Plaintext
By Ewen Cluney (yarukizerogames.com)
Version 0.4 (August 2021)
Thanks to KemoNine, whydobearsxplod, mitzvahmelting, and everyone else on the
artsey.io Discord.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
1
Contents
Introduction ..................................... 3 Get Shifty ............................................ 16
Practice 1: Sentences with Punctuation
Pros and Cons........................................ 3
............................................................ 16
Combos ................................................. 4
Practice 2: Your Favorite Song............. 17
Which Hand? ......................................... 4
Text Conventions................................... 4 Lesson 7: Special Combos .............. 18
Software Solutions................................. 5
Those Useful Functions ........................ 18
Help! ..................................................... 5
Modifier Keys ....................................... 18
Hardware ......................................... 6 Practice for Windows ........................... 19
Practice for macOS .............................. 19
Switches ................................................ 7
Practice for Rich Text Editing............... 19
Keycaps ................................................. 7
Be a Master of Locking and Unlocking . 20
Firmware ............................................... 8
Wired vs. Wireless ................................. 8 Lesson 8: Tap Layers ...................... 21
Bluetooth Combos ................................. 8
Punctuation ......................................... 21
Lesson 1: The Eight Keys .................. 9 Practice 1: Sentences with Punctuation
............................................................ 22
Practice 1: artseyio ................................ 9
Practice 2: Dialogue ............................ 22
(Back)space ......................................... 10
Practice 3: URLs .................................. 22
Practice 2: Random Words .................. 10
Brackets .............................................. 23
Practice 3: Silly Phrases ....................... 10
Practice 4: Emoticons .......................... 23
Lesson 2: Corner Combos ............... 11 Numbers .............................................. 24
Practice 1: Cujuffin .............................. 11 Practice 3: Random Numbers .............. 24
Practice 2: Cats Fart ............................ 11 Shifting Numbers ................................. 24
Practice 3: Frantic Joeys ...................... 11 Practice 4: More Emoticons ................. 25
The Custom Layer ............................... 25
Lesson 3: Middle Combos ............... 12
Lesson 9: Toggle Layers ................. 26
Practice 1: Outrage Rugs .................... 12
Enter and Shift .................................... 12 Mouse Keys ......................................... 26
Practice 2: Cats Injure Fogy ................. 12 Nav Layer ............................................ 26
What’s Missing? ................................... 27
Lesson 4: Triple Combos ................. 13 Other Languages ................................. 27
Practice 1: Yodel Remix ....................... 13 Appendix 1: Resources ................... 28
Practice 2: Pneumatic Manuscript ....... 13
Buying Keyboard Kits and Parts........... 28
Lesson 5: The Remaining Letters .... 14 Artcessories ......................................... 29
Practice 1: Alphabet Song ................... 14 Other Chording/Combo Systems ......... 29
Practice 2: Zesty Zebras ...................... 14 Appendix 2: Combo Reference ........ 31
Practice 3: Pangrams ........................... 14
Practice 4: Monkeytype ....................... 15 Left ...................................................... 31
Right .................................................... 31
Lesson 6: Basic Punctuation ........... 16
2
Introduction
Have you ever wanted to be able to type with one hand?
Maybe you’re dealing with an injury, maybe you have a
disability, or maybe you just have a weird use case in
mind. Typing on a regular QWERTY keyboard with one
hand is awkward, and while there are some chording
keyboards out there like Infogrip’s BAT Keyboard, they
tend to be expensive and a little hard to come by. Artsey.io is an open-source keyboard
system that uses only a grid of 8 keys arranged in 2 rows and 4 columns. The name is
also the URL of the website where you can find info about it.
Right now, getting the hardware set up is a little technical, but fairly affordable. There’s
a pre-built option in the $45 Faunchpad, and if you can do some soldering, you can get
a dedicated artsey.io keyboard put together for about $20 (up to about $60 if you go for
more deluxe options). Since artsey.io goes into a keyboard’s firmware, you can use it
with any device that accepts input from a USB or Bluetooth keyboard. That can include:
• Desktop and laptop computers (including Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, and
Linux)
• Tablets and smartphones (though you’ll need Bluetooth for iPhones)
• Raspberry Pi and other single-board computers
• Many game consoles
You only need to learn about 40 combos to effectively use artsey.io, and eight of them
are in the name. You’ll have to put in some time practicing, but you can get the basics
down in a matter of hours, hence even with the sections on hardware and such this
book is pretty short. I’ve tried to get into technical details only as much as is necessary,
but keep in mind I’m a mechanical keyboard geek and I could blather about this stuff for
hours.
Pros and Cons
Artsey.io isn’t for everyone, and it isn’t meant to replace normal keyboards in every
situation. Instead, it fills a particular niche. If you’re able to use both hands to type,
artsey.io is going to slow you down, 1 but there are any number of cases where it could
be your best option. Or you might just find it a fun thing to mess around with.
Regardless, here are the pros and cons of it as I see them.
Pros Cons
Very small footprint/highly portable Setup is a bit technical
Only uses one hand Typing is slower
Includes navigation and mouse keys More effort per character
Easy to learn Can only use one hand
Customizable Combination keystrokes are more complex
1On artsey, people typically get up to 40 WPM with some practice, and it tops out at around
55 WPM for most. In contrast, with QWERTY typing average people type at around 35 WPM,
and professionals go at around 43 to 80 WPM, though people can get as high as 120.
3
Combos
Artsey.io is based on “combos,” where you press multiple keys at once to get a
particular function. In normal typing you generally press only single keys with the
occasional modifier key, and using combos has the advantage that it lets you use fewer
keys overall. The tradeoff is that it’s less intuitive. It still takes time to learn how to use
a QWERTY keyboard, but the letters are all right there, so that any literate person could
use it to produce text, even if they were really slow at it.
