Kyriel (draft version)

Kyriel is an ergonomic split keyboard layout that utilises layers and inspiration from layouts like Seniply, Miryoku and Callum's, but no classic homerow mods.
While Kyriel is mainly meant for my 36+14-key Kyria, it's not difficult to adjust to any other similar keyboard. If yours has fewer thumb keys, some options are described here.
With how much thought I put into the layout, you are more than welcome to adopt some design ideas in your own personal keymap! ...Or to straight up use this one)

The main use-cases are: programming, writing, light gaming.

For more detailed information on each layer, see below!

BASE

ALPHAS

• The base layer is Colemak-DH, but it's trivial to switch it to any other layout, like QWERTY or DVORAK.
• shift+, and shift+. result in ; and : respectively (like one the German layout) because they're used more often than <>.
• Since - _ are used often in programming, the key is on the side column in addition to the actual symbol layer.

MODIFIERS

• To avoid using homerow mods, the following design contract was met (inspired by Callum-style HMR):

  "The homerow keys on the same side as the currently held-down layer key always act as modifiers"

  All further layers follow this philosophy.

• To enable using mod+alpha combinations, a thumb key on each hand was dedicated to the otherwise transparent layers only containing the respective modifier keys.

• GUI is on the weakest finger, while Shift is between Ctrl and Alt to make combinations like Ctrl+Shift, Alt+Shift and Alt+Shift+Ctrl. Ctrl is on the ring finger position to take tension off the mouse fingers. Changing any of this is trivial.

THUMB-/SIDEKEYS

• According to my own usage statistics, 12% of all keypresses are Space, so there's one for each side
• Backspace and Shift follow, with 6% each.
• Momentary layer keys should be on the opposite hand from where the bulk of the layer's keys are
  • Because NUM and FN key positions are closely related, they have to be on the same hand
  • NAV and SYM are most heavily used, so they have to be on opposite hands and on the most accessible row
  • MOUSE goes on the opposite side of the mouse hand. NUM and FN could be mirrored if you need to change the 'dominant hand' side. (funnily enough, NAV and SYM ended up exactly where they are on the default Kyria layout independently of it)
• The encoders are used for brightness, backlight and volume controls
• Escape, Enter, Tab are also included
• RST simply resets to the base layer, and GAME either toggles the game layer from base or locks the current layer. These keys are optional.
• Finally, some optional, quicker/one-handed ways to access Ctrl, Alt (opposite of the mouse hand, for multi-cursor) and NAV (for skipping in videos) were added with hold-tap keys.

Note: the number of thumb-keys can be reduced to anything from 7 to 3 or less per side; Here, some suggestions are described.

LAYERS

NUM

• This layout tries to optimize the frequency distribution of numbers, but arranging the numbers in the same way as on a traditional numpad is possible too. The justification of this layout and further alternatives are described here.
• +, -, *, /, \, ., <, >, - are reflected from their SYM and/or base positions.

FN

• The function keys are on the same positions as their NUM counterparts (plus additional keys)
• Some media keys (rewind, play, skip, eject, backlight toggle, mute) reference positions of similar keys from NAV (e.g. the arrow keys)

SYM

• Positions of §!@#$%^* resemble the traditional shifted-number character positions, with ! moved down for easier access.
• [({< and >})] are below them for quick typing with one hand, especially when closing brackets get automatically filled in (inspired by Seniply)
• Symbols like '/- (but not ,.;:) are reflected from the base layer. Their shifted states "? are mirrored to the opposite hand, while _ replaces space.
  (with this, ? is also directly under the similar !)
• The similar |\/ are right next to each other
• ` is next to the similar ' for easy LaTeX-style quotation marks
• +=*-/<> are reflected in NUM, whereas + is in an easier position than = because = is a more 'deliberate' action.

COSM

Mostly keys combined with AltGr to send unicode symbols. This could be implemented with a custom language layout (e.g with Microsoft Layout Creator) or with an AHK script, easily modifiable on the fly.

• äüöß under their base counterparts
• By associations: Δ on position 4, ∞ looks like percent, ⌀ is similar to o (QWERTY position), € is altgr+pos2 on EU keyboards, ↵ is on the same edge as Enter, · on the position of ^ because it's also a multiplication operation (under * already taken)
• ⇔⇐⇒ together
• ≠¬±≤≥ on the similar =-+<> positions
• ∧∨ on symbols that are similar to their left half, so / and \ respectively
• ←↑→ reflect their NAV counterparts, ↓ below ↑ and reflects the visualy familiar | from SYM
• ✓✕ under t (for true) and r (for farse....) (because they wouldn't fit about the umlauts otherwise...)

NAV

• Partly inspired by modal editors like vim or emacs. However, the arrows are shifted by one (with the directions reshuffled accordingly) to, once again, relieve tension off the mouse fingers
• Also includes Home/End/PgUp/PgDn/Ins/Del.
• CAPS LOCK and CAPS WORD features
• Also includes screenshot shortcuts (ss screen, ss window, ss area) as well as "screensaver on" and "show desktop"
• Left and right arrows are also on the left side for one-handed video control

GAME (GI/ GI2)

The central idea is to implement a layer with wasd with eq, space and 1234. However, one a row-staggered keyboard, you can easily press 2 and 3 with your ring and index fingers while holding down w - which is not possible on an ortholinear keyboard. That's why there's an empty/secondary key right above w (and thus between 2 and 3) instead. Additionally, the 1 is 'angled' to the left for quicker reach.

All other keys and the secondary layer can be adapted to whatever games one plays especially often without rebinding the keys internally, if needed.

MOUSE

Self-explanatory, to be completely implemented (featuring orbital mouse)

Changelog

(these changes aren't reflected on the images yet)

• Whenever a layer is activated, the GAME button serves as layerlock.

Acknowledgements

• Miryoku - https://github.com/manna-harbour/miryoku/tree/master/docs/reference
• Seniply - https://stevep99.github.io/seniply/
• Callum - https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/blob/user-keymaps-still-present/users/callum/readme.md
• SplitKB Kyria and its Discord community - https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/blob/master/keyboards/splitkb/kyria/keymaps/default/readme.md
• COLEMAK-DH, QWERTY and its German version - some key placements on the latter proved to be interesting after all
• QMK and its Discord community
• Some other layouts from KeymapDB - https://keymapdb.com/?isSplit=true&keyboard=Kyria