readme.md (6494B)
1 ## Custom Layout 2 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. 3 4 ### "alvicstep" Layout 5 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. 6 7 #### Layout Features 8 - 3 layers: default layer, keypad layer, numpad layer 9 - keypad layer allows for 2 finger operation using **arrow** keys together with 10 - **CTRL** and/or **SHIFT** modifiers OR 11 - **HOME/END** keys OR 12 - **PAGEUP/PAGEDOWN** keys. 13 - 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: 14 - each letter 15 - each word 16 - from a current caret position to the beginning of the line 17 - from a current caret position to the end of the line 18 - multiple lines 19 - multiple pages 20 - 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! 21 - 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 22 - **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 23 - **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 24 - **NUMPAD** key in the right thumb cluster can be used to switch to a numeric pad for long numeric sequences 25 26 #### Layout Layers 27 28  29  30  31 32 #### Notes 33 - MO(1) - switch to **KEYPAD** layer while key is being pressed 34 - MO(2) - switch to **NUMPAD** layer while key is being pressed 35 - TO(0) - switch to **BASE** layer 36 - TO(2) - switch to **NUMPAD** layer 37 - Rsft(Enter) - acts as an ENTER key when pressed and released. Acts as a SHIFT modifier in combination with other keys 38 - Bt - enter bootloader mode 39 - Alt(Tab) - toggle between last two active applications 40 - Ctrl(Tab) - toggle between last two active tabs 41 42 43 ### Differences From Stock 44 - **{}[]** keys are moved to the left side of the keywell to be easily accessible 45 - **-** and **+** keys are switched 46 - **CAPS LOCK** key is moved to **KEYPAD** layer and is mapped to **DELETE** on **BASE** layer 47 48 ### Shortcuts 49 50 51 |Shortcut | Control Caret | 52 |---------------------|---------------------------------------| 53 |`KEYPAD + J` | move caret one character left | 54 |`KEYPAD + L` | move caret one character right | 55 |`KEYPAD + I` | move caret one line up | 56 |`KEYPAD + K` | move caret one line down | 57 |`KEYPAD + CTRL + J` | move caret one word to the left | 58 |`KEYPAD + CTRL + L` | move caret one word to the right | 59 |`KEYPAD + U` | move caret to the start of the line | 60 |`KEYPAD + O` | move caret to the end of the line | 61 |`KEYPAD + H` | move caret one page up | 62 |`KEYPAD + N` | move caret one page down | 63 64 65 |Shortcut | Scroll Lock | 66 |---------------------|---------------------------------------| 67 |`KEYPAD + CTRL + I` | scroll page up | 68 |`KEYPAD + CTRL + K` | scroll page down | 69 70 71 |Shortcut | Select Text | 72 |-----------------------------|-------------------------------| 73 |`KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + J` | select one word to the left | 74 |`KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + L` | select one word to the right | 75 |`KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + I` | select one line up | 76 |`KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + K` | select one line down | 77 |`KEYPAD + SHIFT + H` | select one page up | 78 |`KEYPAD + SHIFT + N` | select one page down | 79 |`KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + U` | select from beginning of the file up to the caret position | 80 |`KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + O` | select from caret position to the end of the file | 81 82 83 |Shortcut | US ANSI Shifted Symbols | 84 |---------------------|---------------------------------------| 85 |`KEYPAD + -` | _ | 86 |`KEYPAD + 1` | ! | 87 |`KEYPAD + 2` | @ | 88 |`KEYPAD + 3` | # | 89 |`KEYPAD + 4` | $ | 90 |`KEYPAD + 5` | % | 91 |`KEYPAD + 6` | ^ | 92 |`KEYPAD + 7` | & | 93 |`KEYPAD + 8` | * | 94 |`KEYPAD + 9` | ( | 95 |`KEYPAD + 0` | ) | 96 |`KEYPAD + =` | + | 97 |`KEYPAD + \` | \| | 98 |`KEYPAD + '` | " | 99 |`KEYPAD + ;` | : | 100 |`KEYPAD + /` | ? | 101 |`KEYPAD + [` | { | 102 |`KEYPAD + ]` | } | 103 |`KEYPAD + ,` | < | 104 |`KEYPAD + .` | > | 105 |`KEYPAD + BACKTICK` | ~ |