Warning: some mechanical keyboard nerdtalk might be appearing
Well, since I could resist the urge to buy a CODE with greens and instead went for a CM QuickFire rapid with greens (mainly due to the CODE having features I won't use), I will have my first ANSI keyboard soon. Since I have to switch layouts now anyway, I was thinking about trying out an alternative keyboard layout, too.
So far I'm using the standard German QWERTZ layout, but once in a while I already used neo2 layout. Sadly, this layout doesn't seem to work anymore with ANSI, at least I couldn't find a version for ANSI. (Although, what ANSI users might check out for me: Is simply the MOD4 button above the Enter key? I doubt that, but if that's the case, it could still work.
Due to that, I tend to switch to eurKEY. It makes the switch to an ANSI keyboard (almost) perfect, with the only downside being the switched Y and Z. I wouldn't have to change much (maybe I can even remap Y and Z) while having all my old keys and the benefit of the ANSI layout regarding special characters like brackets or slashes.
I even thought about using Dvorak for a moment, but I don't think it would work for me and then I scraped the idea, probably rather sticking to eurKEY.
So since there are at least 5 times the amount of custom layouts: what are you using? Would you recommend it? Is typing much smoother for you or did you get much faster? What might also be interesting for me: any ex-ISO typers that switched to ANSI? If yes, what layout are you using and what were your biggest challenges?
PS: I'm typing pretty fast, reaching easily 580-600 keys per minute on the typera.tk word speed test. With that in mind, I can't imagine switching to anything but eurKEY would make me type faster.
I used to use DVORAK on my old laptop just for shits and giggles, but then that laptop bit the dust. It was fun, I said I was bikeyboardlingual. Dvorak is controversial and looks like it probably doesn't help your typing any more than Qwerty. I switched before I did all my research. It wasn't difficult for me to learn one and type on other boards using Qwerty. I'd say my experience with Dvorak: was fun, prevented people from fucking with my computer because it confused them, but ultimately not a life-changing experience, didn't experience a big speed change or smoothness change. Then again I am the kind of person that plays "type-faster" games for fun. My max words per minute (WPM) was 108 back in college, I'm slower now.
When I was like 15 and perhaps not as extremely set in my ways as far as typing, I thought hard about Dvorak, but ultimately I just type too many places that aren't my home laptop to learn an alternate key system. So that was my downfall. I also wasn't the type to learn things for the sake of at that age.
I'm not, but I've strongly considered the neo layout. I have a friend who uses the eurokb layout. He's a huge fan of it. His interest is primarily in natural language symbols. Mine is primarily mathematical symbols. These days, I have a ton of substitutions defined in Google Docs (e.g. I type "zz" and get ℤ). It's not optimal, but it's easier than switching layouts. While you're remapping, I highly recommend swapping ctrl and capslock. The capslock position is far superior for the much more common ctrl. They were historically that way, but were swapped when some nitwit decided keys should be symmetrical. I remapped ctrl because I use emacs; but even for normal use, it's a substantial improvement.Anyone (ANSI or ISO) using an alternative keyboard layout?
Mhhh, eurobk looks interesting, too. The first real alternative I've seen to eurKEY I might consider. I guess I'll have a closer look at both and decide then. I have to pick one either way, because I don't want to miss out on my äöüß :D The ctrl suggestion is an interesting idea and I never thought about it. And you don't use the ctrl key as regularly as the letters for example, so it might totally be an easy switch. I think I'll give this a try, too.