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I've used a US-QWERTY keyboard layout my entire life. I've seen other layouts that do things like reduce the size of the enter/backspace keys, move the pipe operator (|) and can't wrap my head around how I would code on those.
What are your experiences? Are there any layouts that you prefer for coding over US English? Are there any symbols that you have a hard time reaching ($ for example)?
I prefer ISO layouts. ANSI somehow just seem inefficient to use. I habe layers for CODI g so I have my brackets/braces on the hometown along with other relevant keys. Long live custom keyboards
I alternate between US-QWERTY and LT-QWERTY. My biggest problem is typing ž instead of =
UK layout is the GOAT. It isn't that much different from US layout at first, but there are so many more special characters readily available. Particularly useful for multiple languages like Spanish, German, Swedish, etc.
I use EURkey, which is basically a superset of the US layout extended to support symbols from several European languages.
I pretty much grew up on Ubuntu's default polish layout - a modified version of the polish programmer's keyboard , which itself is a modified version of ANSI
(the preview is slightly broken , but oh well)
I cannot begin to stress how used I am t o having an extra key layer accessible by just pressing alt . Note that the current version I have has some dead keys as well on the third and fourth layer .
My laptop has an italian layout keyboard because it was a pain to find a good priced one with the US layout. On windows there's no way to do the ` and ~ symbols without using Alt combinations and on linux you need to use a weird compose key. Also square brackets require you to press Shift and curly brackets require both Shift and Alt.
The British want a stupid as fuck they moved the tilde into a weird spot and you're basically can't do it
They wouldn't be using them if they didn't think they were superior. Even if it is just because they are used to them.
ANSI all the way. I get irrationally angry about any other layout 😡
ABNT2 here, this layout is necessary due to many brazilian portuguese words containing accents. Plus, having ç as a separate key is great. For coding, the \ | key is left to Z and the : ; key is near the right shift, with brackets and curly braces usually around Enter, while ' " is left to 1. It's very good for programming, I'd say.
Swedish layout. Not ideal for coding (too many things like curly and square brackets etc are under altgr. And tilde and backtick are on dead keys.
But switching back and forth as soon as you need to write Swedish (for the letters åäö) is just too much work. And yes, in the Swedish alphabet they are separate letters, not aao with diacretics.
Win + space to swap is so fast and simple especially when it also swaps for you when switching apps
I'm swedish and I use EurKEY. It's basically US but makes it possible to use Å/Ä/Ö through altgr + W/A/O. I don't write that much swedish so I'm not too bothered, meanwhile the coding advantage is huge for ' " \ | / ? | [ ] { } .
I have the same problem in German (ä, ö, ü and ß), and I've resigned to using US layout with caps lock mapped as compose key. But then again, I code more than I write texts
CH layout, superior for everything inbetween german, italian and french. US layout has no äöü, which makes it cumbersome in daily use.
I’m having to use US keyboard layout in Oz and not enjoying the half-height Return key very much.
I use a plain 34 keys layout based on qwerty for letters, comma/dot/semicolon. The numpad and symbols layers are handcrafted so that every symbol is easy to reach, it's also optimize to type things like <- and -> easily
I've used various layouts of non-US keyboards over time since I've lived and worked in various countries in Europe and whilst you do start by looking down to find stuff and for a while will at times unthinkingly choose the "old" position for a symbol when touch typing, you just get used to the new layout in a month or two, even if touch typing - your brain just starts directing your fingers to the new positions.
That said, for seldom used symbols you still have to look down and check on which key that symbol is (it's generally printed on the key), I suppose because you don't really exercise those enough for your brain to reliably start sending your fingers to the new position without looking.
(So given the languages I usually program with, for stuff like semicollon and open and close brackets and parentesis the brain quickly adjusts but stuff like the dollar sign I still have to look down and check, which is really noticeable if for some reason I have to do some shell scripting or similar)
Things like letters and numbers don't change position so that's not a problem.
Once you've become accustomed to a new layout, switching keyboards between those layouts is a bit like switching the side of the road you're driving (say, between the UK and Continental Europe) - you get a couple of hours of extra memntal tension and having to think things a bit more at first and after that you've fully readjusted.
Is there any reason why you didn't just switch the keyboard layout to US if that's what you're used to?
I switched to US at some point because many if the keys for programming were just so much easier to access. If I have to use a pc for any decent amount of time, I just switch the OS layout to US now regardless of the layout that's printed on the keyboard.
I'm not used to the US Keyboard layout.
I think I only used it when I got a cheap second hand notebook in Canada during my vacations there.
The reason not to change the keyboard layout to something different from the physical layout is that once in a while you have to use a seldom used symbol for which you don't really have the touch-typing muscle memory, and looking at a physical keyboard with a different layour from the one you're using at the software level won't tell you were that symbol is, turning the whole thing into an unnecessary PITA of trying to find it by trial and error (I usually get this the other way around: when the software defaults to US Layout but my actual keyboard doesn't have that layout).
I do more than just programming on keyboards and some of the languages (spoken, not programming) I write in have accents and funny characters which don't even appear in a US Layout keyboard.
Also sometimes you really don't have much of a choice if you're in some country and the local employer/hotel/internet-caffee provides some local keyboard and you don't have the permissions to change the layout in the OS.
Yeah, yeah, you do have to climb and overcome the small learning-curve of learning to adjust to new keyboards, but once you have it's not at all a big deal to adjust to whatever you happen to get your hands on.
I've used AT QWERTZ ever since I was born.
I grew up with DE ISO and switched to US ANSI with EurKey a few years ago. ANSI is so much better for programming!
Also more options for key caps.
I want to try ANSI also, but it seems pretty hard to find in EU. I've considered getting a keychron for my gaming setup but I don't want a full on mechanical for work, and I don't want to use ISO at work and ANSI at home because it will screw with my muscle memory.
You just... get used to things. Like how you first got used to your keyboard to begin with
