Skip to content

WIP: terminal_alternate layout

Matthew Kovacs requested to merge (removed):terminal-alt into master

This layout is an amalgamation of several layouts with a few constraints:

  1. Mise en place, logically followed by the principle of least surprise

    • buttons should not move or change in size, they should just change symbols.

    • the only two exceptions are "Menu" and "Preferences" in the Fn and Logo views

  2. Space is at a premium, so unicode symbols are used for Escape, Control, etc. to reduce visual clutter.

    • for example, the Symbols view (next to Shift) is represented by the mathematical three dot representation of "therefore," as in "Oh, Shift does not show the punctuation I need, therefore it is probably in Symbols."

    • because these buttons do not move and are placed relatively similarly to traditional keyboards, you already know that the strange circle with an arrow escaping it in the top-left corner is almost certainly "Escape"

    • I say relatively, as I have placed Control (represented by a ship's helm) in the spot usually reserved for CapsLock, and Alt underneath Enter/Return where there is normally a second Shift.

  3. Redundancy to minimize aggravation from years of who knows how many layouts on various devices.

    • for example, the colon is placed next to Enter/Return in each of the Shift, Symbols, Fn, and Logo views - anytime I need to run a command in vim, I know that one of the 4 modifiers in the bottom-left corner will get me there, and better yet the key I need will be in the same place every. single. time.

  4. Space for the future. There are many blanks available in the Function and Logo views, in addition to the Menu and Preferences keys for those using Phosh (I am not).

Let me know what you think.

Merge request reports