A derivative of the "Programmer Dvorak Keyboard Layout" by Roland Kaufmann.
It retains most of the original Programmer Dvorak layout and mostly only modify the top symbols/numbers row.
- Moves the dollar sign to a "strong" finger. This is because it is a prominent characters in PHP and other languages, so having it on the pinky finger is not comfortable.
- Make brackets/parenthesis open and close symetrically on the same fingers. I do appreciate the rationale from https://www.kaufmann.no/roland/dvorak/#brackets, but the intuitiveness of having them on the same fingers outweights this IMO. Also, most IDEs would help closing "empty" brackets anyway.
- Re-order odd numbers. Because, frankly? 7 5 3 1 9 0 2 4 6 8? Who can stand that? :D Kidding apart, it makes the 1/9 position easier to muscle-memorize.
- Add most frequently used west-european characters in the "blank" spots.
- Add a "NumPad"-like feature on Level 5 (see below), for laptops and condensed keyboards that don't have a keypad.
While those are really tiny changes, it aims to make the top row keys more intuitive and comfortable. Obviously, this is subjective.
Below's a diff with the original Programmer Dvorak layout.
The layout comes with a "numeric" mode, to emulate a keypad on laptops. It is a symetric layout, based on the idea you would hold the trigger key from the left hand and use it from the right hand, or vice-versa, based on your keyboard type and/or wether you're right-handed or left-handed.
It is available in two fashions:
- as the Level_5 mode within the Developer Dvorak layout. This let you assign whatever key you wish to trigger that level (usually the bottom left "greater than" key on a euro keyboard).
- as a separate layout (Developer Dvorak - NUM only). This is useful if you don't have a key you can dedicate to trigger the 5th level. You can instead activate both layouts and use your standard keyboard shortcut to switch from one to the other.
There is currently no Windows version, it will follow if there is enough interest.
Note: due to the way XKB works, there is no sane way to install a layout permanently without altering some system files. The install script below has only been tested on Debian, but should work for other platforms too.
Because the install script has not been extensively tested, it defaults to a "trial" mode: instead of making the changes permanent, it will revert the changes it made on exit.
In a terminal:
- clone this repository:
git clone https://github.com/pm98zz-c/dvorak-dev.git - go the cloned folder:
cd dvorak-dev - make the install script executable:
chmod +x linux/install.sh - execute it:
sudo ./linux/install.sh
The script will wait for input, and pressing "Enter" will just undo the changes it made. Let it run while you use the new layout. To actually use the layout, you can either:
- select "English > Developer Dvorak" from your GUI language settings (Gnome/KDE)
- or, from another terminal window/tab:
setxkbmap us -variant dvorak-dev
None of those changes should be permanent, so if anything goes sour, just end your session.
Once you've performed the steps above and you're confident nothing is utterly broken, you can apply the changes permanently. For that, just re-run the install script, passing it a --keep flag.
sudo ./install.sh --keep
By default, the modifiers keys are as follow:
- AltGr (right Alt) triggers the level 3 (signs on the bottom right of the keys)
- Shift+AltGr (right Alt) triggers the level 4 (signs on the top right of the keys)
- CapLock triggers the level 5 (numpad mode)
- Shift+CapLock triggers the level 6 (numpad mode)
- Pressing both Shift keys will act as CapLock
Technically, this means:
include "level3(ralt_switch)"
include "level5(caps_switch)"
include "shift(both_shiftlock)"
You can of course override any of those, and set them to anything you feel more comfortable to. Options are too many to be listed, and there a different ways to set those options (editing /etc/default/keyboard, through xkmsetmap, with dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration, ... ).
If you're using Gnome, have a look at the "Additional Keyboard options" in the gnome-tweaks tool. For example, I've set mine to "lock" the numpad mode when both CapsLock and the "Greater" key are pressed.
In a terminal:
- clone this repository:
git clone https://github.com/pm98zz-c/dvorak-dev.git - go the cloned folder:
cd dvorak-dev - make the install script executable:
chmod +x mac/install.shTo install system-wide, run the script as sudo. - execute it:
sudo ./mac/install.shOr, to install for your user only, run it without sudo. - execute it:
./mac/install.sh
This is only a slight variation of the original Programmer Dvorak, so if you're already familiar with it - or with the standard Dvorak layout, you should just feel at home and be comfortable within hours. If you are using QWERTY/AZERTY, it's a different story. It won't be easier (nor more difficult) than learning to touch type with any other specialized layout like Dvorak, Colemak or other...
I'm sharing this with the hope it will be useful to some, but for now, this is only a "personal" project. I do plan to make Mac OS and Window releases if people are intersted.Feedback and suggestions are more than welcome, however keep in mind that one of the aim is to keep as close as possible to the origin Programmer Dvorak layout, to avoid peopl having to re-learn it. So, it's likely that any requests that break that compatibility will be rejected. On the other hand, I'd love to improve other areas:
- European symbols: I've guided myself using usage stats from various sources, but I'm sure they could be better distributed to be more easily memorized
- NumPad style: Is the "left-handed" version worth it? Realistically, "free" keys that can be used to trigger that level are nearly always on the left side anyway on laptops. Would it be more useful to free that space and grow the keyboard into a fully fledged "Math/Finance/Scientific" symbols keyboard?