Kinesis Contoured family of keyboards belong to a relatively small group of keyboards that utilize thumb clusters. The keycap profiles of thumb cluster keys make it easy to press multiple keys simultaneously by a thumb finger. Co-locating CTRL, SHIFT and KEYPAD modifiers in the thumb cluster gives truly unique capabilities to these keyboards.
"alvicstep" Layout
The alvicstep layout is optimized for software development on a Windows machine. It is a result of many years of daily usage. It is a great starting point for your own design.
keypad layer allows for 2 finger operation using arrow keys together with
CTRL and/or SHIFT modifiers OR
HOME/END keys OR
PAGEUP/PAGEDOWN keys.
two finger operations can be achieved by holding up to 3 modifier keys (KEYPAD/SHIFT/CTRL) with a thumb finger and using index/middle/ring finger by pressing keywell keys. For example, you can fully control caret position and text selection of:
each letter
each word
from a current caret position to the beginning of the line
from a current caret position to the end of the line
multiple lines
multiple pages
with little practice you will be able to string together different key combinations. For example, executing KEYPAD + O and then KEYPAD + SHIFT + U selects the whole line of text with barely any finger movement. The best part is that it works in any text editor!
keypad layer allows accessing F1-F12 and ESC keys by moving only a single finger away from the home row, making it very fast and convenient
KEYPAD key can be used to access US ANSI Shifted Symbols instead of pressing a SHIFT key. This gives you two advantages: it makes KEYPAD key a "go to" key which is used in almost all operations unrelated to typing of letters. To understand the second advantage, compare pressing SHIFT + 0 and KEYPAD + 0 using the right hand
NUMPAD "momentary" modifier key can be used to quickly switch to a numeric pad while typing alphanumeric strings. In a stock Kinesis firmware you would have to switch to KEYPAD layer and then press NUMLOCK key which makes it unusable for this task
NUMPAD key in the right thumb cluster can be used to switch to a numeric pad for long numeric sequences
Layout Layers
Notes
MO(1) - switch to KEYPAD layer while key is being pressed
MO(2) - switch to NUMPAD layer while key is being pressed
TO(0) - switch to BASE layer
TO(2) - switch to NUMPAD layer
Rsft(Enter) - acts as an ENTER key when pressed and released. Acts as a SHIFT modifier in combination with other keys
Bt - enter bootloader mode
Alt(Tab) - toggle between last two active applications
Ctrl(Tab) - toggle between last two active tabs
Differences From Stock
{}[] keys are moved to the left side of the keywell to be easily accessible
- and + keys are switched
CAPS LOCK key is moved to KEYPAD layer and is mapped to DELETE on BASE layer
Shortcuts
Shortcut
Control Caret
KEYPAD + J
move caret one character left
KEYPAD + L
move caret one character right
KEYPAD + I
move caret one line up
KEYPAD + K
move caret one line down
KEYPAD + CTRL + J
move caret one word to the left
KEYPAD + CTRL + L
move caret one word to the right
KEYPAD + U
move caret to the start of the line
KEYPAD + O
move caret to the end of the line
KEYPAD + H
move caret one page up
KEYPAD + N
move caret one page down
Shortcut
Scroll Lock
KEYPAD + CTRL + I
scroll page up
KEYPAD + CTRL + K
scroll page down
Shortcut
Select Text
KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + J
select one word to the left
KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + L
select one word to the right
KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + I
select one line up
KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + K
select one line down
KEYPAD + SHIFT + H
select one page up
KEYPAD + SHIFT + N
select one page down
KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + U
select from beginning of the file up to the caret position