serin

Keyboard layout based on Canary

column-staggered

w l y p k q f o u , \
m r s t g b n a e i /
z j c d v x h ' ; .

row-staggered

w l y p k q f o u , [ ] \
 m r s t g b n a e i /
  z j c d v x h ' ; .

changes

This layout attempts to be a more balanced improvement on Canary.

I wanted to accomplish the following:

• Retain the core "feel" of Colemak-DH, including the T/N homing keys
• Retain Canary's solution for the Y key in Colemak-DH and, by proxy, the uncomfortable YOU trigram
• Improve on Canary's LSBs without sacrificing too much in other metrics
• Improve on Canary's left/right usage ratio
  • Serin arrives at a 44.65:55.35 ratio, compared to Canary's 43.67:56.33 ratio
• Improve on Canary's workload imbalance across the fingers, and reduce disproportionate burden on index fingers
  • Serin greatly reduces the relative spike found in the 4th and 8th columns, allowing for a more even finger distribution
• Improve on Canary's redirects

comparisons

canary

Serin generally improves on Canary, with similar SFBs, scissors, and rolls, but greatly reduced LSBs and redirects.

Metric	Canary	Serin	Difference
SFBs	0.66%	0.71%	+0.05%
LSBs	1.75%	0.80%	-0.95%
Scissors	0.42%	0.53%	+0.11%
Rolls	50.37%	49.23%	-1.14%
Redirects	6.95%	5.44%	-1.51%
SPES1	1.738	1.731	-0.007

colemak-dh

Serin greatly improves on Colemak-DH, particularly in LSBs, redirects, and the YOU trigram.

Metric	Colemak-DH	Serin	Difference
SFBs	0.91%	0.71%	-0.20%
LSBs	1.27%	0.80%	-0.470%
Scissors	0.15%	0.53%	+0.38%
Rolls	49.21%	49.23%	+0.02%
Redirects	9.22%	5.44%	-3.78%
SPES1	1.726	1.731	+0.005

stats

Footnotes

1. SteveP's Layout Analysis Tool Effort Score ↩ ↩²