Miryoku is an ergonomic, minimal, orthogonal, and universal keyboard layout.
The Miryoku layout is a popular choice: https://github.com/manna-harbour/miryoku
As a Dvorak user, here's mine: https://github.com/1MachineElf/qmk_firmware/tree/_sb4dv/keyb...
I'd say if you look at a layout like miryoku https://github.com/manna-harbour/miryoku .. in miryoku, the [] keys are one row up from home row, accessed on a layer. Whereas, putting [] on outer columns, your hand has to move and reach over two rows.
That is, I'd emphasise layering brings more keys to within easy access of the fingers (at the cost of added complexity to use the keyboard, - which not everyone has the taste for).
Although not related to chorded-input like Plover uses, I'd suggest something like https://github.com/manna-harbour/miryoku
As well as enter/backspace/delete, it's also useful to have esc/tab near spacebar. https://github.com/manna-harbour/miryoku
e.g. A popular off-the-shelf keyboard which supports this layout https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/
> ...below the space bar
Well. Then you'd need to move your hands, or stretch your fingers a bit. It's better to have a smaller spacebar key, to allow for extra keys.
It has six or seven layers, and aggressively uses home-row mods.
https://github.com/tss101/clarityqmkkeymap
It's in a bit of a rough state (one folder is for a OLED + RGB Corne r2g, and another is a currently messy adaptation for a Ferris Sweep)
The keymap itself is pretty straightforward. As rgoulter guessed it's just a modification of Miryoku (https://github.com/manna-harbour/miryoku), with some tweaks I made to keep functionally similar layers "together". E.g. the mouse key and navigation key layers are mirror images of each other. And there's a numpad layer, with nested symbols and function key layers that stack from the initial numpad layer. I also designed it to share the load between both hands as much as possible.
To me the key concepts behind this are:
- Home Row modifiers: putting Shift, Ctrl, Gui, Alt behind tap-hold functionality on the home row keys. (Now you don't need to strain your pinky finger with these, and can stay on the home row more).
- More thumb keys, with layering using tap-hold. This brings Backspace, Enter, Esc, Tab to within reach of the thumb, and provides a bunch of layers.
- Patterns on the LHS: Use of numpad idiom instead of number row (covering symbols, and function keys); symmetrical brackets, paretheses, and curly braces.
- Use of the HJKL idiom for stuff like arrow keys, volume control, home/end. etc.
If you won't like to source all the components yourself there are vendors who happy to sell you kits, but you can make 3-5 keyboards for that amount of money.
I suggest to use the Miryoku[1] layout.