README.md

Emily's Modifier Dictionary

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)

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.

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 pattern	modifier
	control
	shift
	super
	alt

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

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 pattern	number
	0
	1
	2
	3
	4
	5
	6
	7
	8
	9

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

binary function number pattern	function
	F1
	F2
	F3
	F4
	F5
	F6
	F7
	F8
	F9
	F10
	F11
	F12

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

A few favourites

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

Chord	Use
	press cmd+space to activate spotlight search on my mac
	press control+right to move over a desktop on my mac
	press control+c to interrupt a running program when programming
	press 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