Graphite in the EPKL program for Windows

[DreymaR]

Hiya!

I recently added your Graphite layout to the EPKL program. Hope that's useful for somebody.

https://github.com/DreymaR/BigBagKbdTrixPKL/tree/master/Layouts/Graphite

If you have any thoughts about Wide and Sym mods for the layout, please let me know! Also if you have any insights/opinions on the "Graphite-HB" thing.

[benturong]

Hello, and first of all thank you to you both! @DreymaR, your sites and documentation have been invaluable; you really go all-out. And @rdavison, I'm loving Graphite. I have the curse of preferring out-rolls on top of good alternation. It's the best I've found without designing my own! (might still happen, I'm hooked.)

I recently started off using Gra-eD_ANS_AWideSym, just because I like the idea of a wide mod. I was running with a bunch of swaps I thought felt good (PK, EA/UO, XB, WC - shoutout Gallium) but I reverted them except for PK, concerned about being short sighted. I could geek out about my thoughts, but I'll keep it brief.

I'm mostly curious about what @rdavison thinks of the mods given the considerations in design, like an angled right wrist and the punctuation. I even tried remapping " > = > + > ", and that might change after reading through your notes!

[rdavison]

Thank you @DreymaR, I'm sorry I haven't come back to this after all this time, but I really do appreciate the work you've done here.

@benturong

My opinions have slightly shifted over time, and I suppose I should clarify my current position. When I first published this repo, I had strong feelings that the punctuation should be a certain way, and I still think that that style of punctuation can work for many people, but I've also become more open to the idea that punctuation is really hard to get right for everyone, and I'm pretty open to layout variations.

Looking at the Gra-eD_ANS_AWideSym nothing really stands out to me as a major problem. To me the most important punctuation characters are .,' and I think it keeps them in acceptable places. I see that , was shifted from right pinky to ring finger, and I think it's very capable of handling the load. I'm even slightly inclined to suggest swapping ., since the experience would then match qwerty, and therefore be less difficult for people to adjust to.

Note, the only reason I'm suggesting that is because in the wide mod , is not on pinky. With graphite I wanted at least one of , or . to be on a strong finger, and I also believe that . should not go on pinky to avoid problems with pinky shift. Due to those criteria, it led to . being put on middle, and , on pinky. But, since , is not on pinky in the wide mod, that means both . and , are not on pinky, which means that you no longer have to single out , to go on pinky; in other words, the nuanced distinction between the two breaks down. So with that in mind, it only makes sense to keep them in the same order as qwerty in order to avoid having to maintain that mental burden when switching to qwerty.

[DreymaR]

Thanks for the insights!

I still think that your main Graphite variant is probably the best for someone who a) doesn't use any special punctuation keys such as thumb keys, and b) doesn't mind changing shift mappings. But as you say, people have different needs and preferences, and their punctuation usage differs a lot. Some use more advanced punctuation a lot – like my insistence on using the en dash! – while others hardly use punctuation as they chat a lot. Some code a lot, which is different from language to language, etc &c.

( のvの) c[_]

My Graphite-Wide suggestions are just that, suggestions for people thinking about this. As you can see, the advent of the Gralmak variant does provide an option that, like Colemak, leaves punctuation up to the user's preferences. Whether that user will also like the Q-Z and J-Qu swaps, is of course a question but if they don't then some assembly may be required no matter what they go for!

I'll mention your thoughts in my readme. Again, thanks for sharing them!