Keyboard smash (traded blog post)

2 Jul 2025

I traded blog posts with Frances and the title I received is: Keyboard smash.

I can't keyboard smash anymore.

When I use a traditional keyboard (swapped just to do this), smashing my keyboard produces text like this: fj lasdjfal sjflak sjflkasjf lkasdjf al;ksdjf al;skjf asldjkflasdjkflkasdjf lkasjdf klasdjfl asjflkasdj flasdjkf klasdjf asdlkfjasdkl fjasdlfjk asdfajkls dfjlasdf l;jkasf.

On the keyboard I use regularly (swapped back now), pressing the same keys triggers all kinds of menus, opens new windows, tabs and indents things, deletes stuff... it just doesn't provide a satisfying keyboard smash experience.

This is because what I use is a cute tiny keyboard with a custom keymap.¹ I wasn't interested in mechanical keyboards until I saw the QAZ, and now it is the only keyboard layout I want to use.² (I learned how to solder³ for this!)

Just look at them:

(There's a Le Chiffre mixed in there.)

My tiny keyboards have 37 keys (except the Chiff, which has 34 and was built solely for learning Colemak-DH). With only 35% of the keys of a traditional keyboard layout, we QAZ enjoyers can get pretty creative with our keymapping.

Here's my keymap⁴ (enlarge diagram by opening separately):

I'm a big fan of home row mods; I use the GACS order (GUI, Alt, Control, Shift):

GACS is the order you come up with when you want to assign the most frequently used modifiers to the strongest and most agile fingers and the least frequently used modifiers to the weakest fingers.

The keys I press the most sit where my fingers naturally rest. I created combos and macros for my favorites:

• My beloved em dash is now so easy to type — it's just pressing h
• Delete and backspace are j + k and k + l, respectively — I also have a three-key combo, j + k + l, that removes whole words
• Undo, cut, copy, paste, and find are all readily available at my fingertips

When I'm using a keyboard that is not mine, I miss my em dash, backspace, and copy & paste the most.

My keymap took about a month of experimentation to finalize (and I've been comfortably using it since for three years now). A lot of it was removing awkwardness like symbol placement and figuring out timing for what is a tap and what is a hold.

Typing is so much muscle memory, speed, and personal preference — I never thought about my little typing quirks until I had to build a custom keymap:

• I type space exclusively with my left thumb
• I roll my a + s keys, so when I originally assigned a + s as tab, I often tabbed when I didn't intend to (I ultimately had to update it to s + d)
• I really don't like curling my fingers to reach the bottom row (where x, c, and v are), so I don't assign anything to this row beyond the base letters
• I don't like waiting for layer keys to activate — it must be immediate, especially when I'm typing a hyphen, colon, or question mark

The only thing I still stumble over from time to time is muscle memory for prior Photoshop and InDesign shortcuts, but I don't use these apps very much anymore, so they've been a non-issue.

Anyway. Since I like everything sitting on the home row (which is where I smash), keyboard smashing just isn't feasible anymore.

—

The title I gave to Frances is: Imaginary worlds and real life. Frances has a fun list of interests, with "Dungeons and Dragons and TTRPGs generally" at the very top. My husband (who also loves TTRPGs) has the most empathy of anyone I know, and he speaks fondly of how roleplaying cultivated his capacity for understanding other people's points of view. The topic I shared with Frances is one that he enjoys discussing with other roleplayers.

If trading blog post titles sounds fun to you, contact me — I'd be happy to trade.