Author Topic: Wanna Switch - Colemak?  (Read 67021 times)

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Offline oneproduct

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Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #150 on: Mon, 05 December 2011, 09:13:08 »
You can also just install a Windows language pack for it (available on the Colemak site) so that it shows up in regional and languages settings. You can then add it to your list of keyboard languages and pick which one you want as default. This lets you use it in all places, including the login screen, but also lets you switch anytime you want as well using a hotkey. My default is Colemak but left alt + left shift changes to QWERTY.

For Mac and Unix they have Colemak available by default so you don't have to install anything special.
Layout: Colemak
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Offline dorkvader

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Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #151 on: Mon, 05 December 2011, 12:47:32 »
I still have my password in dvorak layout for my QWERTY computer. It's just as easy to type in, and doesn't make a real difference in use.

Offline Tony

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Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #152 on: Wed, 07 December 2011, 01:34:11 »
For passwords, since Colemak has qwahzxcvbm common keys with Qwerty, you can set a password that contains only these keys with some numbers to make it fine to type in either layout.
« Last Edit: Wed, 07 December 2011, 01:37:40 by Tony »
Keyboard: Filco MJ1 104 brown, Filco MJ2 87 brown, Compaq MX11800, Noppoo Choc Brown/Blue/Red, IBM Model M 1996, CMStorm Quickfire Rapid Black
Layout: Colemak experience, speed of 67wpm

Offline Tony

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Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #153 on: Sat, 17 March 2012, 02:42:18 »
Just one note: Colemak is 6% preference to the right hand, while Dvorak is 14% to the right and Qwerty is 15% to the left (Qwerty got most used E and T keys to the left hand)

So for balance between hands, Colemak is most balanced between three layouts, leaning a bit toward to the right hand. Most of us are right handed too.
Keyboard: Filco MJ1 104 brown, Filco MJ2 87 brown, Compaq MX11800, Noppoo Choc Brown/Blue/Red, IBM Model M 1996, CMStorm Quickfire Rapid Black
Layout: Colemak experience, speed of 67wpm

Offline stingrae

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Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #154 on: Thu, 05 April 2012, 08:48:26 »
Just hit 50 wpm on basic text in just 2 months and 1 week. The most I hit in qwerty with poor technique was 60 wpm so I am sufficiently close at this point so much so that I doubt the actual speed difference is that much. With time should get much much better and be able to cope with more text still need to work on using the correct shift as sometimes that bad habit takes over.
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Offline Tony

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Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #155 on: Thu, 05 April 2012, 23:24:43 »
Colemak or any other layouts give you comfort while typing, not 20wpm speed gain.

For speed you will type a bit faster, since all most frequently used keys are in the home row. 5wpm gain would be realistic.
Keyboard: Filco MJ1 104 brown, Filco MJ2 87 brown, Compaq MX11800, Noppoo Choc Brown/Blue/Red, IBM Model M 1996, CMStorm Quickfire Rapid Black
Layout: Colemak experience, speed of 67wpm

Offline Input Nirvana

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Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #156 on: Sun, 08 April 2012, 11:43:20 »
Yea, speed wpm is not the only criteria. Same speed using less effort translates to being able to type longer...so therefore produce more.

Several ways of looking at it.
Kinesis Advantage cut into 2 halves | RollerMouse Free 2 | Apple Magic Trackpad | Colemak
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Offline Burz

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #157 on: Thu, 30 August 2012, 06:07:08 »
I started touch typing with Colemak around the beginning of spring and practiced every day for the first 8 weeks -- but only sporadically after that. The point at which I really switched over was about 30wpm, although I didn't feel comfortable until I could sustain 40-45wpm.

Before Colemak I was only a 4-finger typist; I did not touch type at all and my average speed on Qwerty was about 50wpm. Now I'm at that speed with Colemak touch typing, and have been for a couple months. My accuracy is about 94% for actual text, and about 97% in Amphetype. Getting to 60wpm would be nice, so I plan to resume practice to get to that speed.

As you can imagine, learning touch typing was very hard esp. when you come from 50wpm speed on Qwerty and with no touch typing experience. Barring language barriers, it seems like the worst of all worlds. Someone with no typing experience would probably suffer less frustration than I did because they have no history or expectation of being able to just sit down and do 50wpm.

The two factors that were at least of some comfort were my pristine and new (to me) Dell AT-101W Alps board, and of course Colemak itself. With the drastically reduced hand and finger movement, I knew by the time I reached 12wpm that I wanted to stick with Colemak (and I'm so glad I did)!

If I could point to any mistake that held me back, it would be starting Colemak (or any layout) without the intention to stay relaxed and accurate. Forcing yourself and correcting too much won't allow you the mental breathing space to develop helpful techniques.

