the planck ortholinear keyboard is a 40% keyboard of 4 rows by 12 keys which, at first glance, would appear to be inadequate for serious keyboard usage. Like its 60% keyboard cousin, firmware configurability allows programming key chords and keyboard layers to make up for the “missing” keys. Arguably, home row mapping of these keys provides for an even more ergonomic and compact keyboard.
Of course, multi-key presses and toggled modes require acclimating to. The grid layout also requires some finger adjustment too but ultimately is more symmetric in its requirement for both hands (versus the right hand favouring of conventional staggered keyboards).
the base layout for my Planck keyboard (yet to be built) will, not surprisingly, be a variant of my Colemak Shift-DH layout, adjusted for the grid layout and the loss of the number key row and other keys..
~ Q W F P B J L U Y ; \
- A R S T G M N E I O "
= Z X C D V K H , . / Enter
Fnc Ctrl GUI Alt Tab SP BackSP Del Left Down Up Right
Grave and Quote are represented by Tilde and Double Quote for readability.
Modifier key (bottom row) actions:
Technically, the conventional (bottom) modifier row does not even have to exist as any key can be assigned multiple actions including modifier behaviour with the required custom firmware.
Tapping the modifier row keys..
~ Q W F P B J L U Y ; \
- A R S T G M N E I O "
= Z X C D V K H , . / Enter
KPD Esc Caps NBR Tab SP BackSP Del Left Down Up Right
Holding down the modifier row keys..
~ Q W F P B J L U Y ; \
- A R S T G M N E I O "
Shift Z X C D V K H , . / Enter
KPD Ctrl GUI Alt NBR Shift Shift NBR Alt GUI Ctrl SYS
Placement of the NBR layer modifier is intended to allow depressing Alt-NBR and Shift-NBR with a single finger. Similarly, a Shift key is placed above the KPD key to allow convenient enabling of the keypad navigation keys.
While it would be a simple matter to also assign the Shift key to the Enter key to replicate the ANSI keyboard, thumb Shift has been configured for ergonomic benefits.
F12 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 F10 F11
{ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) [
} 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ]
Fnc Ctrl GUI Alt -- SP BackSP -- Home PgDn PgUp End
Bottom row alternate key actions (Ctrl to Del) are available via layer transparency but are redundant to use as such.
~ Q W F P B A B 7 8 9 -
- A R S T G C D 4 5 6 +
= Z X C D V E F 1 2 3 Enter
-- Ctrl GUI Alt Tab SP BackSP Del 0 . / *
Note the extended hexadecimal keypad section!
Shift key down keypad navigation actions..
~ Q W F P B A B Home Up PgUp -
- A R S T G C D Left 5 Right +
-- Z X C D V E F End Down PgDn Enter
-- Ctrl GUI Alt Tab SP BackSP Del 0 . / *
This is the beauty of flashing your own firmware to create a keyboard that mates with your workflow in a finger efficient 40% keyboard layout.
is configured to prevent accidental but convenient access for reflashing the Planck keyboard firmware..
DEF QWT WKM F PLV B J L U Y ; \
- A R S T G M N E I O Reset
= Z X CMK DVK V K H , . / Enter
Fnc Ctrl GUI Alt Tab SP BackSP Del Left Down Up --
Alternate keyboard layouts can be toggled for demoing the keyboard, not their utility (or inferiority :-)..
Configuring alternate keyboard layouts, aside from facilitating keyboard practice, was used for normalizing the extended left and right hand pinkie finger key assignments (symbols)..
~ Q W E R T Y U I O P \
- A S D F G H J K L ; "
= Z X C V B N M , . / Enter
Fnc Ctrl GUI Alt Tab SP BackSP Del Left Down Up Right
~ Q D R W B J F U P ; \
- A S H T G Y N E O I "
= Z X M C V K L , . / Enter
Fnc Ctrl GUI Alt Tab SP BackSP Del Left Down Up Right
~ Q W F P G J L U Y ; \
- A R S T D H N E I O "
= Z X C V B K M , . / Enter
Fnc Ctrl GUI Alt Tab SP BackSP Del Left Down Up Right
introduces a slight variant to the left and right hand pinkie key symbol assignments the other keyboards adhere to but shouldn’t be too difficult to adjust to..
~ " , . P Y F G C R L /
\ A O E U I D H T N S -
= ; Q J K X B M W V Z Enter
Fnc Ctrl GUI Alt Tab SP BackSP Del Left Down Up Right
is a stenography application which transposes QWERTY layout multi-key
chords to type words versus sequential key (finger) input, facilitating
typing speeds in excess of 200 words per minute!..
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
- Q W E R T Y U I O P [
= A S D F G H J Z L ; "
Exit Ctrl GUI C V SP BackSP N M Down Up Right