Readme

Custom Layout

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.

Layout Features

• 3 layers: default layer, keypad layer, numpad layer
• 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
KEYPAD + CTRL + SHIFT + O	select from caret position to the end of the file

Shortcut	US ANSI Shifted Symbols
KEYPAD + -	_
KEYPAD + 1	!
KEYPAD + 2	@
KEYPAD + 3	#
KEYPAD + 4	$
KEYPAD + 5	%
KEYPAD + 6	^
KEYPAD + 7	&
KEYPAD + 8	*
KEYPAD + 9	(
KEYPAD + 0	)
KEYPAD + =	+
KEYPAD + \	|
KEYPAD + '	"
KEYPAD + ;	:
KEYPAD + /	?
KEYPAD + [	{
KEYPAD + ]	}
KEYPAD + ,	<
KEYPAD + .	>
KEYPAD + BACKTICK	~