Re: A question about Dvorak's original arrangement of numerals - 7531902468

It's interesting how you group keys together, eg +-=* and the 
logic / bitwise operators. I'm trying to devise my own balanced 
layout. I did put the math operators together, but didn't go as 
far as sorting the logic operators. After reading your post, I 
finally did. So my current experimental layout looks like this:


7 9513= /2046 8#     (SHIFTED) ` @{?%+ *&!}| ^~
z ',up- flc." \      (SHIFTED) Z :<UP_ FLC>; $
  oaeid rhtns        (SHIFTED)   OAEID RHTNS
j k(ygb vmw)x q      (SHIFTED) J K[YGB VMW]X Q

Here, the math operators are accessed by the index fingers at 
the top center of the keyboard. -=/ are unshifted; +*% are 
shifted. The logical operators all fall on the right hand side. The 
hash and dollar are pretty widely used in certain programming 
languages like PHP and Python. On the Kinesis, the hash would be 
put on one of the keys below the bottom row, for instance, 
replace the ~ or Insert key.

Numbers are split by odd and even numbers like how Dvorak first 
envisioned. However, I place them based on popularity, According 
to my own simple research, 1 and 0 are the most common. So it 
makes sense to have them at the middle finger. Then come 2 and 
3, so at indexes. The rest don't really matter, but I figure that 
if you type a lot of prices, repeating 9s would show up a lot. So 
it beats out 7 for a slightly better spot.

It is optimized for symmetric keyboards like Kinesis since they 
have equal number of keys on either hand. For instance, the 7 
and the 8 are hit by the outstretched pinkies on left and right, 
respectively. The shift keys are on the home row, which leaves 
their original keys open for J and Q. Z replaces the Tab, which 
ideally should be hit by the thumb. This is easily managed on the 
Kinesis.

The purpose of this layout is to truely balance left and right 
hand ratio. For one, regular keyboards have a lot more keys on 
the right side, which totally goes against my idea of balance. 
Second, the pairs of open and close symbols, namely ()[]{}<>, are 
split among the hands, and all are accessed by the ring fingers. 
Although I do like your concept of putting them unshifted on the 
number row, that would require redesigning my entire layout--
though I just might try that someday. This layout has more 
symbols on the main 3x10 area, thus pushing weak letters like 
QJZ beyond this main area.

--- In [email protected], "shinywong" <shinywong@
...> wrote:
>
> Thanks.
> 
> Your Dvorak typewriter looks exactly like the one on  
> http://infohost.nmt.edu/~shipman/ergo/parkinson.html (The 
first 
> picture), I also noticed on the 5th picture, there isn't number 
1 on 
> conventional keyboard (QWERTY).
> 
> I use 7531902468 mainly for fun, but I found it more 
comfortable in 
> typing Chinese. You must use an IME to type Chinese. First, 
you have 
> to type the pronunciation of the character you want, but there 
are 
> too many homophones in Chinese, you have to use the number 
key to 
> choose the most appropriate character. The most frequent 
character 
> comes first, most of the time, you just have to hit the 
numbers 
> 123456. So 7531902468 is more comfortable.
> 
> Dvorak is not good for programming, even worse than 
QWERTY, the key  
> semicolon is not so comfortable to type, the keys [] {} are too 
far 
> away. (On the other hand, it proved that QWERTY is worse 
for typing 
> English text.) 
> 
> I made my own customed layout, rearranged the punctuation 
keys. I use 
> C# for programming, I calculated the frequencies of 
punctuation keys 
> of some C# source codes. And analyzed them, the layout is as 
follows:
> 
> unshifted:
>  CAPS < { ( [ $ # ] ) } > / * `
>   TAB ' , . p y f g c r l - + \
>    BS a o e u i d h t n s = ENT
> SHIFT ; q j k x b m w v z SHIFT
> 
> shifted:
>  CAPS 7 5 3 1 9 0 2 4 6 8 ! ^ ~
>   TAB " ? : P Y F G C R L | & %
>    BS A O E U I D H T N S _ ENT
> SHIFT @ Q J K X B M W V Z SHIFT
> 
> I put BACKSPACE on the CAPS keycap, CAPS on the `~ 
keycap, `~ on the 
> BACKSPACE keycap. It's more convenient to hit the 
BACKSPACE now. 
> 
> Of the key frequencies, semicolon (;) is the most frequent, 
equal 
> sign (=) is the second, then (){}[]. The remaining punctuation 
keys 
> are not so frequent, I can put them anywhere I want... There 
is 
> always a carrige return after semicolon when programming, so 
the 
> semicolon should be put on the left side of the keyboard. 
Although I 
> don't like the position of semicolon on Dvorak, but I can't find 
a 
> better place to put it.
> 
> The are definitely no carriage return after the equal sign when 
> programming, so I put the equal sign on the right side of key 
S. I 
> prefer to use field names that are prefixed by a undersore, I 
use 
> underscore a lot, so I put it on the shifted state of Key =. 
> 
> The arithmetic operators are placed together: + - * / %
> (Backslash is more useful than %, so I put % on the shifted 
state of 
> key \)
> 
> The logical operators are placed together: & | ^ ! ~
> The conditional operators are placed together: ? :
> 
> Like Dvorak's concept of alternating hands, I put (){}[] 
separately, 
> not together. I put () on middle fingers, like the most frequent 
keys 
> E and T on Dvorak. {} are on ring fingers, [] are on index 
fingers. 
> The keys <> are put on the key 7 and 8, I did this only 
because it 
> looks more balanced.
> 
> @ sign is something to do with letters (E-mail addresses are 
mainly 
> formed of letters), so I put it on the shifted state of 
semicolon. $ 
> and # are something to do with numbers, so I put them near 
numbers. I 
> rarely use @, $ or #, so it doesn't matter where they are.
> 
> I didn't concern dead keys or AltGr, because I don't like 
them...
> 
> And, the numbers have an attribute of "shift=caps", that is, 
when the 
> caps lock is on, the number row keys are:
> 
>  CAPS 7 5 3 1 9 0 2 4 6 8 / * `
> 
> I'm slight dissatisfied with the key dash (-) and much 
dissatisfied 
> with the key slash (/). Especially when making comments for 
source 
> codes. But I can't find better places for them. 
> 
> 
> As I mentioned above, you must use number keys when typing 
Chinese, 
> so there is another layout slight different from my 
Programming 
> Layout, it's my Text Layout. It is used as my system default 
layout 
> and used for my Chinese IMEs.
> 
> unshifted:
>  CAPS 7 5 3 1 9 0 2 4 6 8 / * `
>   TAB ' , . p y f g c r l - + \
>    BS a o e u i d h t n s = ENT
> SHIFT ; q j k x b m w v z SHIFT
> 
> shifted:
>  CAPS < { ( [ $ # ] ) } > ! ^ ~
>   TAB " ? : P Y F G C R L | & %
>    BS A O E U I D H T N S _ ENT
> SHIFT @ Q J K X B M W V Z SHIFT