Combos are a little different from the chords used in stenography. You’re still using
multiple keys at once, but where steno registers a chord when you release the keys,
artsey.io registers a combo as soon as you press the key(s) down. This means you need
to get in the habit of confidently pressing the combination of keys you need.
Which Hand?
Artsey.io comes in left- and right-handed versions, which are (mostly) mirrors of each
other, and need to be set up in the firmware. It’s probably better to pick one and learn
it, but the mirroring makes it relatively easy to switch. Regardless, it’s best to have
some idea before you get too far. Think about how you intend to use it:
• If you want to use it to type on your phone, which hand do you hold the phone
with?
• If you want to use it at your desktop, do you want to use the mouse with your
other hand?
• Do want to be able to eat while typing?
This book only covers the basic lefty and righty version of standard artsey.io. Some of
the other variants change the base layer, which makes some portions of this book
inaccurate to them. Don’t let that stop you if you think it’ll be better for you!
Text Conventions
When this book has letters in the Courier New font (the typewriter-looking one where
every character is the same width) it’s referring to the keys of the base layer. We’ll also
show chords with diagrams so that you can learn the shape of them, but since most of
the chords are asymmetrical, we have to show both the left and right versions, like this:
C EY
In these diagrams the left-handed version of the chord is always on the left side, and
(you guessed it) the right-handed version is on the right side.
For instances where you hold one key and then press one or two more, we’ll show it
with the key to be held followed by an arrow, and then the key(s) to be pressed, like
this:
E→O means you hold E and press O, which produces an equal sign (=).
We’ll explain the cases where this comes up in Lesson 7 (p. 18).
Anything to do with URLs or computer code is in Inconsolata, a sans serif monospace
font.
4
Software Solutions
As I write this, artsey.io is mainly implemented as keyboard firmware. Software
implementations have the advantage that you don’t need any kind of specialized
hardware for them.
Right now, the only software implementation of artsey.io is Nick Pederson’s macro script
for Karabiner-Elements, a powerful free macro app for macOS.
• github.com/nickpedersen/artsey_on_karabiner
• karabiner-elements.pqrs.org
Help!
Artsey.io has a small but friendly and active community Discord server; if you run into
issues that’s by far the best place to ask for help. I’ve had to ask for help a number of
times, and I can literally say I wrote the book on artsey.io.
If there is anything you need for help and/or want to contribute feel free to join the
Discord (link at artsey.io) and ask/comment; feedback is very welcome. For this book in
particular, check out the #learning-artsey-book channel.
5
Hardware
As I write this, there are a few different options for artsey.io hardware, but for most of
them you’ll need to know a bit about DIY mechanical keyboards or enlist someone who
does. If you can get a keyboard that has a 2x4 grid of keys on it somewhere and uses
either QMK or ZMK open-source firmware, you’ll probably be able to get it set up with
artsey.io.
Here are some existing keyboards that work well for artsey.io:
• Paintbrush: This is an open-source keyboard design specifically made for
artsey.io. 1 It has a columnar stagger that makes it more ergonomic, the PCB is
reversible, and it can be wireless if you build it with a nice!nano or another ZMK-
compatible microcontroller with a Pro Micro style set of contacts. You’d also need
a lithium battery and a 7-pin SMD power switch. It also has the option to include
a small OLED display, which can show things like what layer you’re on or the
current battery level. An Australian store called KEEBD sells a kit, but the files to
get the PCBs made are in a Github repository for anyone to use.
• Launch Pad: SpaceCat Design 2 offers this affordable and flexible macro pad kit
for only $7.99. To turn the kit into a working keyboard you’ll also need a Pro
Micro or compatible microcontroller and 8 Cherry MX-compatible key switches
with keycaps.
• Faunchpad: This is an 8-key macro pad from gboards.ca. The price depends on
how complete of one you want to order, ranging from $15 for a bare circuit board
to $45 for a Faunchpad that’s ready to use out of the box.
• 2x4 BLE Macropad for Mechanical Switches: The creator of the BlueMicro
(another microcontroller with Bluetooth support) offers this 8-key Bluetooth
macro pad kit with artsey.io firmware pre-installed through tindie.com for $35
(plus a little extra for keycaps and switches).
There are some other boards that could work like the Namecard and AZ-Macro
keyboards that Japanese hobbyists have available for sale through booth.pm. If you do 3D
printing, there are designs for macropad cases on Thingiverse (thingiverse.com) that you
can use as the base for a handwired macro pad suitable for artsey.io as well.
Other keyboards with the 2x4 arrangement and then some, such as the Corne, Helix,
Microdox, Butterstick, FightPad, RoMac, etc. can work just fine with artsey.io, with a
couple of caveats for QMK users:
• Artsey.io takes up most of the 32 kilobytes of storage space on a Pro Micro, so it
will be difficult to squeeze too much more on there. It can play nice with a full
keyboard layout, but you may feel the squeeze if you want to add too many other
features. There are some things you can do to reduce the size, most notably
enabling LTO (Link Time Optimization), in the Config Options.
• The way artsey.io is set up, it needs to be on the base layer, and then you can
set it up to switch to other layers when you want to do something else.
1 It took me a little while to notice that it’s called “Paintbrush” because it’s for ARTsey.
2 As of this writing, Spacecat Design has been on hiatus for a while, with no definite date for
their return.
6
Switches
As with steno, artsey.io involves pressing multiple keys at once, so it’s better to have
the key switches be a bit lighter than you’d typically want on a QWERTY keyboard.
Actuation force is cumulative it turns out! Lighter switches take a little getting used to—
you have to wean yourself off of the habit of letting the weight of your fingers rest on
the keys—but they have their benefits.
