Emily's Modifier Dictionary

August 3, 2021 · View on GitHub

Design

This dictionary was created with the following goals in mind:

  • Have a consistent method to type (pretty much) every shortcut
  • Do it all in only one stroke
  • Hackable and understandable to anyone who finds it useful :)

Section

To achieve this, for each stroke there are 4 main sections:

  1. Character (Purple)
  2. Switcher (Orange)
  3. Modifiers (Green)
  4. Unique ending (Red)

Coloured Layout Diagram

Unique Ending

Due to fingerspelling existing on the left hand, a unique chord with the right hand must be stroked. This stroke is used to uniquely identify a dictionary entry chord from any other chord. By default this is -LTZ, this should be stroked with pinky on the -Z and ring finger for -LT. Due to physical and practical limitations, this key combination is both difficult to press, and also will generate clashes. Please check with your dictionary to see what clashes may occur, and potentially change what this stroke is. With Magnum as I currently use it, the -LTZ stroke clashes with only 71 entries, most of which are misstroke entries, so I don't have to worry about it too much.

Ender Keys Layout Diagram

Modifiers

FRPB are used to specify the modifier keys to be used against the selected character. These can all be used in any variation to produced the desired shortcut.

modifier patternmodifier
Control Pattern Diagramcontrol
Shift Pattern Diagramshift
super Pattern Diagramsuper
Alt Pattern Diagramalt

Character

Character input is based on fingerspelling and takes up the whole left hand and vowels. Valid fingerspelling entries contain methods from multiple steno theories, hence why there are duplicate entries for some.

fingerspelling patternletter
Letter A DiagramA
Letter B DiagramB
Letter C DiagramC
Letter D DiagramD
Letter E DiagramE
Letter F DiagramF
Letter G DiagramG
Letter H DiagramH
Letter I DiagramI
Letter I DiagramI
Letter J DiagramJ
Letter J DiagramJ
Letter K DiagramK
Letter L DiagramL
Letter M DiagramM
Letter N DiagramN
Letter O DiagramO
Letter P DiagramP
Letter Q DiagramQ
Letter R DiagramR
Letter S DiagramS
Letter T DiagramT
Letter U DiagramU
Letter V DiagramV
Letter W DiagramW
Letter X DiagramX
Letter Y DiagramY
Letter Z DiagramZ
Letter Z DiagramZ

When AO is held, as that's not valid fingerspelling, the bottom row of the left hand (SKWR) will turn into binary number input from 0 to 9.

binary number patternnumber
Number 0 Diagram0
Number 1 Diagram1
Number 2 Diagram2
Number 3 Diagram3
Number 4 Diagram4
Number 5 Diagram5
Number 6 Diagram6
Number 7 Diagram7
Number 8 Diagram8
Number 9 Diagram9

If TP (F) is also held, the number input will specify function number keys.

binary function number patternfunction
F1 DiagramF1
F2 DiagramF2
F3 DiagramF3
F4 DiagramF4
F5 DiagramF5
F6 DiagramF6
F7 DiagramF7
F8 DiagramF8
F9 DiagramF9
F10 DiagramF10
F11 DiagramF11
F12 DiagramF12

Switcher

When * is used, the left bank will switch from fingerspelling letters, to a reflected and modified symbol dictionary. This will allow you to apply modifiers to symbols. However, please note:

Due to the way plover can operate and the way computers receive shortcut keys, when specifying a symbol, you only specify the key it is mapped to in the current keymap. This means that if the symbol is under shift, then you still need to use the shift modifier. For example, control+shift+1 is not the same as control+!, you still need to add in the shift modifier.

Additionally, while using the switcher for symbol specification, the A and O keys are used to specify variants of a particular symbol, similar to the emily-symbols dictionary.A represents adding 1, while O represents adding 2 to the entries below.

symbol patternoutputname
tab Pattern Diagramtab, delete, backspace, escapetab, delete, backspace, escape
arrow Pattern Diagramup, left, right, downup, left, right, down
page Pattern Diagrampageup, home, end, pagedownpageup, home, end, pagedown
blank Pattern Diagramescape, tab, return, escape, tab, return, space
exclam Pattern Diagram!, , ¬, ¡exclam, , notsign, exclamdown
quotedbl Pattern Diagram", , ,quotedbl, , ,
numbersign Pattern Diagram#, ®, ©,numbersign, registered, copyright,
dollar Pattern Diagram$, €, ¥, £dollar, euro, yen, sterling
percent Pattern Diagram%, , ,percent, , ,
apostrophe Pattern Diagram', , ,apostrophe, , ,
ampersand Pattern Diagram&, , ,ampersand, , ,
parenleft Pattern Diagram(, <, [, {parenleft, less, bracketleft, braceleft
parenright Pattern Diagram), >, ], }parenright, greater, bracketright, braceright
asterisk Pattern Diagram*, §, , ×asterisk, section, , multiply
plus Pattern Diagram+, , , ±plus, paragraph, , plusminus
comma Pattern Diagram,, , ,comma, , ,
minus Pattern Diagram-, , ,minus, , ,
period Pattern Diagram., ·, ,period, periodcentered, ,
slash Pattern Diagram/, , , ÷slash, , , division
colon Pattern Diagram:, , ,colon, , ,
semicolon Pattern Diagram;, , ,semicolon, , ,
equal Pattern Diagram=, , ,equal, , ,
question Pattern Diagram?, , ¿,question, , questiondown,
at Pattern Diagram@, , ,at, , ,
backslash Pattern Diagram\, , ,backslash, , ,
asciicircum Pattern Diagram^, «, », °asciicircum, guillemotleft, guillemotright, degree
grave Pattern Diagram`, , ,grave, , ,
bar Pattern Diagram`, , , ¦`
asciitilde Pattern Diagram~, , ,asciitilde, , ,

A few favourites

This is a list of a few shortcuts I use often so you can see how it all comes together. :)

ChordUse
spotlight Pattern Diagrampress cmd+space to activate spotlight search on my mac
workspace Pattern Diagrampress control+right to move over a desktop on my mac
sigint Pattern Diagrampress control+c to interrupt a running program when programming
sigquit Pattern Diagrampress control+\ to stop a running program when programming

Poster

Check out the summary poster made by @sammdot for a nice one-page overview of how the whole dictionary works! emily-modifiers-poster