This is my personal ZMK firmware configuration. It consists of a 42-keys base layout that I use for my Corne keyboard.
- Gaming layers crafted for FPS games
- "Timer-less" homerow mods
- Symbol layer based off Pascal Getreuer's article
- Keymap for Canadian French Windows layout
- Helper macros from zmk-nodefree-config
Layout preview generated on keyboard-layout-editor.com
The overall design of the standard layers has been greatly influenced by the gaming layers described below. The reasoning behind this is to keep the same muscle memory across both groups of layers.
Home row mods is setup to use the right variant of the modifiers on the right hand side to allow to switch hand if the modifier on the wrong hand was pressed. The right hand side Alt is the exception to this to avoid having AltGr registered with the Canadian French Windows layout.
The Canadian French Windows layout needs to be used in order for the symbols and some other characters to register properly.
Some macro behaviors have been used for symbols because of an issue when using Windows RDP with the keyboard over Bluetooth.
The alpha layer is based on the Colemak-DH layout. The position of symbols on that layer has been influenced by their usage frequency in both French and English according to an article from Wikipedia and an article from bépo. Controls and whitespace keys have been placed according to their usage and their usual position on a standard keyboard.
Homerow mods are active for that layer.
The symbols layer as been greatly inspired by an article by Pascal Getreuer. The main difference is the mirroring of its layer to ensure inward rolls are possible for the {, }, (, ), [, and ] keys.
Homerow mods are active for that layer.
The miscellaneous layer has been designed to provide numbers as well as extra keys like arrows and French accents.
On the right side, the numbers have been place to mimic the numpad on a standard keyboard. A comma was added to support French decimal numbering notation.
The arrows have been placed on the home row to avoid hand movement. Since the left hand is often used for movement in games using WASD, the position of the up arrow has been decided according to the usual finger on the W key (i.e. the middle finger).
Accents have been placed on a row according to their frequency in French.
Home row mods are only active on the right hand for that layer. This allows long press of the arrow keys.
The functions layer has been designed to resemble the numbers layer as close as possible. Function keys past F9 were placed in regards to ergonomics.
The F13 and F14 keys have been made available to use as dedicated mute and deafen shortcuts on Discord. They are position and accessed exactly the same on the gaming layers.
Home row mods are not active for that layer. Instead, the left hand side provides the modifier keys "as is" to be able to access them instantly without having to wait for the home row mods timeout. This is useful for side-scrolling with Shift and the scroll wheel or for zooming on a page with Ctrl and the scroll wheel.
Layout preview generated on keyboard-layout-editor.com
To avoid having to remap every game because of Colemak-DH layout, the gaming layers are setup with QWERTY. The catch: the lefthand side is shifted right by one key to center the navigation keys (WASD) on the home row keys. This leads to better ergonomy at the expense of key compromises: some alpha keys are repositioned on another layer.
To go to the gaming layers (G) from the standard layers, hold the leftmost thumb key and then tap the rightmost thumb key. To go back to the standard layers (S), hold the leftmost thumb key and then tap the rightmost thumb key, same as the other way around.