Cherry MX style key switches are the most common in mechanical keyboards, but the
newer low-profile “Choc” switches from Kailh have less travel and are generally a bit
better for multiple simultaneous keystrokes (though your keyboard has to be made for
the correct style of switch!).
There are some MX-style switches with lighter actuation forces; the usually have a
rating in gf (gram force), where 45-70gf is typical.
• Gateron Clear (35gf)
• Hako Violet switches have progressive springs, with an actuation force of 40gf at
the tactile point and 50gf at the bottom.
• Speed switches are around 50gf, but have a lower actuation point (only 1.1mm).
• You can also buy lighter springs and swap them out. A Korean company called
SPRiT Designs 1 makes them as low as 15gf.
Kailh Chocs include Red Pro switches (35gf), Purpz (25gf), and gChocs (20gf), which
work nicely for this kind of thing. SPRiT also makes even lighter springs for Chocs,
though you’ll need a different opener tool (for example thingiverse.com/thing:3097933).
However, note that clicky Chocs need springs rated 25gf or higher to actually work.
Keycaps
Since artsey.io doesn’t ask you to press two keys arranged vertically as often as steno,
more conventional keycaps are fine, though if you’re using MX switches you might still
want to get some flat F10 or G20 keycaps from pimpmykeyboard.com. The uniform shape of
DSA and XDA keycaps also work nicely. Check out keycaps.info for charts comparing
various keycap profiles.
For Chocs, there aren’t all that many options for keycaps in the first place, but the basic
keycaps from Kailh work fine and MBK keycaps are really excellent. mkultra.click
probably has the best variety of Choc switches and keycaps.
Regardless of the keycap profile you choose, it can be helpful to use a homing keycap
(which will have some kind of bump or divot depending on the style) for the E key.
1 Their website is at spritdesigns.com. Shipping from Korea can be expensive though, and if
you check their About page they have a list of vendors in other parts of the world. Also, if
you do decide to swap springs, I highly recommend getting an aluminum switch opener.
Note that Kailh’s MX switches require a different style of opener (with two wide prongs
rather than four narrow ones), though a lot of openers have both.
7
Firmware
If there isn’t already artsey.io firmware available for the hardware you’re planning to
use, you’ll have to set it up yourself. That isn’t too hard, but it can be confusing if you’re
not already familiar with open-source keyboard firmware. The repositories for QMK and
ZMK artsey.io software have instructions for setting it up.
• github.com/artseyio/artsey-qmk
• github.com/artseyio/zmk-artsey
ZMK requires a different build for each combination of microcontroller and keyboard, and
it can be a little tricky to get into if you’re a beginner, or even if you’re like me and know
QMK fairly well. The Actions tab of the ZMK Artsey repository has several pre-compiled
firmware files that can make the whole thing much easier for you. If you’re having trouble,
try asking on the artsey.io Discord; KemoNine can easily add new builds to Github.
Wired vs. Wireless
If your keyboard uses a USB cable to connect, you can use it with most any device that
will accept input from a USB keyboard. As far as your computer knows you might as well
be using a full-sized keyboard. One notable thing that isn’t compatible is the iPhone,
which arbitrarily doesn’t accept input from wired keyboards. iPads on the other hand
work fine with a Lightning to USB adapter. You may want a Bluetooth keyboard
regardless for the convenience though.
USB to Bluetooth adapters do exist, but they’re not common. Handheld Scientific
(handheldsci.com) makes one for $39.99, though note that with QMK keyboards you can
get a considerable performance improvement by adding #define TAP_CODE_DELAY 30 to the
keyboard firmware’s config file.
Bluetooth Combos
The ZMK version of artsey.io includes two special combos for controlling Bluetooth
functions.
Profile Select ASEO
Clear Profile RTYI
Clear Profile is one of ZMK’s standard Bluetooth control functions (specifically BT_CLR),
which erases the currently selected pairing profile.
The Profile Select combo toggles a special toggle layer where you can select one of 6
profile slots, and also switch between USB and Bluetooth modes.
8
Lesson 1: The Eight Keys
Artsey.io is named for the eight keys it uses. In right-handed artsey.io they go:
While in left-handed artsey.io they go:
If you forget one of these keys, you can just spell your way through “artseyio”
(backwards for the left-handed version). It’s kinda sorta a mnemonic!
Practice 1: artseyio
Try resting your fingers on the keyboard, either along the bottom row or on the space
between the two rows of keys. Try typing “artseyio” a few times, and notice the timing
of your keypresses, especially if you happen to do it in a way that registers as a more
complex combo. Right now, don’t worry about mistakes or anything like that.
Ultimately, you want to develop enough muscle memory that you can punch in combos
without thinking about it, the way you probably already do with the keys on a QWERTY
keyboard. I’ve included exercises to help you practice specific keys and chords, but a lot
will come down to your willingness to keep practicing. If you can afford to do your
regular typing more slowly, you can put an artsey reference in front of you and go at it,
or you can open a text editor and type out whatever random nonsense comes to mind.
The exercises in this book are a bit more systematic and will hopefully help you get the
combos down.
9
(Back)space
Before we get into full-on practice, a couple of useful combos. Press EYIO (all four keys
in the bottom row) for spaces, and RE (the lower key for your index finger and the upper
key for your middle finger) for backspace.
Space EYIO
Backspace RE
Now you can put spaces between words and erase mistakes! It’s weird the things that
feel like accomplishments when you’re trying to learn a whole new way to do stuff.
Practice 2: Random Words
Try typing some of these words that only use single keys.
arts sortie
ears story
iota eraser
irate taser
oyster tears
rates toy
ratio years
sassy yes
says yeti
If you can think of more words that use these letters go ahead and type them out!
