'93fk optimal' computer keyboard layout

Sections

1. Summary
2. Changes from other layouts
3. Similarity to other layouts
4. Scores
5. Comparison to other well-known layouts
6. Finger based metrics
7. English Word-based analysis
8. Comparison to other layouts (word metrics)
9. English heat map
10. Programming Code (all languages) heat map
11. Most common English bigram pairs
12. Most common Code bigram pairs
13. Typing lessons

Canonical name	93fk_optimal.en.ansi
Form factor	Slab : ANSI
'Author'	Filip Kaiser Author data may not be correct, we're working on it.
Keys horizontally staggered	Yes
Letters on thumb (lower and upper case)	0
Avoids AltGr for standard characters	Yes
Does not move non-character keys (ANSI/ISO)	Yes
Maintains QWERTY 'shift' pairs	Yes
Maintains QWERTY top row (ANSI/ISO)	Yes
Uppercase on same key	Yes
Conventional home keys, fingering, Space, Enter, Shifts, AltGr	Yes
Maintains QWERTY ZXCV	No
Maintains Colemak punctuation	No
Vowel hand	Both
Vowels and tricky characters	Left hand: AELORWaelorw	Right hand: CHIUYchiuy

Click image for larger view

Download the Keyboard Layout Analyzer .json file.
Download the Computer install files for Linux, MacOS and Windows (Untested ALPHA/BETA. Use at own risk. Includes ahk, keylayout, klc, pkl, tmk, xkb).

Changes from QWERTY (1873)

Changes from Modified Blickensderfer (1892 / 2012)

Changes from Dvorak (1936)

Changes from Colemak (2006)

Changes from MTGAP (2012)

Changes from HIEAMTSRN (2014)

Changes from Uciea Vanilla (2021)

Changes from Poqtea-qp (Autogenerated, 2021)

Similarity

Ancestor	Score
QWERTY (1873)
Modified Blickensderfer (1892 / 2012)
Dvorak (1936)
Colemak (2006)
MTGAP (2012)
HIEAMTSRN (2014)
Uciea Vanilla (2021)
Poqtea-qp (2021)
Maximum

93fk optimal is most similar to

Layout	Score
shortcuts.en.ansi	11.75
jyz.en.ansi	10.75
tarmak4.en.ansi	10.75
tarmak3.en.ansi	10.75
harrison.en.ansi	10.50
colemak-uk.en.ansi	10.50
hein-rightshift.en.ansi	10.50
keyboardsamurai-july.en.ansi	10.50
chendan-cmu-no-contraints.en.ansi	10.25
zx-1.en.ansi	10.25

93fk optimal is least similar to

Layout	Score
hoke.en.ansi	3.00
wreathy.en.ansi	3.25
rl-eai.en.ansi	3.25
minimotion-mod-elazharty-azmi-suliman-mod-ian.en.ansi	3.25
sorenk.en.ansi	3.50
stance.en.ansi	3.50
hinsty.en.ansi	3.75
pittard.en.ansi	4.00
wolcott.en.ansi	4.00
minimotion.en.ansi	4.00

Scores

Scores are percentages relative to the best layout for each metric.

Metric	Percentage
Finger-based metrics	37.65
Word-based metrics	47.30
English	33.38
Code	52.06
Proglish	40.33
Words metric for no same-finger	47.30
Overall score	40.87

All layouts (711)

Metric	Lowest	Lowest score	93fk_optimal.en.ansi score	Highest	Highest score
Fingers	noel.en.ansi	26.61	37.65	vckb2.en.ergodox	98.50
Words	noel.en.ansi	18.21	47.30	snth.en.matrix	100.00
Average	noel.en.ansi	23.81	40.87	vckb2.en.ergodox	97.42

Overview compared to all other layouts

93fk_optimal.en.ansi ANSI layouts Ergo layouts

All ANSI/ISO (578)

Metric	Lowest	Lowest score	93fk_optimal.en.ansi score	Highest	Highest score
Fingers	noel.en.ansi	26.61	37.65	full-maks-minimo.en.ansi	74.58
Words	noel.en.ansi	18.21	47.30	dilbert.en.ansi	99.65
Average	noel.en.ansi	23.81	40.87	full-maks-minimo.en.ansi	81.78

Overview compared to all other ANSI/ISO layouts

93fk_optimal.en.ansi ANSI layouts

Conventional ANSI/ISO (409)

Metric	Lowest	Lowest score	93fk_optimal.en.ansi score	Highest	Highest score
Fingers	noel.en.ansi	26.61	37.65	g-ansi-maks.en.ansi	68.71
Words	noel.en.ansi	18.21	47.30	full-r2-rt162_25-2ec2c1.en.ansi	99.65
Average	noel.en.ansi	23.81	40.87	g-ansi-maks.en.ansi	77.42

Overview compared to all other Conventional ANSI layouts

93fk_optimal.en.ansi Conventional ANSI layouts

Conventional ANSI/ISO + QWERTY shift pairs (361)

Metric	Lowest	Lowest score	93fk_optimal.en.ansi score	Highest	Highest score
Fingers	noel.en.ansi	26.61	37.65	g-ansi-maks.en.ansi	68.71
Words	noel.en.ansi	18.21	47.30	dilbert.en.ansi	99.65
Average	noel.en.ansi	23.81	40.87	g-ansi-maks.en.ansi	77.42