--
P.S.
I do find it a bit perplexing when people suggest that Colemak causes 'compatibility' problems because it is too different from Qwerty, and then suggest an alternative layout that changes slightly less keys. Any time you wish to stick with any alternative layout there is some potential for disappointment. Personally, I do not find it a challenge to momentarily switch to Qwerty when I'm in a situation were I can't use Colemak (it may be easier for me than others, because Qwerty is entirely different for me with look-hunt-and-peck).

If you think you *might* like Colemak, then give it a try anyway and see if you can get up to 20wpm and see how you feel after 4-5 weeks.

--
P.P.S.

I did look into some of the other alternatives like CarpalX, Workman and Dvorak before deciding to try Colemak. None of them seemed to offer a clear advantage over Colemak, and though I occasionally considered Dvorak over decades I guess it never pulled me in because the analysis behind it and the results were too feeble for it to really shine. And despite Microsoft being asleep as usual, having built-in support in Ubuntu and OS X really matters so Colemak it is. If I ever try another layout, it will be something more radical like Arensito; IMHO we've gotten about all we're ever going to get from the current set of assumptions about key placement and modifiers.
Matias Mini QuietPro  \\ Dell AT101W - Black ALPS  \\ SIIG MiniTouch x2 White XM - Monterey  \\ Colemak layout.

Offline Tony

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #158 on: Mon, 17 September 2012, 22:05:44 »
Very nice to hear another success story from a Colemak user. Hopefully one day Microsoft will include several popular layouts into Windows OS.
Keyboard: Filco MJ1 104 brown, Filco MJ2 87 brown, Compaq MX11800, Noppoo Choc Brown/Blue/Red, IBM Model M 1996, CMStorm Quickfire Rapid Black
Layout: Colemak experience, speed of 67wpm

Offline sth

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #159 on: Mon, 17 September 2012, 22:07:08 »
Very nice to hear another success story from a Colemak user. Hopefully one day Microsoft will include several popular layouts into Windows OS.
Wanna switch? OS X includes Colemak and Dvorak out of the box :D
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Offline sordna

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #160 on: Mon, 17 September 2012, 23:14:31 »
Why doesn't this page mention that OS X has Colemak built-in as of 10.7 (Lion) ?  Whoever is involved with colemak.com please update that page :-)
Kinesis Contoured Advantage & Advantage2 LF with Cherry MX Red switches / Extra keys mod / O-ring dampening mod / Dvorak layout. ErgoDox with buzzer and LED mod.
Also: Kinesis Advantage Classic, Kinesis Advantage2, Data911 TG3, Fingerworks Touchstream LP, IBM SSK (Buckling spring), Goldtouch GTU-0077 keyboard

Offline Input Nirvana

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #161 on: Fri, 21 September 2012, 23:57:53 »
Why doesn't this page mention that OS X has Colemak built-in as of 10.7 (Lion) ?  Whoever is involved with colemak.com please update that page :-)

Interesting, in the forums people were talking about Colemake being in 10.7 back in the beta days, and once Lion was released. So it has been known....
Kinesis Advantage cut into 2 halves | RollerMouse Free 2 | Apple Magic Trackpad | Colemak
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Offline bnitch

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #162 on: Sat, 22 September 2012, 20:42:07 »
Seems like most of you are already good typists and are just trying to reach your normal speeds with colemak, I on the other hand never took a typing course and have for years just used 4 fingers at the most. So if I wanted to get serious about typing ( having just gotten a mech. keyboard ) would it be worth switching the keys around to match Colemak and starting to learn to type from almost scratch with it? I'm the only one who uses the keyboard so it won't disturb anyone else. I guess what I'm asking is if you woke up one day and had forgotten how to type what system would you use.
I also only use Linux if that would make any difference.
« Last Edit: Sat, 22 September 2012, 23:08:58 by bnitch »
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Offline Input Nirvana

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #163 on: Sat, 22 September 2012, 20:54:21 »
Colemak.
Kinesis Advantage cut into 2 halves | RollerMouse Free 2 | Apple Magic Trackpad | Colemak
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Offline Burz

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #164 on: Sat, 22 September 2012, 21:38:27 »
I would use Colemak. If you read above about my experience with it, you'll see that I started in the same spot as you... 4-finger typist for decades, then decided to "get serious". I already knew Qwerty was crap, so I looked for the nicest layout I could find for normal keyboards. IMO, Colemak is it or very close to it.

