I also picked up and heavily customized a minimal (3x5+3 or 3x4+2) columnar split and a novel keyboard layout during Lockdown, and now can type faster with it t

I also picked up and heavily customized a minimal (3x5+3 or 3x4+2) columnar split and a novel keyboard layout during Lockdown, and now can type faster with it than I could originally with greater comfort and accuracy. The high number of rolls actually felt pleasurable to type on compared to the scattered movements of QWERTY; at higher speeds, though, it's more demanding as the movements are so minimal and the sequences are more intricate. On long sessions, I can feel some strain on the tendons on the back of my hands; a keyboard with wells or something to grip like a Twiddler could help. Over time, I expect my speed to continue to advance as I sync my keystrokes faster; there is just substantially less finger travel from home row. I also retained my ability and speed typing QWERTY by continuing to use it on a standard keyboard the majority of the time. Really, I just kept practicing the alt layout by typing out articles and books on the ortho and a laptop. At this point I think I'll maintain muscle memory for vi/emacs in QWERTY and switch on the fly to the alt layout for long entries. I use Miryoku style meta keys, and layers for arrows, home-page(up/down)-end, mouse-keys, scroll-wheel, numpad, symbols, media, and F-keys. I'm thinking of adding combos for international letters and symbols next. backspace-delete and enter-space+tab are under thumbs like a Kinesis. Escape is a left hand combo. I also set a lock function for the layers with tap+hold and release with a designated key -- it works great with numpad, scroll, mouse, and arrows. I'd like to add a rotory dial. For switches, I enjoy the light action Kailh box whites that came with my split, but I'd like to try out some silent low-pro ones for travel and more comfort. I have a second ortho with a number row and much heavier linear ones that I'm getting used to; so far it works great and I have more planned for it. On a regular keyboard I've found mapping the capslock key to be a second backspace is much more ergonomic. I use it in conjunction with Ctrl to delete the previous word and then retype.