When comparing Arensito vs Carpalx QGMLWB, the Slant community recommends Carpalx QGMLWB for most people. In the question“What are the best keyboard layouts for programming?” Carpalx QGMLWB is ranked 10th while Arensito is ranked 11th. The most important reason people chose Carpalx QGMLWB is:
If you already know QWERTY you don't have to relearn the punctuation, with the single exception of the `;:` key which is in QWERTY's `P` position, like Colemak.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Reduces load on pinkies
Pro Emphasizes adjacent finger bigrams
Common bigrams are a fast rolling motion, like Colemak.
Pro Minimizes same-finger bigrams
Pro Puts your thumbs to good use
Your strongest fingers are your thumbs. In this layout (unless you have a keyboard with thumb keys) you shift your hands up one row, and you use your thumbs on the bottom row. (Put your index fingers on QWERTY's T
and I
keys, and rest your thumbs on VB and NM) The Ctrl and Shift modifier keys now use your strong thumbs instead of your weak pinkies. (Ctrl shortcuts are especially important for programmers.) The modifiers may contribute more to RSI than letters.
Pro Punctuation also optimized for programming
AltGr plane has accessible punctuation and numbers. The most used are directly under your fingers on the (new) home row, and all the bracket types are paired and in easy reach.
Pro Balances load between hands
Statistically, the left and right hand are used about the same amount.
Pro Easy access to common punctuation and numbers
Programmer punctuation and numbers are accessible without stretching on the AltGr plane. (AltGr is now on the spacebar).
Pro Punctuation is in the same location as QWERTY
If you already know QWERTY you don't have to relearn the punctuation, with the single exception of the ;:
key which is in QWERTY's P
position, like Colemak.
Pro ZXC don't move compared to QWERTY
Like Colemak, the common undo, cut and copy Ctrl-commands don't move from their QWERTY positions. The V
(paste) key does though.
Pro Uses a colemak-like character layout
Uses the colemak character layout of moving P on a standard QWERTY keyboard layout one step down, extending the home row.
Pro Has low consecutive finger use
See the source here.
Pro Letter positions optimized
Via a quantitative effort model.
Cons
Con Pointing stick is no longer on the home row
Most keyboards don't have one, but if you use it a lot it becomes a bit of a stretch. On the plus side, a keyboard with a pointing stick will have mouse buttons you could remap to thumb keys instead.
Con Hard to orient in a new position by feel
Most keyboards have bumps on two of the keys to orient touch-typists. On QWERTY, this is usually F and J, but sometimes D and K. On some keyboards you can fix this by swapping keycaps. You could also try adding small stickers with enough thickness.
Con Letter keys as modifiers may cause jamming or ghosting
Cheap keyboards designed for QWERTY might struggle with the use of Arensito's letter keys as modifiers. Gaming keyboards with n-key rollover don't have this problem. And any keyboard with proper thumb keys (Kinesis, Ergodox, Maltron) works properly. There is an older version of the layout that keeps QWERTY's home row that you can use on cheap keyboards, but it's not quite as nice.
Con Copy-paste shortcuts are right-handed
XCV are on the right side. This makes it difficult to cut/copy-paste with the mouse in the right hand.
Con Effort model is speculative
The quantitative effort model central to the optimization is based on armchair speculation, rather than a scientific biomedical study. The chosen metrics and weighting for them are likely partially correct. But no-one is really sure how correct.
Con Doesn't take finger length into account
Unlike layouts such as norman and workman, QGMLWB doesn't take the length of fingers into account, for example on a standard QWERTY layout, it's easier to reach E than C.
Con Punctuation is not optimized
Programmers have to use punctuation a lot, but (except for the ;:
key, like Colemak) punctuation hasn't been moved from their positions on QWERTY. In fact, the non-letter characters , . - " _ ' ) ( ; 0 1 = 2 :
are used more than the least-frequent letter z
in a reasonable English corpus. Not optimizing punctuation at all, especially for programmers, is nonsense.
Con V key has moved compared to QWERTY
The common paste shortcut used in for example windows has been moved to the right hand, making the layout harder to learn. This however is fixed in the QGMLWY variant of the carpalx series.
Con A very small user base and community
Con Doesn't favor the right hand
For right handed users, this keyboard layout doesn't use the usually stronger right hand more than the left, infact it sometimes favors the left hand more.