YPOU-HIEA layouts

• Step 1: Distribute the 8 most frequent letters (4 vowels, 4 consonants) to the left and right
• Step 2: Add command shortcut characters on the left or right
• Step 3: Distribute 8 of the remaining letters to the left and right
• Step 4: Optimize arrangement of all letters on the left and right
• Step 5: Arrange punctuation marks and characters in easy-to-remember places

The Engram layout is a keyboard layout optimized for comfortable touch typing in English created by Arno Klein, with open source code to create other optimized key layouts.

               Y  P  O  U        G  D  L  B  Q
               H  I  E  A        R  T  S  N  J 
               V  Z  X  C        M  K  W  F

The Shift key accesses characters (top) that look similar to the numbers:

               !  =  ?  +  $  @  ^  &  %  *
               1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  0

and accesses related but less common punctuation (top):

            `    \    ;    :    {    }    |    _
            '    "    ,    .    (    )    /    -

Swapping the Backspace and Caps lock keys completes the layout:

      ~        !  =  ?  +  $  @  ^  &  %  *  <  >
      #        1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  0  [  ]     Caps

    Tab        Y  P  O  U  '  "  G  D  L  B  Q  -     /
    Back       H  I  E  A  ,  .  R  T  S  N  J        Enter
    Shift      V  Z  X  C  (  )  M  K  W  F           Shift

    Ctrl  Fn   Cmd  Alt    Space     Alt  Ctrl       Arrows