T-34
| Finger | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Usage | 5.11% (P32) | 8.17% (P45) | 11.42% (P53) | 12.12% (P41) | 17.2% | 9.1% | 12.20% (P59) | 12.59% (P37) | 9.12% (P46) | 2.90% (P11) |
| Same Finger | Full Scissor | Half Scissor | Lat. Stretch | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bigram | 0.74% (P44) | 0.01% (P1) | 1.16% (P28) | 1.31% (P80) |
| Skipgram | 3.99% (P15) | 0.12% (P16) | 1.80% (P14) | 1.33% (P64) |
| No Thumbs | With Thumbs | |
|---|---|---|
| Weak-ish Redirs. | 1.05% (P74) | 0.70% (P48) |
| Weak Redirects | 0.31% (P46) | 0.10% (P36) |
| Other Same Finger | 13.28% (P4) | 8.62% (P3) |
| Rolls : Alts | 2.55 (P93) | 2.68 (P81) |
| 2-Roll In : Out | 1.59 (P61) | 1.23 (P68) |
| 3-Roll In : Out | 2.09 (P65) | 2.01 (P68) |
- Author
- Jonas Hietala
- Year
- 2022
T-34 is a thumb alpha, low pinky usage, high in-roll layout for small split keyboards. The base layer is used for English, with symbol placement optimized for programming with Vim. It also has a Swedish overlay for accented characters.
T-34 was originally based on RSTHD, and retains many similarities. The left hand letters are almost identical except for a shuffling of the left index to reduce inner column usage and give K, a common letter in Swedish, a better position. The right hand vowel block is adjusted to accommodate a repeat key, and the base layer symbols are modified substantially to optimize for programming.
The version on this page reflects updates through 2022, which is the most recent time that letters have changed positions.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Section titled “Strengths and Weaknesses”The main strengths of T-34 are:
- Balanced finger distribution that favors the index and middle fingers and deprioritizes the ring and pinky fingers
- High in-rolls and high in-roll to out-roll ratio; this is preferred by some people, though not all
- Very low scissors—even lower than RSTHD, mainly due to placing L on the bottom row instead of top row as on RSTHD
- Low same-finger skipgrams
- Low same-key bigrams, thanks to the inclusion of a well-placed repeat key
Like RSTHD, T-34’s main weakness is the overloaded right index finger. Skipgrams are very common on the right index, including in common words such as “will,” “always,” and “almost.” In the worst case, the right index may be used several times in quick succession, as in “animal,” “minimal,” and “Walmart.” In addition to high SFSs, the M on the inner column creates frequent lateral stretches with O and A on the adjacent finger.
Compared to RSTHD, T-34 is an overall improvement. Compared to Aptmak, another thumb-E, in-roll focused layout, T-34 offers lower scissors and lower left ring usage in exchange for a more active right index.
The high lateral stretches could be reduced by swapping M and W, which is more or less a free optimization.
Editorial Notes
Section titled “Editorial Notes”Some of the symbols on T-34 are made with combos, including the letters Q and Z. Keygen Pro does not currently support analyzing combos, so for this analysis, they are arbitrarily assigned one of the two involved keys. Actual figures for same-finger usage are slightly higher than shown due to the lossy translation of combos.