Leaving the keys themselves in Qwerty configuration probably made no difference. I had a printout of Colemak from colemak.com which I left under my monitor and then discarded after a few weeks.
Matias Mini QuietPro  \\ Dell AT101W - Black ALPS  \\ SIIG MiniTouch x2 White XM - Monterey  \\ Colemak layout.

Offline Input Nirvana

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #165 on: Sat, 22 September 2012, 21:58:00 »
Colemak.
Kinesis Advantage cut into 2 halves | RollerMouse Free 2 | Apple Magic Trackpad | Colemak
Evil Screaming Flying Door Monkeys From Hell                     Proudly GeekWhacking since 2009
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Offline Tony

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #166 on: Wed, 26 September 2012, 09:16:10 »
Seems like most of you are already good typists and are just trying to reach your normal speeds with colemak, I on the other hand never took a typing course and have for years just used 4 fingers at the most. So if I wanted to get serious about typing ( having just gotten a mech. keyboard ) would it be worth switching the keys around to match Colemak and starting to learn to type from almost scratch with it? I'm the only one who uses the keyboard so it won't disturb anyone else. I guess what I'm asking is if you woke up one day and had forgotten how to type what system would you use.
I also only use Linux if that would make any difference.

Definitely yes. There are plenty of people like you who learn touch typing and Colemak at the same time. For more switching experiences and success stories, you can read here

http://forum.colemak.com/viewforum.php?id=6
Keyboard: Filco MJ1 104 brown, Filco MJ2 87 brown, Compaq MX11800, Noppoo Choc Brown/Blue/Red, IBM Model M 1996, CMStorm Quickfire Rapid Black
Layout: Colemak experience, speed of 67wpm

Offline xyril

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #167 on: Fri, 28 September 2012, 03:01:14 »
I share you my progression / experience video :)

7 weeks in colemak .


I took 1 year for touchtyping for qwerty with 181wpm.

and for 7 weeks in colemak, the result it absolutely astonishing !!

= My highest is 140 wpm - 135 wpm. Which is like 1/5 of  qwerty learning process ^^...


heres a link , u can view other video if u you want

www.youtube.com/xyrilvlog
feature=plcp

Offline Burz

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #168 on: Fri, 28 September 2012, 13:11:34 »
That's impressive, xyril. I wish I could type that fast.
Matias Mini QuietPro  \\ Dell AT101W - Black ALPS  \\ SIIG MiniTouch x2 White XM - Monterey  \\ Colemak layout.

Offline jwaz

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #169 on: Fri, 28 September 2012, 13:39:39 »
Woah, that is so fast... I'm at about 25wpm after a week -.-

Offline bnitch

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #170 on: Tue, 30 October 2012, 10:11:24 »
Also my left little finger has no feeling in it and only some in my left ring finger. Still Colemak?
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Offline gameaholic

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #171 on: Tue, 30 October 2012, 13:20:55 »
I've got a colemak cooler that I fill with beer from time to time.  It works pretty well, but sometimes it seems like the ice melts a little faster than it should.  I don't know if the insulation inside the plastic degrades with age or what...

Just saw something on mythbusters that said to add salt and water to the ice in a cooler.  Helps cool the beer faster.   The water gets so cold it can be painful to put your hand in sometimes though. 
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Offline Burz

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #172 on: Tue, 30 October 2012, 13:52:34 »
Also my left little finger has no feeling in it and only some in my left ring finger. Still Colemak?
Sure... Only one thing changes for the two leftmost fingers: S to R. Colemak will not make a difference for those two, but switching to touch typing will.

Also, don't arrange your keys for Colemak; just print the layout instead. You're not supposed to look at the keys.
Matias Mini QuietPro  \\ Dell AT101W - Black ALPS  \\ SIIG MiniTouch x2 White XM - Monterey  \\ Colemak layout.

Offline Input Nirvana

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #173 on: Tue, 30 October 2012, 23:14:40 »
Although everybody does it, I did too, looking at keys completely defeats the purpose of learning a layout to touch type.

:)
Kinesis Advantage cut into 2 halves | RollerMouse Free 2 | Apple Magic Trackpad | Colemak
Evil Screaming Flying Door Monkeys From Hell                     Proudly GeekWhacking since 2009
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Offline Tony

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #174 on: Thu, 01 November 2012, 03:48:55 »
Most typists do not learn the number row, so to type such $@#$^&(&* they neeed to look at the keyboard and it slows them down. Luckily such symbols are rare in normal text
Keyboard: Filco MJ1 104 brown, Filco MJ2 87 brown, Compaq MX11800, Noppoo Choc Brown/Blue/Red, IBM Model M 1996, CMStorm Quickfire Rapid Black
Layout: Colemak experience, speed of 67wpm

