This is for "through connected" holes only. Obviously. To use it for removable plugs it should be soldered on at least two points, this way it could be removed later or permanent fixed.

Regular straight pin headers can be used in a similar way, with NO special hole pattern if each second pin is bent slightly in a different direction. You should re-bend the tips to put it into the holes. Works only well with single row. Check each connection anyway.

Hah! I saw this on a board once and thought they did it so it would be hard to find a mating connector. Now I get it!

I wounder if 2 row header (ie. 2x5) would get away with this as well

I would guess not, as 2 row connectors are much stiffer. But you can try 2 piece of single row connectors side by side, eventually taking off some of the body material between them where they might touch

Sparkfun used this technique to ensure headers go vertically into the PCB https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/114

Thanks. This is awesome! So much more detail than my little writeup. There is even the Digilent CMOD board mentioned in the comments. I am going to "steal" this link and add it to the external links section. 

great idea, I would still solder but this is a great way to hold the header while soldering.  you could get away with just staggering the 1st, 2nd, last and 2nd to last pins.

I agree for permanent connectors, not much force is needed to slide the pin header out off the holes and soldering is highly recommended. This footprint is only intended for connections that are temporarily, like programming a uC and remove the header after the code is final (if that ever happens ;-)

Thank you for sharing, this seems like a great idea for non permanent headers. I was wondering though do you have trouble lining up the pins on the other side?

Thanks for the feedback, glad you like the idea. As long as the cone-shaped part of the pins (visible in the 2nd picture) fit into the holes before pressing them in, it is very easy to line them up. I just programmed 5 of the CMOD boards without any connection issues.

Cool I think I will be "stealing" this idea for future projects.

Thanks for sharing =)