QDvorak

A keyboard layout for ErgoDox EZ. Normally Dvorak, but switches to QWERTY when CTRL/CMD are held. Keep muscle memory and use one hand for shortcuts like CTRL-C/X/V.

How it Started

This layout is inspired by the “Dvorak-Qwerty ⌘” layout from Mac OSX. I used that layout for a while, but found that it had some issues. Some software (at the time, IntelliJ) used low-level ways to access the keyboard, and messed up the layout. Also, the layout only worked on OSX.

I wanted a similar layout that worked no matter the OS and software. So I tried implementing it as a hardware layout for ErgoDox EZ.

How it Works

QDvorak is implemented as a layout in qmk_firmware. The keymap file contains most of the modifications.

On top of a base Dvorak layer, there’s a QWRT layer for QWERTY keys that gets activated on various triggers.

• CMD/CTRL activate the layer temporarily. The layer is activated only as long as the key is held. Once CMD/CTRL are released, the keyboard reverts to Dvorak layout.
• The top left index key toggles the layer on/off – useful, for example, when playing games that use a WASD layout.

Layering and CMD/CTRL handling

#define BASE 0 // base layer == dvorak
#define QWRT 1 // qwerty
#define SYMB 2 // symbols

In a previous version, I had problems with the QWRT layer getting stuck in a bad interaction with the symbols layer, which I think was due to suboptimal layer ordering.

The keymap replaces the standard CTRL and CMD keycodes with custom keycodes (CTRL_Q and CMD_Q in the code). process_record_user implements the behavior of the custom keycodes:

bool process_record_user(uint16_t keycode, keyrecord_t *record) {
  switch (keycode) {
    case CTRL_Q:
      if (record->event.pressed) {
          register_code(KC_LCTL);
          layer_on(QWRT);
      }
      else {
          layer_off(QWRT);
          unregister_code(KC_LCTL);
      }
      return false;

    case CMD_Q:
      if (record->event.pressed) {
          register_code(KC_LGUI);
          layer_on(QWRT);
      }
      else {
          layer_off(QWRT);
          unregister_code(KC_LGUI);
      }
      return false;
  }

  return true;
}

Layer state LEDs

The keymap uses the blue and green LEDs on the ErgoDox EZ to indicate when the QWRT and SYMB layers are enabled. This is done in the layer_state_set_user function, which is called by QMK whenever the layer state changes:

layer_state_t layer_state_set_user(layer_state_t layer_state) {
  ergodox_board_led_off();
  ergodox_right_led_2_off();
  ergodox_right_led_3_off();

  if (layer_state & (1<<QWRT)) {
      ergodox_right_led_3_on();
  }

  if (layer_state & (1<<SYMB)) {
      ergodox_right_led_2_on();
  }

  return layer_state;
};

Note that I have the older ErgoDox EZ, without the RGB backlight. So the keyboard state is communicated only by the 3 status LEDs on the top right.

Caps lock

Unlike the standard ErgoDox EZ layout, I chose to add a caps lock key, which I use when typing all-caps names in code (e.g. QMK_KEYBOARD_H). The keymap uses the red LED to indicate the caps lock state. led_set_user is the function that QMK will call to indicate a change to the “keyboard LEDs” (i.e. num lock, caps lock, scroll lock) state:

void led_set_user(uint8_t usb_led) {
    if (usb_led & (1<<USB_LED_CAPS_LOCK)) {
        ergodox_right_led_1_on();
    } else {
        ergodox_right_led_1_off();
    }
}

Custom configuration

Custom configuration parameters can be set in a config.h file in the same directory as the keymap. The keymap only changes one parameter, TAPPING_TOGGLE, which sets the behavior of TT() keys:

#undef  TAPPING_TOGGLE
#define TAPPING_TOGGLE 2