How do you like to bind your arrow keys, and why?
Ergo boards don't typically have dedicated arrow clusters, so we're left to bind them on some alternate layers one way or another.
Here are two prevalent layouts, along with some initial thoughts:
Homerow
Binding them linearly to a homerow on some layer.
Pros
- Arrows directly underneath your fingertips
Cons
- Less intuitive
- Pinky may be weaker when going right repeatedly
Pyramid
Bind arrows in a traditional pyramid shape, likely based on a homerow as well.
Pros
- Familiar layout
- Extra key available for pinky, e.g. a tab might be handy
Cons
- Finger movement required for up arrow
- Takes space on the row above, which might matter if you'd like to have a full row of other things there
Post pic is original art by the author, public domain, commission queue is already full.
My layout is inspired by the Neo layout(QWERTY version). So i have my arrow keys setup like they are on layer 4 of the neo layout. Which means arrow keys on "esdf", home on "a" and end on "g". The addition of the home and end keys next to the arrow keys feels very natural.
An absolute bonus of using neo inspired layers, is that you can easily have those on "traditional" keyboards as well. Simply set the keyboard layout to the "neo_qwerty" variant of the "layout" on linux for example and enjoy proper layers on your integrated laptop keyboard.