Custom Layout
Kinesis Contoured family of keyboards belong to a relatively small group of keyboards that utilize thumb clusters. The keycap profiles of thumb cluster keys make it easy to press multiple keys simultaneously by a thumb finger. Co-locating CTRL, SHIFT and KEYPAD modifiers in the thumb cluster gives truly unique capabilities to these keyboards.
"alvicstep" Layout
The alvicstep layout is optimized for software development on a Windows machine. It is a result of many years of daily usage. It is a great starting point for your own design.
Layout Features
- 3 layers: default layer, keypad layer, numpad layer
- keypad layer allows for 2 finger operation using arrow keys together with
- CTRL and/or SHIFT modifiers OR
- HOME/END keys OR
- PAGEUP/PAGEDOWN keys.
- two finger operations can be achieved by holding up to 3 modifier keys (KEYPAD/SHIFT/CTRL) with a thumb finger and using index/middle/ring finger by pressing keywell keys. For example, you can fully control caret position and text selection of:
- each letter
- each word
- from a current caret position to the beginning of the line
- from a current caret position to the end of the line
- multiple lines
- multiple pages
- with little practice you will be able to string together different key combinations. For example, executing
KEYPAD + O and then KEYPAD + SHIFT + U selects the whole line of text with barely any finger movement. The best part is that it works in any text editor!
- keypad layer allows accessing F1-F12 and ESC keys by moving only a single finger away from the home row, making it very fast and convenient
- KEYPAD key can be used to access US ANSI Shifted Symbols instead of pressing a SHIFT key. This gives you two advantages: it makes KEYPAD key a "go to" key which is used in almost all operations unrelated to typing of letters. To understand the second advantage, compare pressing
SHIFT + 0 and KEYPAD + 0 using the right hand
- NUMPAD "momentary" modifier key can be used to quickly switch to a numeric pad while typing alphanumeric strings. In a stock Kinesis firmware you would have to switch to KEYPAD layer and then press NUMLOCK key which makes it unusable for this task
- NUMPAD key in the right thumb cluster can be used to switch to a numeric pad for long numeric sequences
Layout Layers
Notes
- MO(1) - switch to KEYPAD layer while key is being pressed
- MO(2) - switch to NUMPAD layer while key is being pressed
- TO(0) - switch to BASE layer
- TO(2) - switch to NUMPAD layer
- Rsft(Enter) - acts as an ENTER key when pressed and released. Acts as a SHIFT modifier in combination with other keys
- Bt - enter bootloader mode
- Alt(Tab) - toggle between last two active applications
- Ctrl(Tab) - toggle between last two active tabs
Differences From Stock
- {}[] keys are moved to the left side of the keywell to be easily accessible
- - and + keys are switched
- CAPS LOCK key is moved to KEYPAD layer and is mapped to DELETE on BASE layer
Shortcuts
| Shortcut |
Control Caret |
KEYPAD + J |
move caret one character left |
KEYPAD + L |
move caret one character right |
KEYPAD + I |
move caret one line up |
KEYPAD + K |
move caret one line down |
KEYPAD + CTRL + J |
move caret one word to the left |
KEYPAD + CTRL + L |
move caret one word to the right |
KEYPAD + U |
move caret to the start of the line |
KEYPAD + O |
move caret to the end of the line |
KEYPAD + H |
move caret one page up |
KEYPAD + N |
move caret one page down |
| Shortcut |
Scroll Lock |
KEYPAD + CTRL + I |
scroll page up |
KEYPAD + CTRL + K |
scroll page down |
| Shortcut |
Select Text |
KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + J |
select one word to the left |
KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + L |
select one word to the right |
KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + I |
select one line up |
KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + K |
select one line down |
KEYPAD + SHIFT + H |
select one page up |
KEYPAD + SHIFT + N |
select one page down |
KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + U |
select from beginning of the file up to the caret position |
KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + O |
select from caret position to the end of the file |
| Shortcut |
US ANSI Shifted Symbols |
KEYPAD + - |
_ |
KEYPAD + 1 |
! |
KEYPAD + 2 |
@ |
KEYPAD + 3 |
# |
KEYPAD + 4 |
$ |
KEYPAD + 5 |
% |
KEYPAD + 6 |
^ |
KEYPAD + 7 |
& |
KEYPAD + 8 |
* |
KEYPAD + 9 |
( |
KEYPAD + 0 |
) |
KEYPAD + = |
+ |
KEYPAD + \ |
| |
KEYPAD + ' |
" |
KEYPAD + ; |
: |
KEYPAD + / |
? |
KEYPAD + [ |
{ |
KEYPAD + ] |
} |
KEYPAD + , |
< |
KEYPAD + . |
> |
KEYPAD + BACKTICK |
~ |
