Towards Workflow Nirvana, using Layers

I Love It. What is it?

This MS Surface GO 2 is my low-footprint coffee-shop computer. It runs Manjaro Endeavour Linux and is connected to a 40 percent ortholinear mechanical keyboard (This is a BM40 with Zealio switches, for those that care about such things).

Upon seeing this setup, after giving me a lingering look of pity, people generally say “Pretty, but I couldn’t use that keyboard, I need numbers and brackets and stuff”. Turns out that both those things are a breeze with keyboard layers.

For those who haven’t yet fallen down the Mechanical Keyboard Rabbit hole: here’s a quick explainer of layers.

QMK and Keyboard Layers

There are a few tools that let you configure your keyboard to a custom keymap, meaning you can get the keys to do whatever you want (I use QMK).

Here’s a picture of my current layers for this keyboard:

All the characters you could need (as well as the ability to act as a mouse) are there. Numbers for example are just a case of holding down the blue key and using the top row. Square and curly brackets are the L and ; keys, while pressing either the orange or blue key.

The json file for this keymap is in our Github Repository, if you’d like to use it as a starting point.