I have a layer that is my “network numpad”. The right side of my board (a Levinson) in this mode is:
EF789(Del)
CD456(Macro to type 255)
AB123(Enter)
__0.:
I also have a HID device attack mode layer that has payloads for popping shells, adding accounts to windows machine, grabbing wifi passwords, etc. This one is just fun stuff from my previous life in red team InfoSec.
Some of this is overkill but it shaves a few seconds off my day and I had a lot of fun building it.
1. The bottom left key (Cntrl) is L1. I chose it because it's easy to just lean on it by the side of my palm as opposed to pressing it which is a hard to reach point. It controls commonly used hotkeys like window management, media (vol, play/pause), clipboard etc.
2. A layer for symbols & fn keys.
3. A layer just for VS Code keys. For instance, Ctrl + Page Up/Down behaves like mouse scroll (on Mac), so I've dedicated layer keys around home row. It's naturally placed near home row navigation. I also have some handy macros like that will type language specific stuff like "() => {}" and move cursor inside parenthesis, etc.
4. Another layer for pretty much everything else. Like, locking & unlocking my Mac (bad practice to have pwd in macros, I know), opening "about:logins" in FF, tagging files (Ctrl 1,2,3...) etc.
Pro Tip for newbies: 1. Get comfortable flashing new configs (which shouldn't be a problem these days)
2. Don't over optimize layers & macros - go with something decent that will solve major pain points.
3. While using, make a note of things that work, things that feel odd and things you never use. Then, make incremental modifications. Rinse & repeat.
For people considering Mech boards: It need not cost an arm & a leg. The first board I bought was Tada 68 which cost around 120 bucks. Getting a board with swappable keys might be tricky at this price point - but if you know what sort of key you want, this shouldn't be a big problem.
As with SW development, start simple & expand based on necessity.
