This is the fourth version in the Pine layout series. After a long hiatus from testing layouts, I revisted version 3 of Pine and made some adjustments, and I stumbled upon this configuration of letters which I found to be very comfortable even after months of use.

The main difference between V3 and V4 is that V4 flattens out the left hand by removing the RN stack. I use a dynamic typing style and I found that I would often need to press R with ring instead of middle to burst words effectively at high speeds. This pattern of use required my hand to contort in an uncomfortable way. To fix this pattern, I split up R + N, and moved Y over to the right hand to accommodate the changes. This change results in more natural finger patterns when burst typing.

Pine V4 was created using a mix of generation and hand-optimization and has been balanced for various stats:

• low same-finger use
• low lateral stretches
• low scissors
• low redirects

Additionally it was tailored to fit my own personal preferences:

• low bottom row use
• low upper-left pinky use

• V4 is easily angle-moddable by moving GV to the left and putting Z on index.
• W or V can be swapped with Z for a heavier middle at the cost of additional scissors.

Here's the layout in ascii form so you can copy/paste it.

q l c m k ' f u o y
n r s t w p h e a i /
j x z g v b d ; , .

If you have any questions about Pine V4 or alt layouts in general, feel free to join the discord server.