Practice 3: Silly Phrases
These are short, nonsense phrases that come from putting the letters into an anagram
generator. Go ahead and type them out, again using EYIO for spaces.
arise toy airy toes
irate soy yeti oars
satire yo raise toy
easy riot aye trios
ratio yes iota ryes
syria toe ya sortie
ear toys as ye riot
10
Lesson 2: Corner Combos
Next let’s mix in the letters that use a combo with two keys in one of the corners,
namely C, F, J, and N.
C EY
F AR
J TS
N IO
Practice 1: Cujuffin
First try typing these new letters a bunch, so that hopefully you’ll be less likely to mix
them up in the future.
c f j n c c j f n c n j f c
j n f f j j c n j f f n j c
f j n n j c f n j c j c f f
n n j j c c c f j n c f n f
Practice 2: Cats Fart
Hope you’re ready for more single words, now using a whole 10 letters of the alphabet!
acorns crafty frantic near
cafe erotica injectors nice
canoes fanjets jane nose
cans fans janitors notaries
cats fart jinn octane
coins factory join reactions
conifers fiesta jots scenario
cores foray nastier tonics
Practice 3: Frantic Joeys
frantic joeys recants if joy
facts joinery if nectars joy
foray injects carney if jots
ace fry joints case fry joint
cafe joins try scarf tine joy
farce join sty fact siren joy
farce tin joys scan fiery rift
faces join try crayons jet if
acne rifts joy cats finer joy
cane first joy far insect soy
trances if joy jars force tin
11
Lesson 3: Middle Combos
Time for two more letters and two more combos you’ll be using a lot. As you can see, to
get a G you press the two top middle keys (RT), and for U you press the bottom middle
keys (YI).
G RT
U YI
Practice 1: Outrage Rugs
age gears
ego greasy
ugg gutsy
go ouster
guess outrage
argue rugs
arouse rue
auger stag
estuary surge
gaiety torus
Enter and Shift
Enter and Shift are pretty important to typing, huh? No need to wait any longer to
capitalize and carriage return to your heart’s content!
Enter AE
Shift ERTS
The Shift chord applies to the next character you produce with artsey.io. If you wanted
to type “Gary” you would go ERTS and then RT to get a capital G, followed by A, R, Y.
Remember that the Shift key applies to every keystroke just like it would on a full-size
keyboard. That means that if you press ERTS for Shift and then do the key combination
for the number 5 (see p. 24), you’ll get a percentage sign (%). There are a few
“missing” symbols that artsey.io has tucked away like that!
Practice 2: Cats Injure Fogy
Ace Frying Joust Ceasing Turf Joy
Face Joying Rust Carnies Fogy Jut
Cafe Ingots Jury Cater Fusing Joy
Financiers Gut Joy Sanctify Ore Jug
Farce Guys Joint Congas Fiery Jut
France Yogi Just Gastric Joey Fun
Conjugate Fry Is Cats Injure Fogy
12
Lesson 4: Triple Combos
Now it’s time for the combos that use 3 keys, which give us the letters D, L, M, P, Q, and
X.
D ART
L EYI
M YIO
P EYO
Q ATS
X RTS
Practice 1: Yodel Remix
adipose darts mistletoe stripey
admixes dimples oldtimey taxis
ailes dopes oryx todays
apostle doxy paisley topiary
apteryx elixir pirates tropes
asteroid exit pixels typos
atoms idolatry plasmoid xerox
axel leopard pyrite yams
axolotl malty rapidly yelp
dairy matrix remix yodel
Practice 2: Pneumatic Manuscript
acidometry dampers fulminate majestic
acolytes decoupling gasoline manuscript
acronym defluxion genotypical megaflops
adjusting disgraceful geodynamic mousepad
amusingly draftsmen gnostic nitrous
caltrops emulation imprudently ocularist
captured entropic jalopies oxtail
cilantro exaflops jeopardy partying
cleanout fatigued jocularity percolating
cognate fidgety landforms pneumatic
compiler flouting ligaments quagmires
contrails fluxations lodestar remix
couplets foxtail luster xylocane
13
Lesson 5: The Remaining Letters
There are six more letters to learn: five that use two non-adjacent keys, and then Z,
which calls for mashing all four keys in the top row.
B EO
H EI
K YO
V RS
W AS
Z ARTS
Practice 1: Alphabet Song
With or without musical accompaniment, try typing out the whole alphabet.
Practice 2: Zesty Zebras
abhor haters rivets waiver
airshow hawkers seaworthy waterski
avatar haywire shortwave what
bakery heroes sorbet whisker
beaks hovers sybarite wraiths
behaviors howitzer veto zebras
earshot obviate vibrate zesty
ethos okra waiter zither
Practice 3: Pangrams
A “pangram” is a sentence that uses every letter of the alphabet. With chord systems if
you type natural English you can end up neglecting some of the less frequently used
letters, so pangrams can help make sure you get all of them in. The most famous of
these is:
• The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Personally, I like the sheer randomness of:
• Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz
Others include:
• Waltz, bad nymph, for quick jigs vex
• Glib jocks quiz nymph to vex dwarf
• Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
• How vexingly quick daft zebras jump
• The five boxing wizards jump quickly
• Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs
Go ahead and type pangrams for a bit!
14
Practice 4: Monkeytype
Now go ahead and visit monkeytype.com and take typing tests a few times. People
typically start off at around 5 WPM and can climb their way up to around 40 before too
long, so don’t sweat it if you’re still slow. If you’re on the artsey.io Discord, feel free to
post a screenshot in the #wpm channel and you can get a special role to show off how
you’re a Relatively Fast Artsey Typist.
15
Lesson 6: Basic Punctuation
Now that you have the whole alphabet, it’s time to get into some punctuation.
