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Discussion on: What Keyboard Layout Do You Prefer?

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ahferroin7 profile image
Austin S. Hemmelgarn

I use a QWERTY-based (because I can sit down at any computer and not have to look at the keyboard) US-international layout with the behavior of the dead keys inverted. So instead of them acting as combining forms inherently and typing their exact symbols when holding AltGr, they type their exact symbols normally and act as combining forms when holding AltGr. This behavior is important because I code (and therefore being able to type quotes and tildes without needing a modifier key is really important), but I also need to type a number of characters that aren’t on a standard US layout with some regularity (such as a typographic apostrophe so that I don’t have to remember what type of quotes I’m using when entering a string, or ä, å, and ö because I'm learning Swedish).

I also have configured and can (mostly) use a standard Greek layout because I'm also trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to learn Greek, and being able to type μ, Σ, δ, and π without having to remember their Unicode code points is nice.

I'm seriously considering shelling out the money for custom keycaps for the main keyboard at my desk with the US-International layout extras and the Greek layout alongside them because on occasion I do forget some of the symbols on both that I use less frequently (such as « and », or Ç, or °, or ψ, or, Ξ).

In theory I also know a couple of other US QWERTY-like layouts well enough to type on them (such as the standard German layout), though I don’t really use them myself.

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jcsh profile image
Justin Ho

Thanks for the comment Austin!

It's great you brought more perspective to the question. I guess I didn't consider layouts for other languages :(