Hi |FNAME|,

Are you a professional pianist? If so, I'd love to talk. I'm interested in the intersection of pianists and typists — I have a feeling being a trained pianist changes the way someone types, but I'm not a pianist myself, so it's just a vague hunch at this point. If you are, and you'd like to talk, email me — ez@zsa.io.

In other news, this month we've deployed an all-new View mode for Oryx, redesigned for simplicity and clarity. See below. And we released our first mounting accessory for the Moonlander, the Tripod Kit!

Finally, this month's Tisha Talks Switches episode is all about White switches — recording it made me realize just how underrated white clicky switches are.

All the best,
Erez

Introducing the New View Mode

Color names galore

We're working on a major redesign of Oryx's editing functionality, and to lead up to it we've spruced up the View mode. Your compiled layouts have never looked better (or clearer). Rather than wax poetic about it, I wanted to invite you to simply click through and check it out.

Featured User Interview

Aimee Kuzenski

Novelist

Aimee writes speculative fiction as well as technical documents. In her spare time, she narrates audiobooks, plays video games, and practices the Filipino martial art of kali. She shows us her travel setup, her sparring practice, and a very sphinxlike cat. Check it out!

"My favorite of my published books is actually a novella (under 50,000 words) called The Golem Factory, about a thief in a version of Jerusalem where manufactured automatons called golems are used for manual labor."

Layout of the month

Layout of the month: Neo2 for Mac & Win

Welcome to my little layout. My name is Sebastian and I'm a German software engineer. It is based on the Neo2 layout, which is designed to work great for the German language but also works great for English. It also has clever positions for common programming characters and some other features, which we will discuss in this tour.

Things we liked

Fingerspelling →

With machine learning

Uses your webcam and machine learning to teach you the ABC's in American Sign Language. Everything is processed locally, no webcam data is sent or stored. Impressive and fun.

FreeTube →

The Private YouTube Client

An open-source YouTube client built around using YouTube more privately. Desktop-based, multiple OSes. No ads. Makes YouTube so much better.

PNPArcade →

Instant high-quality print-and-play games

A great selection of print-and-play games. Some big names here (like Tussie Mussie, by the designer of Wingspan). Also some free games.

YNAB →

A great budgeting app

Not new, and not free. I wanted to feature YNAB because it changed my life. We've been using it for our household budget for a few years now, and it's just so good and simple. They wrote a book by the same name too — I read the book, and then started using the app.

JazzKeys →

Type and listen

Type into this distraction-free editor and make music while you work. Every keystroke is a note. A bit hectic if you're a fast typist, but if you're just getting started (or would like to slow down for a while), this is lovely.