Offline davkol

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #175 on: Thu, 01 November 2012, 16:06:25 »
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« Last Edit: Mon, 02 July 2018, 17:03:23 by davkol »

Offline Rinsaku

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #176 on: Thu, 01 November 2012, 21:13:47 »
Ah It was about this time last year that i made the switch to colemak. Right before though, i had given dvorak a try. Though it did feel some of the wrist strain was minimalized, i was still having trouble with the workload on the pinkies. Colemak was a fine switch and i like that the bottom row was kept intact for shortcuts. I know i struggled for about 5 months but shortly after i climbed past my highest wpm was like 74-75, fast forward to now, i type almost 90 wpm, which is not all that great, but i was stuck at 75 for like 10 years >.< I know i would never go back. And the few times i forget my thumbdrive with my colemak layout on it, it lets me know how sloppy qwerty can be. Once i got the layout down i practiced by copying a pdf of a novel onto a wordpad. plently of material to keep you busy... as well as a good read. ^_^
Current Boards : Apple m0116 (Salmon Alps), B.Face (Mx Clears), Filco Tkl (Mx Blues), HHKB Pro JP (Topre), Jd45 (78g Zealios), KBParadise v60 (Gateron Yellows), KBParadise v60 (Matias Quiet Click), Kbt Pure (Kailh Bronze), Leopold FC660M (Mx Browns), Minidox (Mod-H), Pok3r (62g Zealios)

Offline jwaz

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #177 on: Sat, 10 November 2012, 20:35:07 »
Just finished programming Colemak into the Aikon on my MXMini. Now to do some cool function layer stuff like home row UNEI arrow clusters (IJKL for QWERTY)


Best justification for a Korean custom :cool:

Offline Tony

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #178 on: Wed, 09 January 2013, 07:41:08 »
For Qwerty users, Colemak seems to be the most preferred alternative layout available.
Keyboard: Filco MJ1 104 brown, Filco MJ2 87 brown, Compaq MX11800, Noppoo Choc Brown/Blue/Red, IBM Model M 1996, CMStorm Quickfire Rapid Black
Layout: Colemak experience, speed of 67wpm

Offline sordna

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #179 on: Sun, 03 March 2013, 22:01:28 »
Hi,
for those of you who are maintaining both QWERTY and Colemak (or other layout) skills, please post your WPMs here:

If you know 2 keyboard layouts post your current WPM for each
Kinesis Contoured Advantage & Advantage2 LF with Cherry MX Red switches / Extra keys mod / O-ring dampening mod / Dvorak layout. ErgoDox with buzzer and LED mod.
Also: Kinesis Advantage Classic, Kinesis Advantage2, Data911 TG3, Fingerworks Touchstream LP, IBM SSK (Buckling spring), Goldtouch GTU-0077 keyboard

Offline Tony

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #180 on: Tue, 24 December 2013, 01:42:06 »
Three year anniversary with Colemak. Three happy years! 15 years of Qwerty is not bad, but Colemak is much better than Qwerty.

I now type at an average of 70wpm, 15wpm more than with Qwerty. Switching is really tough at first, but the reward are long-term

Best luck to all of you guys.
Keyboard: Filco MJ1 104 brown, Filco MJ2 87 brown, Compaq MX11800, Noppoo Choc Brown/Blue/Red, IBM Model M 1996, CMStorm Quickfire Rapid Black
Layout: Colemak experience, speed of 67wpm

Offline yasuo

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #181 on: Tue, 24 December 2013, 02:02:35 »
tony,when  you switch to colemak you change  the layout with changing keycap or with sticker or blank keycaps?
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Offline Tony

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Re: Wanna Switch - Colemak?
« Reply #182 on: Tue, 24 December 2013, 02:40:04 »
tony,when  you switch to colemak you change  the layout with changing keycap or with sticker or blank keycaps?

I didn't change the keycaps at all, but kept a printed Colemak layout on paper and on screen, with small Qwerty notion to show which Colemak key is equivalent to which Qwerty key.

Not changing the keycaps has its own benefit of getting rid of bad habit of looking at the keyboard while typing. If you accidentally look at Qwerty keycaps, it can't help, so you don't look at it but look at the layout paper in front of you.

After three weeks, I could type at 25wpm, so I didn't look at that paper anymore.
« Last Edit: Tue, 24 December 2013, 02:44:04 by Tony »
Keyboard: Filco MJ1 104 brown, Filco MJ2 87 brown, Compaq MX11800, Noppoo Choc Brown/Blue/Red, IBM Model M 1996, CMStorm Quickfire Rapid Black
Layout: Colemak experience, speed of 67wpm