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by doki_pen 5404 days ago
I'd love to see a keyboard layout based on data like this.
1 comments

It already exists in terms of a more logical layout for faster typing of many latin-based languages. Instead of QUERTY keyboard, it's called the Dvorak layout and is really common in certain circles and places - I believe that in OS X you can switch to this alternative layout pretty easily if you're interested in learning a faster way of typing. More info here: http://atmac.org/dvorak-keyboard-layout-switching
There's also some programmer versions of Dvorak, that make the punctuation more accessible too (by demoting numerals to needing the shift-key to be held):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard#Prog...

Just as Dvorak was based on letter usage, this is based on examining large bodies of code just like the heatmaps in the OP.

It is a bit more than just switching the keys and numbers around - it uses the information from the code it examined to intelligently put the special chars that are used most often were they are easiest to access.

And yes if you wonder, it is awesome to use.