Comma , AE
Period . AI
Apostrophe/Single Quote ' AEI
Forward Slash / AO
Exclamation Point ! TI
Get Shifty
Like on a regular keyboard, pressing Shift (ERTS) will give you different characters from
most of these:
Shift + Comma (AE) Less Than <
Shift + Period (AI) Greater Than >
Shift + Single Quote (AEI) Double Quote "
Shift + Forward Slash (AO) Question Mark ?
Practice 1: Sentences with Punctuation
What follows are some sentences that use punctuation, taken from the examples in the
public domain book Punctuation: A Prime of Information About the Marks of Punctuation
and Their Use Both Grammatically and Typographically by Frederick W. Hamilton, LL.C.
Feel free to pull it up on Project Gutenberg if you want more.
• He was a tall, thin, dark man.
• Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish.
• Look, my lord! it comes!
• The prisoner, said the witness, was a sneak thief.
• I submit, gentlemen, to your judgment.
• Ha, ha, ha! That’s a good joke!
• “I will go,” said he, “if I can.”
• This “gentleman” needs a shave.
• Angels and ministers of grace defend us!
• ’Twas ever thus.
• Moses’ hat, for Moses’s hat.
16
Practice 2: Your Favorite Song
Bring up the lyrics of a song you like, either online or in your head if you happen to
know it well, and type them out with artsey.io. If you can’t think of a song, here are
some I like that have interesting lyrics:
• Bad Religion, “Beyond Electric Dreams”
• Billie Eilish, “all the good girls go to hell”
• The Clash, “Rock the Casbah”
• Cradle of Filth, “Cthulhu Dawn”
• David Bowie, “Life on Mars”
• Death Grips, “Beware”
• Flobots, “Handlebars”
• Jack Garratt, “Breathe Life”
• Jonathan Coulton, “Re: Your Brains”
• Judas Priest, “Painkiller”
• LMFAO, “Sexy and I Know It”
• Metallica, “The Thing That Should Not Be”
• The Postal Service, “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight”
• White Zombie, “More Human Than Human”
• Comedy Option: Daft Punk, “Around the World”
17
Lesson 7: Special Combos
This will be the last of the regular combos, giving you the remaining modifier keys and a
few other useful functions.
Those Useful Functions
Esc ARO
Tab ARTO
Delete RI
“Delete” here is the one that erases the character to the right of the cursor. In macOS
“delete” is what other operating systems call “backspace,” and what we call Delete
here has this symbol: ⌦
Modifier Keys
While the keys you’ve learned up until now will serve you well for typing, you need
some more to use keyboard shortcuts for commands. Like Shift, CTRL, ALT, and GUI are
all “one-shot” keys, meaning when you enter the combo, it applies the modifier to the
next keystroke you enter. If you wanted to do the Copy shortcut in Windows, you’d
enter ES for CTRL, and then EY for C, which is the same as holding Ctrl and then
pressing C on a regular keyboard.
In Windows “GUI” is the Windows logo key (⊞), and in Linux it’s typically a rough
equivalent. In macOS (and iOS) it’s the Command key (⌘) instead. That means you’ll be
using it a lot on Apple products, 1 though in Windows there are actually quite a few
shortcuts that use it. Since GUI is a one-shot in artsey.io, if you want to just open the
Start Menu in Windows, you should use Ctrl-Esc (ES and then ARO) instead.
In macOS, ALT becomes “Option,” and CTRL is still CTRL, though it’s used for other, less
common commands.
Modifier keys stack as well, so for example in Windows you can press YS, ERTS, and S to
effectively press ⊞-Shift-S to take a screenshot of a portion of your screen.
CTRL ES
GUI YS
ALT IS
1macOS does let you reassign modifier keys for each keyboard, so if you prefer you could
go into the system preferences and have Ctrl act as the Command key.
18
Practice for Windows
The available keyboard shortcuts that use modifier keys vary wildly between operating
systems. Here are some you can try that will work in Windows and to a lesser extent
Linux.
CTRL-Esc Open Start Menu
CTRL-C Copy
CTRL-V Paste
CTRL-R Refresh
⊞-D Show/Hide Desktop
⊞-I Open Settings
⊞-M Minimize All Windows
⊞-S Open Search
⊞-V Show Clipboard
ALT-Tab Switch Windows
ALT-Esc Cycle Through Windows
CTRL-D Delete Selected Item
CTRL-Shift-Esc Open Task Manager
Practice for macOS
macOS doesn’t really use the CTRL or ALT/Option keys all that much, so you’re mainly
going to be concerned with the GUI/Command key.
⌘-C Copy
⌘-V Paste
⌘-M Minimize
⌘-Space Spotlight Search
⌘-Tab Switch to Next Application
⌘-Comma Application Preferences
CTRL-A Move to beginning of line/paragraph
CTRL-E Move to end of line/paragraph
⌘-Option-Esc Force Quit
⌘-Shift-N Create new folder (in Finder)
CTRL-⌘-Space Character Viewer (for emoji)
Practice for Rich Text Editing
These should generally work in apps like Word, WordPad, OpenOffice, Pages, etc.
Windows/Linux macOS Command
CTRL-B ⌘-B Bold
CTRL-I ⌘-I Italics
CTRL-U ⌘-U Underline
CTRL-E ⌘-E Center
CTRL-F ⌘-F Find
CTRL-H ⌘-Shift-H Find and Replace
CTRL-A ⌘-A Select All
CTRL-Z ⌘-Z Undo
CTRL-D/CTRL-Shift-F ⌘-T Show Fonts Window
19
Be a Master of Locking and Unlocking
Shift Lock RY
Caps Lock AYIO
Shift Lock is a special chord that leaves shift down, giving you capital letters and
alternate symbols. You may find yourself pressing it by accident, so it’s important to
know that pressing RY turns it on and off. Also, remember that the Shift from Shift Lock
affects all keystrokes, so for example in Windows if you enter CTRL-S (ES and then S)
when you have Shift Lock on, you’re effectively pressing Shift-CTRL-S, and your
computer will try to Save As instead of the regular Save. Also, this can be handy if you
want to highlight text; turn on Shift Lock, then use the Nav Layer (p. 26).
