From 13c5ca5d5d85da4f539bbed7529b06847566dc6f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: William Rickert Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2026 15:02:32 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] Column-staggered right half, and record the ragged-edge decision Six clean finger columns then an outer pinky edge carrying Bksp, ] and Enter, with backslash alone in an eighth column. Documents why the artifact exists - the number row and alpha rows are cut half a unit apart - and the three ways to resolve it. Also flags the right thumb being asked to cover five keys. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 --- README.md | 28 ++++++++++++++++++++ docs/half-right-staggered.svg | 50 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 78 insertions(+) create mode 100644 docs/half-right-staggered.svg diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 0bcaf5e..e471253 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -193,6 +193,34 @@ comes from — a stock 104 puts Tab, Caps, Shift *and* Ctrl on the weakest finge outermost is at the edge of thumb travel. Consider dropping Ctrl to a home-row mod and reclaiming that slot for a layer key. +The right is worse: **five** thumb keys (Space / Alt / Win / Menu / Ctrl). One +thumb will not cover five. Menu is the obvious deletion — nothing else on the +board is used less. + +`docs/half-right-staggered.svg`. + +### The ragged outer edge — an open decision + +Splitting a row-staggered 104 leaves keys that have no column to belong to, +because the number row and the alpha rows are cut half a unit apart. + +- **Left half:** `6` and `F6` end up alone in a 2-key column. `6` sits at x=6.0, + `T` at x=5.5, `Y` at x=6.5 — so `6` is *between* T and Y, and falls left of + the cut with no alpha beneath it. +- **Right half:** worse. Six clean columns, then an outer pinky column holding + Bksp / `]` / Enter, and **`\` alone in an eighth column**. + +Three ways to resolve it, undecided: + +1. **Keep it.** Authentic to touch-typing — `6` really is a left-index stretch. +2. **Move `6`/`F6` right**, aligned above `Y`. Left becomes a clean 6 columns at + 34 keys, right goes to 41. +3. **Duplicate `6` on both halves.** What the ErgoDox does. Costs one key, ends + the argument. + +`\` has no equivalent escape — it either gets its own outer column, moves onto +a layer, or takes a thumb slot. + ### Tenting Tenting hardware is a CAD/case job and comes after the PCB — but the **mounting diff --git a/docs/half-right-staggered.svg b/docs/half-right-staggered.svg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..83f6110 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/half-right-staggered.svg @@ -0,0 +1,50 @@ + +Right half, column-staggered with a thumb cluster +Thirty-nine keys in eight columns. Six clean finger columns, then a ragged outer pinky edge holding Backspace, right bracket and Enter, plus a single backslash beyond it. +Right half — column stagger + thumb cluster +Same 39 keys. Six clean columns, then the outer pinky edge goes ragged. +F7 +7 +Y +H +N +F8 +8 +U +J +M +F9 +9 +I +K +, +F10 +0 +O +L +. +F11 +- +P +; +/ +F12 += +[ +' +Shift +Bksp +] +Enter +\ +Space +Alt +Win +Menu +Ctrl + +Alphas · 34 + +Thumb cluster · 5 +Backslash ends up alone in an eighth column — the same artifact as the left half’s lonely 6, but further out. + \ No newline at end of file