Hi |FNAME|,

Every keyboard layout tells a story. A struggle of typos, of awkwardly reaching for everyday combos, and of iterating and striving for the ultimate in comfort. But when we look at other people's layouts, we don't really get that story — We just see a bunch of keys. Until today, that is: We now have a way to tour through a layout. And yes, you can author your own tour too. Read all about it in the blog post linked below, and tour through the default layout.

Other than that, everything's been going well both with our remote team and in our manufacturing facility in Taiwan. We're making and shipping keyboards as usual, and everyone has been keeping safe.

I hope you're doing well — feel free to write me anytime, ez@ergodox-ez.com.

All the best,
Erez

Layout tours

Tell the story behind your layout

A layout tour lets you step through the notable keys of a layout, one by one. You can tour the default layout, and we're also inviting people to apply and create their own tours.

Featured User Interview

Zoë Smith

iOS Engineer

Zoë's setup is functional, peaceful, and beautiful. Surrounded by two striking works of art and overlooking nature, this space invites focus and creativity. She also shares an awesome pasta recipe.

"To understand anything, I have to write it by hand. A couple minutes of sketching can save me hours of coding."

Things we liked

Colors.lol →

Overly descriptive color palettes

Would you like your room done in "foggiest jungle green" or "inspired bright purple"? All color swatch names should be this dramatic.

Excalidraw →

Quickly sketch out concepts

A fast and simple tool for creating sketches with a hand-drawn look. Simple and usable, great for a quick wireframe.

Hey Robot →

A game for socially-isolated smart speakers

Grab your Amazon Echo or Google Home. Ask a question, and get them to say a given word (without including that word in your question!). Surprisingly tricky and funny.

JetBrains Mono →

A typeface for developers

I'm a big fan of Fira Code, but JetBrains' new Mono font is just as nice, and a bit narrower. My new font in VS Code.

Quarantine Games →

Free online card and board games

Just a giant Google Doc with links to lots and lots of free games that would be fun on Zoom. Word games, card games, board games, and more.

Tip: We have a subscriber-only link archive with all of the links we shared over the years. Just for you. ❤️

Made us think

Behind the practice of presenting a colorful dinosaur sticker to a first grader who stays silent on command is a theory that embodies distinct assumptions about the nature of knowledge, the possibility of choice, and what it means to be a human being.

Alfie Kohn

Punished by Rewards