User Guide: RGB Layers
A brief guide of using “RGB layers”, and how we get the most out of it.
This guide is in development, if you want to report an error or give any recommendation, please contact me anytime. I deeply appreciate that.
Firstly, what are layers?
At first glance, this concept is a little confusing to new users. But by the time you get used to it, your typing experience with a compact keyboard is much more enjoyable.
The fact is, we – computer keyboard users – have already used this function since the first day. For example: Shift+1 for exclamation mark (!), Shift+2 for at symbol (@), and so on. By combining Shift key with another key, you can get more symbols/characters. This is how Layers works, in the most basic use case.
Modern keyboards, especially custom keyboards take this concept to a whole new level. A keyboard can contains various layers (like having Shift1, Shift2, Shift3,…), and we can switch between them easily. If you are a multilingual writer, you can change your keyboard from Latin to Chinese/Korean/Japanese layout, and switch back anytime.
Keyboards are becoming more and more compact. 65%, 60% or even 40% layouts are well-known in custom keyboard community. Less keys does not mean less functions, as we can take advantage of using layers. Below is an example of a 40% keyboard with 6 layers (source: r/MechanicalKeyboards):
Read more in QMK documentation:
What is "RGB Layers"
So, you have a keyboard with 3 layers, or a macropad with 6 layers. How to know which layer is currently active?
QMK Firmware has a feature called “Lighting Layers“, it uses lighting LEDs as status indicators of the current layer. The LEDs change color everytime you switch layer (for instance, they are green when you are typing in Layer0, by the time you switch to Layer1, the LEDs turn red, it will be green again when you switch back to Layer0).
Lighting Layers is fantastic, but it requires some coding skills and ability of building & flashing firmware, which is not user-friendly. Also, each user has their own configuration (that’s what custom keyboard all about!), so it will be better if every user can have their own setup.
We did a small tweak in our firmware, and combine Lighting Layer with VIA (a real-time keymapping software). Now you can configure “RGB Layer” anytime you want:
- setting individual color to each layer
- choosing which LEDs to be used
- turning RGB Layers feature on or off
As all settings can be changed within VIA app, it is easy and super fast. You can also see the actual color change when clicking the color panel.
How to enable this feature?
Currently, we have this feature enabled in all new products that have built-in lighting (RGB backlight or RGB underglow).
If you are using a keyboard from KiwiKey and want to update this feature, feel free to contact me anytime.