Didn’t mean to mark it as 18… I’ll see if I can fix it.

You’re right: Layers are essential. I use three primary layers – colemak dh, numpad, and nav – along with several combos. Another key feature is what are called Callum-style mods, which are essentially “sticky”, one-shot modifiers.

I’ve been using this layout for quite awhile now, so I’m pretty used to it. It took a month or so to switch from qwerty to colemak, but the switch to ortholinear (like this one) and column-staggered took under a week. Switching to home-row mods took a day, and switching from those to Callum took about a week.