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Layouts Wiki

Why Alt Layouts?

A good keyboard layout makes using a computer more comfortable, like sitting on a supportive chair or using a mouse that conforms to your hand shape. Many computer professionals choose to adopt an alternate keyboard layout to improve ergonomics, often in response to developing computer use-related repetitive stress injury.

It has long been recognized that using an alternate keyboard layout can reduce the effort of typing while minimizing uncomfortable motions. Consider, for example, typing the word “decided” on QWERTY:

~`
!1
@2
#3
$4
%5
^6
&7
*8
(9
)0
_-
+=
Q
W
E
R
T
Y
U
I
O
P
{[
}]
|\
A
S
D
F
G
H
J
K
L
:;
"'
Z
X
C
V
B
N
M
<,
>.
?/

The “proper” technique has your left middle finger jumping all over the place to hit the d, e, and c while all of the other fingers sit idle! Contrast this to typing the same word on Gallium, one of the recommended layouts for new users:

~`
!1
@2
#3
$4
%5
^6
&7
*8
(9
)0
_-
+=
B
L
D
C
V
J
F
O
U
<,
{[
}]
|\
N
R
T
S
G
Y
H
A
E
I
?/
X
Q
M
W
Z
K
P
"'
:;
>.

Both hands participate evenly in the typing, the work is spread out across more fingers, and you barely have to lift a finger to tap out the entire word.

Like high-end sports cars, well-tuned keyboard layouts simply perform better. Exceptionally fast typists are over-represented among layout creators, and as a result, their layouts are optimized for typing at 200 words per minute or more. At that speed, every extra ounce of effort is unnecessary strain on your hand. And just as the specialized technology developed for racing eventually trickles down to mainstream, mass-manufactured cars, the rest of us who can’t type at 200 words per minute can still benefit from their contributions to keyboard layout design.

In chess, computer engines have become so good that even the best human grandmasters have no chance of beating them; instead, humans use computers to refine their gameplay while still maintaining their personal style. Similarly, the best modern keyboard layouts are designed with the help of computer algorithms, particularly simulated annealing, but each layout creator still adds something unique that an algorithm can’t replicate. Computer algorithms have proven to be valuable tools in improving keyboard layouts, making today’s layouts more comfortable and efficient than ever before. Today’s layouts are the cream of the crop among millions of candidate keyboard layouts analyzed across trillions—maybe even quadrillions—of simulated keystrokes.

We are now living in the golden age of keyboard layouts. Yet very few people can name any alternate to QWERTY, and even fewer have tried one. Information about keyboard layouts is dispersed across many different forums, subreddits, Discord servers, and Google docs. Many layout creators claim that their layout is the very best, but of course, they can’t all be right.

So which keyboard layout is the best? What makes a good layout? How do we know that today’s layouts are really that much better? Layouts Wiki demystifies all of these questions and more, providing a balanced, empirically grounded overview of the field of alternate keyboard layouts.