Congratulations on your acquisition of a life-changing keyboard! The Woodpecker ZEro-Look-Down-Access Keyboard (ZeLDA) will make you more productive (after a week) and comfortable at your desk.
The goals of ZeLDA are:
- ergonomics and the end of wrist pain
- intuitive and memorable layout for fast typing speed for both alphas and symbols
- minimal reaching
- comfortable mechanical key typing
- less dependence on the mouse (zero is attainable)
- zero look-down access (ZeLDA) (even small hands can stay on the home row)
- tiny footprint to save desk space
There is a learning curve, but ZeLDA was designed to be similar to the QWERTY you probably already know.
There are five innovations that motivate ZeLDA and its unique layout:
- dual-role keys (or "Tapifiers", portmanteau of Tap and Modifier) (holding vs tapping)
- tiny spacebar, empowered thumbs
- layers (symbols and numbers) for fewer keys, shorter reach
- double-keying (one finger pressing two keys)
- key-chord compatible (easy one-handed pinky/thumb/palm combos of Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Super, FunNav, etc)
There are a couple other niceties worth mentioning:
- ortholinear layout (unstaggered, bonus from Planck)
- color-coded, multi-height/-slant keys (optional)
Let's explore each.
The first major difference you'll see is that many keys appear to be
missing! They're actually still there, but ZeLDA features "dual-mode"
keys around the perimeter. They are modifiers (e.g., Ctrl) when held
and normal keys when tapped. For example, the right-most pinky key is
Enter when tapped (as expected), but becomes a Ctrl modifier when
held. These dual-mode keys are really a flagship feature of ZeLDA.
Borrowing from Japanese tradition, the tiny spacebar is a defining characteristic: it gives your thumbs superpowers by having sever keys to access (as compared to one or three with the monster spacebar).
Your key caps have should be carefully arranged so that a few key
combinations can be pressed with a single finger. These are
FunNav-Ctrl, Ctrl-Shift, and Ctrl-Alt (on right thumb).
(Include some pictures.)
You might be nervous about having to learn "layers" (FunNav at high-pinkies and NumSym at palms). It can take some time to remember, but you'll appreciate them soon! Top-left is FunNav (for symbols and navigation). Bottom-left is NumSym (numbers and symbols).
If you think that your number row has disappeared, you are right. Who
wants to type numbers with two hands? The number keypad is a great
tool, so it's placed right into your layout as a replacement for the
old row. Use your palm or NsLk (NumSym Lock) to access it.
The flesh pad just below your pinkies hovers right above the two bottom-outermost (tall) keys. Some may think "palming" is heretical to the keyboarding art form, but consider the jazz guitarist who has added another digit by conscripting her left thumb to "finger" the sixth string. Now that you've broken away from that flat chiclet keyboard, you have friendly tall keys and can easily access the hardest-to-reach corners of your keyboard without moving your hands. It's like you've grown a sixth digit!
Remember that palming is only necessary for number keys (digits and symbols); that should be easy enough to remember.
Most symbols are on the symbol layer (otherwise, they're on the default layer). The top number symbol row you've used all your life is still there. So really, you're just pressing a different Shift key (arguably an easier one). The harder-to-remember symbols can be remembered as such:
| → fence: This look like a fencepost
| → vertical: (alt) This is just a vertical bar
\ → sslosh: A backslash is called a "slosh"
& → ampersand: Trivial
* → Where else can it go? It's a math symbol so needs to be on the
numpad near to + and - and /. Just remember that all the math
operators are clustered on the right for one-handed entry,
particularly helpful in Lock mode.
Other things have been scrunched in tighter. Just remember to not
reach as far for Esc and Tab and quotes and Enter.
It's still a bit of a stretch for the thumb to get those wide : and
+. If your thumb doesn't behave, use Shift-; for :, and
consider putting + somewhere else or use Shift-=.
Most keys have not moved far. It may take a week to get used
to these. Tab is moved down a spot. Esc is just below it.
Enter and Backspace are simply closer.
The - is way different but now you don't even need to hit Shift.
This is a very important key in many programming languages, so it
needs to be quick to type.
Enter needed to be straight off the right pinky, so '" to move,
which meant :; also had to move.
Many important keys that were obscured by shifting and reaching
({[(-)]}) are now a single press.
Also built into the FunNav layer is navigation.
The arrow keys use the somewhat rare "FESD" configuration.
| E |
| S | D | F |
It's the same as the very common "WASD" but you don't have to leave
the home-row position while your right pinky may be reaching for
FunNav.
There are detailed guides (in the works) on using ZeLDA with specific applications like web browsers and text editors. See the [Vim Guide], [Emacs Guide], and [Web Browsers Guide].
The [Mouseless Browsing Firefox Add-on] is a great way to browse the web without a mouse.
You can always change the ZeLDA. Use your keypuller to move keys around, and adjust your mappings with the open source QMK toolkit.
Be patient. You'll be rewarded in the end. Many others have adjusted to 40% layouts and never want to go back to a normal keyboard.
"I used to use a QWERTY chicklet built into my laptop, but it was killing my wrists and I was constantly looking down at my hands for numbers and other keys. ZeLDA saved me from all that." -- Happy Customer
L is for "NumSym"
- Parentheses are open, so use them easily
- Palm combos are really useful: C-L-9 C-p to jump up 9 lines
- Press Ctrl and Shift together with single pinky: C-S-RET
- No longer need to use C-h for delete replacement
- Start using right-Ctrl; easier reaching than full left chording
When it's especially important to use right-Ctrl:
- C-s C-w (search for word at point)
- C-x C-s (save)