Caps Lock is a mode where letter keystrokes are upper-case by default and become
lower case with the Shift key, but other keystrokes are unaffected. Where it used to be
a physical locking switch, these days it’s a system level thing that the Caps Lock
keystroke turns on and off. That means if you have multiple keyboards hooked up,
there’s one Caps Lock state for all of them.
20
Lesson 8: Tap Layers
In the world of mechanical keyboards, a “layer” is a different set of definitions for what
the keys do that gets activated under certain circumstances. Keyboards with fewer keys
will usually have one or more “Fn” keys to let you enter keystrokes that don’t have
dedicated keys, and lighting controls will often have their own layer.
Artsey.io has a set of six layers to fill in most of the keystrokes not covered by the
regular combos. Four of them are “tap” layers, where you hold down a particular key
that changes what the other keys do while it’s held down. One is for numbers, two are
for punctuation, and one is a miscellaneous layer intended for customization.
Note: The tap layers as well as the toggle layers we’ll cover in the next lesson have a
few instances where the left- and right-handed versions aren’t quite symmetrical. This is
because the keystrokes themselves are directional; it wouldn’t make sense to flip the
left and right arrow keys or parentheses around.
Punctuation
Holding down E gives you a layer with 7 different punctuation symbols.
Just like with the combo-based punctuation (p. 16), pressing the Shift combo (ERTS)
before most of these will give you a different symbol.
Shift + Accent (E→S) Tilde ~
Shift + Semicolon (E→T) Colon :
Shift + Backslash (E→R) Pipe 1 |
Shift + Equal Sign (E→O) Plus +
Shift + Dash/Minus (E→Y) Underscore _
1 The “pipe” character is used in Unix and DOS for some relatively advanced command line
stuff (and ASCII art), and most likely won’t come up unless you need it to do one of those
weirdly complicated installation procedures in Linux. Or if you use this emoticon :| a lot.
21
Practice 1: Sentences with Punctuation
• Write a short essay on the following topic: “What is wrong with our industrial system?”
• “The Practice of Typography.” New York: Oswald Publishing Company.
• Did he speak in an ordinary tone? or shout? or whisper?
• “I will go,” said he, “if I can.”
• He said: “I heard him cry ‘Put down that gun,’ and then I heard a shot.”
Practice 2: Dialogue
Have an excerpt from Alice in Wonderland, or pick out a slice of a novel you like with
lots of dialogue so you have to type quotes and whatnot.
“Have some wine,” the March Hare said in an encouraging tone.
Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. “I don’t see any wine,” she remarked.
“There isn’t any,” said the March Hare.
“Then it wasn’t very civil of you to offer it,” said Alice angrily.
“It wasn’t very civil of you to sit down without being invited,” said the March Hare.
“I didn’t know it was your table,” said Alice; “it’s laid for a great many more than three.”
“Your hair wants cutting,” said the Hatter. He had been looking at Alice for some time with great curiosity, and
this was his first speech.
“You should learn not to make personal remarks,” Alice said with some severity; “it’s very rude.”
The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, “Why is a raven like a writing-desk?”
“Come, we shall have some fun now!” thought Alice. “I’m glad they’ve begun asking riddles.—I believe I can
guess that,” she added aloud.
“Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?” said the March Hare.
“Exactly so,” said Alice.
“Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on.
“I do,” Alice hastily replied; “at least—at least I mean what I say—that’s the same thing, you know.”
“Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “You might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing
as ‘I eat what I see’!”
“You might just as well say,” added the March Hare, “that ‘I like what I get’ is the same thing as ‘I get what I
like’!”
“You might just as well say,” added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, “that ‘I breathe
when I sleep’ is the same thing as ‘I sleep when I breathe’!”
“It is the same thing with you,” said the Hatter, and here the conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for
a minute, while Alice thought over all she could remember about ravens and writing-desks, which wasn’t much.
Practice 3: URLs
Now that you have the necessary characters, try typing some website URLs:
http://www.google.com/
https://artsey.io/
https://github.com/artseyio
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/
https://vektroid.bandcamp.com/album/floral-shoppe
https://app.inferkit.com/demo
https://twitter.com/dril
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChDkP71cJOHop-iRgl_8pVg
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:763622
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW61VTLhNjQ
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Brackets
Holding down A gives you a layer with parentheses, square brackets, and curly brackets.
Occasionally useful for normal writing, but essential for coding.
Practice 4: Emoticons
Before Japan exported emoji to the world 1 and they became a significant part of what
the Unicode Consortium does, early internet users started making little sideways smiley
faces with regular keyboard characters. In Japan they found the sideways ones
confusing and devised horizontal ones, so I also included some of those, albeit just ones
that don’t use a bunch of wacky Unicode characters.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Remember that colon is Shift (ERTS) + Semicolon (E→T), and a lot of these require using
Shift in general.
:) TT_TT
:-) (>_<)
:P (-_-)zzz
:( (=_=)
:-O >_>
:V <_<
>:-) (~_~;)
:/ (=_=)
>:\ m(_ _)m
:D (._.)
:} (?_?)
[:] q_q
1“Emoji” (絵文字) literally just means “picture characters” (characters in the sense of
writing) in Japanese.
