My Thoughts
11 Days In
I have been using Dusk for 11 days (as of 04/27/2024) and I am currently typing this documentation with it. I am about 60 WPM on MonkeyType E200 tests now and 50 WPM on E10k test (both 2-min tests and with 99% accuracy).
With my current typing speed, I have yet to observe any glaring issues with it.
I rarely feel any SFB or SFS at all thanks to Dusk's impressive stats, and the major gripe that other people have: LSB and W position don't bother me at all.
Additionally, I like the fact that it has almost all the common shortcuts on my left hand:
CTRL-C, CTRL-V, CTRL-X, CTRL-W, CTRL-D. The only regrettable thing is CTRL-Z and CTRL-A being 2 hands.
When it comes to vim, I am editing this documentation with Helix and I think decent: xd is an inroll; hlkj, except j, are easily reachable; wb are on the same row though w is not ideal. (disclaimer: I got used to using Canary-ortho on Neovim and Helix, and I don't see how Dusk is worse than Canary-ortho when it comes to vim motion).
But of course, no layout is perfect, despite its impressive stats, Dusk isn't without its own problems. The below I list out all criticism that Dusk has received and all the minor annoyances I have noticed while using Dusk.
Criticism
Dusk has received some criticism in the first 14 days from the Alt Keyboard Layout community and I've summarized them below (sorted by frequency):
| # of Complaints | Complaint |
|---|---|
| 4 | W position is subpar for how frequent it is |
| 3 | K position creates CK and SK half scissors - deal breaker |
| 2 | V position creates NV scissors and awkward DV and it is bad |
| 2 | ' position is questionable |
| 2 | OUL as in should redirection sucks |
| 1 | DV as in advice is somewhat common - deal breaker |
I've attempted to address some complaints by suggesting alternative key placements which are found throughout this documentation, but ultimately Dusk is not designed for everyone.
Awkward Sequences
These are the sequences that I personally find awkward.
All frequency below are obtained from Cmini with SHAI corpus
with the command !cmini examples <pattern>. Only those >= 0.010% are documented.
| Pattern | Example | Classification | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
w_p | swap | 2.236u SFS | 0.010% |
p_w | power | 2.236u SFS | 0.059% |
b_x | box | 2u Pinky SFS | 0.026% |
f_v | five | 2u Ring SFS | 0.054% |
k_d | asked | 2u Middle SFS | 0.152% |
p__g | shipping | 2u Index SFS | 0.184% |
k__d | kind | 2u Middle SFS | 0.052% |
u, | you, | Pinky-ring FSS | 0.045% |
nv | involve | Pinky-ring HSB | 0.162% |
e. | me. | Pinky-ring HSB | 0.655% |
b_f | before | Pinky-ring FSS | 0.103% |
dv | advice | awkward | 0.075% |
k_p | skip | Middle-Index FSS | 0.022% |
dw | hardware | awkward | 0.021% |
wd | powder | awkward | 0.011% |
SUM | Sum of all above | 1.631% |
The long list above seems daunting, but is actually a vast improvement over Canary-ortho.
Magic Dusk
If you'd like a keyboard layout without any flaw, you should look into magic keyboard layouts in which there exists a magic key that does your custom commands based on surrounding inputs.
It may be possible to make Dusk a magic layout, for examples, you can swap '_ and replace _ with a magic key on top index (that's where most magic layouts have their magic key).
If you want to learn more about magic layouts, you may want to check out Ikcelaks's repo.
Dusk vs. Canary-ortho
Scissors
Info obtained from Keysolve (Monkeyracer corpus).
| Metric | Diff | Dusk | Canary |
|---|---|---|---|
| HSB | -1.28% | 2.09% | 3.37% |
| HSS | -1.65% | 4.68% | 6.33% |
| FSB | -0.08% | 0.02% | 0.10% |
| FSS | -0.47% | 0.11% | 0.58% |
2u SFS
Info obtained from Cyanophage.
| Metric | Diff | Dusk | Canary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2u SFS | -0.04% | 0.11% | 0.15% |
It doesn't take the hidden ones like v__y, b__k, and p__k in Canary-ortho into account (very, back, park), so in actuality, it is better than just a 0.04% reduction.
Various info
Info obtained from Oxeylyzer.
| Metric | Diff | Dusk | Canary |
|---|---|---|---|
| SFB | -0.347% | 0.525% | 0.869% |
| SFS | -3.058% | 4.911% | 7.969% |
| Finger Speed | -7.512 | 17.338 | 24.850 |
| Top Finger Speed | -4.795 | 2.744 (RP) | 7.539 (LI) |
| LSB | -0.358% | 2.175% | 2.533% |
Quotes
Info obtained from Cmini with Monkeyracer corpus.
| Metric | Diff | Dusk | Canary |
|---|---|---|---|
| SFB | -0.50% | 0.48% | 0.98% |
| SFS | -4.03% | 3.89% | 7.92% |
| Red | -0.10% | 3.38% | 3.48% |
| Alt | +4.72% | 28.95% | 24.23% |
| Rtl | +0.40% | 51.69% | 51.29% |
Note that 28.95% is not considered to be high alt. Graphite has 32.92% and Semimak-JQ has 33.82%. Canary-ortho having 24.23% alt is remarkably low and it was designed to be that way.
Flowy-meter
This is subjective.
| Metric | Dusk | Canary |
|---|---|---|
| Flowy | No | Yes |
| Fun | Mid | High |
| Top | ? | 213 WPM |
Canary is a solid layout based on Colemak-DH and is fun to type on (at lower speed). It is gained some recognition in the past few years and can now be found on Keybr. The issues that I had with Canary is not to say that Canary is un-usable at high speed; in fact, there are 5 people who have cleared 200 WPM with Canary as of April 2024. I still do like Canary and can recommend it if you can look past its flaws.
Addressing P_W and W_P
I do not think it is worth it to swap WQ or PG to address this 2.24u SFS. Instead, addressing it by hitting P with middle finger and W with index finger is my suggestion.
Addressing gr_p and wr_p
Redirect SFS is known to be more annoying than alt SFS - it is especially bad when it is 2u. You can hit p with your middle finger for gr_p and wr_p to address them (graph, grep, and wrap).
Closing
Overall, I believe Dusk is an improvement over Canary-ortho in a lot of ways and I am happy with how it turns out.