Overview compared to all other Conventional ANSI with QWERTY shift pairs layouts

93fk_optimal.en.ansi Conventional ANSI with QWERTY shift pairs layouts

Comparison to other well-known layouts

93fk_optimal.en.ansi colemak.en.ansi mtgap.en.ansi workman.en.ansi dvorak.en.ansi norman.en.ansi qwerty.en.ansi Best ANSI full-maks-minimo.en.ansi dilbert.en.ansi Worst ANSI noel.en.ansi

Finger based metrics

Finger based metrics, as determined with Keyboard Layout Analyzer, using KLAnext scoring model, and then normalised to ANSI QWERTY = 100.
Lower is better.

English

Rank	Layout	Score	Distance	SameFinger	SameHand
Best	vckb2.en.ergodox	41.00	41.05	31.93	59.05
This layout	93fk_optimal.en.ansi	122.82	80.00	149.06	155.97
Reference	qwerty.en.ansi	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00

Programming code

Rank	Layout	Score	Distance	SameFinger	SameHand
Best	x1_atreus-44-keys.en.ergodox	54.50	34.56	61.28	80.83
This layout	93fk_optimal.en.ansi	104.68	93.16	112.47	112.14
Reference	qwerty.en.ansi	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00

Proglish (an 80:20 English:Code mix)

Rank	Layout	Score	Distance	SameFinger	SameHand
Best	vckb2.en.ergodox	47.08	41.50	43.74	64.91
This layout	93fk_optimal.en.ansi	116.75	83.67	135.79	144.84
Reference	qwerty.en.ansi	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00

Overall Fingers score (4 * English % + Code % + Proglish %) / 6

Higher is better. Score is out of 100.

Rank	Layout	Percentage
Best	vckb2.en.ergodox	98.50
This layout	93fk_optimal.en.ansi	37.65
Reference	qwerty.en.ansi	44.26

Metric	Lowest	Lowest score	93fk_optimal.en.ansi score	Highest	Highest score
Overall fingers	noel.en.ansi	26.61	37.65	vckb2.en.ergodox	98.50

English Word-based analysis

Home Keys Analysis

The Home Keys for this layout are shown with red dots in the first image above, giving the following letters:

cehortw

Home key common words

Not part of final score.
Which of the 200 most common words are typeable on the home keys.

Words handled

Words not handled

the to he or were her who there we other two where how three too here

of and a in that is was for with as on it be by i his at from are had not which have an this but you their they has all been one will would more she its up can him so out into when said them about than time no if some only also first could my what over such do may me any like then after very most these new made your people now between should years many being our before through much way work those did well down back just see even because own little make must good under man used both same still while use last life against know year each us get mr take long part off go day might great never found old gbp right another place came during again without come world men end upon think later say few left number away thought until home small set different system though around since often called within always every need went

Home key words

How many of the 30,000 most common words in the English corpus are typeable on the home keys.
Not included in final score ... layouts with letters on thumb have unfair advantage, and it punishes layouts which opt to keep O and U off the home row.

Home Key letters	English words typeable	Score	Longest word	Example
cehortw	140	492	7	whether

Word count
Word length

No same-finger words

How many of the 30,000 most common words in the English corpus can be typed without using the same finger twice.

Home Key letters	English words typeable	Score	Longest word	Example
cehortw	8796	2182	17	multidisciplinary

Word count
Word length

Word metric comparisons

Metric	Lowest example	Lowest score	93fk_optimal.en.ansi score	Highest example	Highest score
Home keys words	tahan.en.ansi	4	492	hands-down-platinum-ts.en.ergodox	6068
No same-finger words	noel.en.ansi	840	2182	snth.en.matrix	4613
Words average	noel.en.ansi	18.21 %	47.30 %	snth.en.matrix	100.00 %

Comparison to other layouts

93fk_optimal.en.ansi colemak.en.ansi mtgap.en.ansi workman.en.ansi dvorak.en.ansi norman.en.ansi qwerty.en.ansi ANSI layouts Ergo layouts Best ANSI dilbert.en.ansi bone.en.ansi Worst ANSI tahan.en.ansi noel.en.ansi

Heat map

English heat map

Programming Code (all languages) heat map

Note: Colour change points are different in the Code heat map due to the different character frequency distribution.

Ten most common English bigram pairs (excluding space and enter)

( er ht eh in an it no en es at)

Ten most common Code bigram pairs (excluding space and enter)

(er in en et ar el es or st at )

Typing lessons

Download some English words suitable for learning the layout.
Note if any files are empty it's because there are not enough words to create a lesson. This is most noticeable in the bad layouts.

Week 1	Homekey words	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Week 2	No same-finger words	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Week 3	Common / tricky words	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Week 4	Pangrams	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Week 5	So you think you can type?	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Week 6	Extra practice 1: Common words in text	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Week 7	Extra practice 2: Lorem ipsum and friends	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Week 8	Extra practice 3: Underused words	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Week 9	Extra practice 4: Commonly misspelled words	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5