23
Numbers
Holding S gives you the number layer. Since it’s made to produce 10 distinct characters,
it has four combos of its own, for 7, 8, 9, and 0. If you wanted to type a 7, you would
hold S, and then press AR for example.
Practice 3: Random Numbers
Try practicing typing numbers with whatever strings of numbers come to mind.
1234567890 1776
867-5309 2001
69420 3.14159265359…
42 24/7/365
5138008 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256
1984 202-456-1111
Shifting Numbers
As far as your computer knows, when you use these, you’re pressing keys on the
number row of a full-sized keyboard, so pressing Shift before one of these will get you
various symbols.
Shift + 1 (S→A) Exclamation Point !
Shift + 2 (S→R) At Sign @
Shift + 3 (S→T) Number Sign/Hash #
Shift + 4 (S→E) Dollar Sign $
Shift + 5 (S→Y) Percent Sign %
Shift + 6 (S→I) Caret/Circumflex ^
Shift + 7 (S→AR) Ampersand &
Shift + 8 (S→RT) Asterisk *
Shift + 9 (S→EY) Left Parenthesis (
Shift + 0 (S→YI) Right Parenthesis )
24
Practice 4: More Emoticons
Adding numbers and the symbols you get from shifting them into the mix opens up
some more emoticons, so have another round! While you’re at it maybe try making up
some of your own!
:3 =^_^=
=3 (@_@)
;3 (=3=)
:-| <(‘^`)>
:7 \^_^/
:-# (^_^;)
:-& (^_-)
:$ (^.^)
5:-) (*_*)
:@ ^m^
The Custom Layer
Holding O activates the “Custom” layer. By default, it’s set up with six potentially useful
keystrokes, but as the name implies it’s meant to be customized. For QMK there are
instructions on modifying it in the readme.md file. For ZMK the instructions are in the
artsey.dtsi file in the zmk-artsey repo; you just need to have an appropriate #define block
before including the artsey.dtsi file.
Ins is the Insert key, which toggles between overtype and insert modes on your
computer. “Overtype” means that if there are characters ahead of where the cursor is,
typing will overwrite them. I mostly remember the Insert key is a thing when I press it
accidentally.
Print Scr is the Print Screen key. It’s kind of a holdover from the DOS days, but in
Windows you can use it to take screenshots.
R. Shift is the righthand Shift key. It’s unusual, but there are a few cases where the
distinction between left and right Shift matters.
Vol(ume) Up, Vol Down, and Mute all control the system’s sound output.
25
Lesson 9: Toggle Layers
Finally, there are two special layers that you toggle on and off with chords, the Mouse
and Navigation layers. Now you can navigate with both keystrokes and a simulated
mouse, all with just your trusty artsey.io keyboard!
Mouse AYT
Nav ERI
Mouse Keys
Mouse keys give you a substitute mouse using a keyboard. It’s slower and less precise
than using an actual mouse, but it can still come in handy. 1
BTN1 is the left mouse button (which normally selects or activates things), and BTN2 is
the right mouse button (which usually opens a contextual menu).
Nav Layer
Last but not least, the Nav Layer gives you arrow keys, Page Up/Down, Home, and End.
If you need to select text, one easier way to do it with artsey.io is to turn on Shift Lock
(RY) and then activate the Nav Layer to use the arrow keys and such to highlight the
text.
1Windows and macOS both let you set up mouse keys on a regular keyboard in the system
settings, but as artsey.io demonstrates, it’s also possible to add mouse keys functions to a
keyboard in the firmware.
26
What’s Missing?
Now that we’ve gone over every single keystroke in artsey.io, let’s cover what it doesn’t
include.
• Function Keys
• Scroll Lock and Number Lock
• The Windows Menu Key, i.e. the one with this symbol that is on many Windows
keyboards. It opens a context menu, just like right-clicking.
• Right-side modifier keys besides Shift (Ctrl, Alt, GUI)
Other keycodes you might find useful include:
• Keycodes to directly get characters that you’d normally need to press shift for. If
you write tons of dialogue (in American English), you might want to put double
quotes (DOUBLE_QUOTES in ZMK and KC_DOUBLE_QUOTE in QMK) in easy reach.
• Codes specific to foreign languages, such as the keys for changing Japanese
input modes and (though they’re a little more complicated to implement)
characters specific to other languages, allowing you to add easy access to for
example Ñ.
• There are keycodes for media and web controls, plus other mouse buttons.
• It’s possible to set keys up to produce keystrokes with modifier keys too, so for
example in QMK you could use LCTL(KC_C) (or LGUI(KC_C) for macOS)1 to make a
key produce Ctrl-C for the Copy command.
If any of these keystrokes are important to how you use your device, you may want to
modify the layout to include them. The Custom Layer (p. 25) is an ideal place to put
these, though you can modify other combos and layers as well.
Other Languages
Right now, support for other languages is something we’d like to see, but it pretty much
comes down to whether someone who knows a given language is willing to step up and
put something together. There are quite a few languages you can type with regular
QWERTY input by changing your system settings, though some can get a bit awkward or
inefficient for standard artsey.io. For Japanese you can use a Romaji-based input
method for example, though you’ll be hitting EYIO a lot to pick out kanji. For alphabets
like Cyrillic and Hangul, someone would really need to work out better key/combo
assignments to make them work well.
1 The ZMK equivalent would be LC(C), or LG(C) for macOS.
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Appendix 1: Resources
This section has a few different resources that might be helpful if you’re getting into
artsey.io or combo/chording keyboards in general.
Buying Keyboard Kits and Parts
If you want to build a keyboard for artsey.io, you’re going to need some specialized
parts. Unless you happen to be in Tokyo and can get to Yushakobo in Ueno
(yushakobo.jp), chances are you won’t be able to buy them locally. 1 Instead, you pretty
much have to order them online.
These are stores I’m familiar with, mostly in the U.S.; for lists of other stores around the
world you can check out keebmap.xyz or shopmech.com. There are also a lot of keyboard kits
and parts available on Amazon, AliExpress, eBay, and Etsy.
• Boardsource (boardsource.xyz)
• Clawsome Boards (clawboards.xyz)
• G Heavy Industries (gboards.ca)
• Keebio (keeb.io)
• Keyhive (keyhive.xyz)
• Little Keyboards (littlekeyboards.com)
• Mechboards (mechboards.co.uk)
• MKUltra (mkultra.click)
• SpaceCat Designs (spacecat.design)
In particular the things you’re likely to need are:
• Microcontroller: A small circuit board with a USB connector and the chip that
stores the firmware. The Arduino Pro Micro is the most common of these, but
there are others like the Elite-C and BIT-C (which have sturdier USB-C
connectors), and some keyboards support Bluetooth options like the nice!nano
and BlueMicro. These support using a lithium battery 2 and a power switch, but
can connect via USB without a battery if you prefer.
• Key Switches and Keycaps: You’ll need 8 key switches of the correct type for
your keyboard, and 8 keycaps that fit your key switches. 3 Both are usually sold in
10-packs. Some boards support (or require) hotswap sockets that let you swap
out switches on the completed keyboards.
• Depending on the design and your preferences you may also want an OLED
display, screws and standoffs (usually M2 size), and adhesive rubber feet to put
on the bottom. Some boards have headers to make it easier to attach a battery.
1 I live in the middle of Silicon Valley, and while there are some great electronic parts stores
around here, I still have to get the vast majority of my keyboard parts online.
2 Most any 3.7V LiPo battery should work, but you should go for one with a bit more life
(check the rating in mAH) if your keyboard has an OLED display or anything else that will
consume more power.
3 Since there are only 8 keys, blank keycaps are generally fine, but if you have spare letter
keycaps, having the keys labeled can make good training wheels. If you want to get really
fancy, P.I. Engineering makes affordable relegendable keycaps.
28
• Some boards also allow for a reset switch, which isn’t necessary (you can bridge
the RST and GND contacts on the microcontroller to get the same effect), but it’s
handy if you flash the firmware a lot.
Artcessories
These are a few things you might find handy if you get set up with artsey.io, especially
if you want to use it while you’re out and about.
• Reference Card: I highly recommend getting yourself a reference card for the
combos. You’ll find my reference in Appendix 2 (p. 31), and there’s also a layout
diagram on the artsey.io site. If you want to get extra fancy you can laminate it.
• Carrying Case: A lot of the keyboards that work with artsey.io are hobbyist
boards with exposed components, so it’s good to have a case when using them
on the go. The cases for portable hard drives are excellent for storing smaller
keyboards in general. A case for a 2.5” hard drive is just about right for a
Paintbrush with a USB cable and maybe a folding smartphone stand.
• Wrist Strap: Not that you’re likely to be swinging it around like a Wii Remote,
but if you’re using your artsey.io keyboard on the go, a wrist strap might be a
good idea. A Paintbrush assembled with a bottom plate lets you put the loop of a
wrist strap around one of the standoffs.
Other Chording/Combo Systems
There have been a number of chording/combo keyboard systems over the years; here
are some that might be of interest if you want to learn more and maybe give some a
try.
• The Xerox Alto was an early GUI-based computer, which Apple drew on for the
Lisa and the original Macintosh. One thing it had that Apple dropped was a 5-key
“keyset” that could produce any letter of the alphabet, or most any keystroke
when combined with mouse buttons. Even the Alto manuals that people have
posted online don’t actually seem to have info on the keyset, but this document
has a chart of its chords if you’re curious:
billbuxton.com/input06.ChordKeyboards.pdf
• ASETNIOP (asetniop.com) is a combo system that uses 10 keys, one for each
finger, available as a $5 app for iPad and Android. It also supports some limited
stenography, with some more complex chords that produce full words. It’s faster
that artsey.io, but requires both hands. g Heavy Industries (gboards.ca) has a
hardware version called the Ginny.
• Steno is the system most court reporters and real-time captioners use today. It
uses a special 23-key keyboard, and while it requires a lot more practice than
other chording/combo systems, trained stenographers can achieve stunning
speeds. 225 WPM is the minimum to become a court reporter, and the world
record is 360! Professional machines and software can cost thousands of dollars,
but the Open Steno Project (openstenoproject.org) has free software, and the
community now offers a few different kinds of affordable steno keyboards. You
don’t have to toil for years to get up to professional speeds to benefit from steno,
but it does take a few months of regular practice to get the basics down.
• Penti (software-lab.de/penti.html) is a touch-based one-handed keyboard system
for Android, available as an .apk download (so you’d have to side-load it, which is
29
a little more complicated). It uses five main keys, plus a special sixth key that
repeats the previous keystroke.
• The BAT Keyboard from Infogrip (infogrip.com) is one of the few one-handed
keyboards that has remained on the market. It costs $175 and has three buttons
for the thumb and four more for the four fingers. Although it’s more expensive
and less portable than artsey.io, it has an excellent system that covers
practically every keystroke.
• The Frogpad is a more compact one-handed keyboard that makes extensive use
of layers to provide all of the major keystrokes with only 20 keys. The fate of the
official hardware is uncertain right now, but there are a couple unofficial
versions, notably DupePad (github.com/clarkm/dupepad) a set of scripts for
Windows and macOS to simulate the Frogpad, and from Japan the Froggy
(yushakobo.jp/froggy), which recreates the hardware on one side of a Helix split
keyboard.
30
Appendix 2: Combo Reference
Left
Right
31