A few years ago when I first started college and was confronted with the fact that I'd have to do loads of typing I looked into different keyboards and different keyboard layouts (this is when I first found geekhack) so as not to overly strain my already strained hands (former North American Record for solving the Rubiks cub with one hand). Mechanical keyboards cost money so I still don't have one but I switched to Colemak as its free.
I type at around 70-80wpm on it and really like it a lot. When typing the fingers really do stay on the homerow the entire time. But after reading this article about Workman I'm almost tempted to switch, and reading from Keymonger I'm almost tempted to make my own layout. Due to my one handed rubik's cubing and being left handed my left hand is much more dexterous than my right hand is. And while I do agree that moving the fingers up is easier than moving left and right, its really not that big of a deal as he makes it out to be.
I'm very happy with Colemak now but I would be open to switching again if one layout was really shown to be better. And since I never learned to type on Qwerty learning curve from that is irrelevant to me.
Edit: On second thought. I'll probably just stick to Colemak lol. It's done me no wrong thus far.
If you like sticking with the home row, Colemak is excellent. That's what it's designed for. But I think keyboard layouts should be designed for what's most comfortable, and I don't quite agree with Colemak's focus on the home row. Specifically, it really seems to avoid upper row movements for middle fingers, which happens to be my favorite. The layout I made is statistically, markedly different compared to other layouts.
I have made it so that it completely overloads the middle fingers; they take around 40% of the share when typing in English. Dvorak and Colemak are around 26-29%. The difference is very noticable, and I'm happy to learn that burdening the middle fingers with such a load allows for some very nice, swift movements in English. (Haven't tried typing in Dutch yet.) It seems that all other layouts (that I am aware of), Colemak, Dvorak, Capewell, Workman, try to divide the load among fingers somewhat evenly, which I think is nonsense.
I've been thinking a lot about keyboard designs and layouts for the past few months, and I'm slowly getting to the point where I can be satisfied. But first, I'll need a board similar to the TrulyErgonomic (what a name). I have some very exciting ideas I can't wait to implement.
Using my layout for over three weeks now, I'm at around 40-50 wpm. Using Dvorak, I
thought I was at around 70-80 wpm, but looking at some typing test results I did a few months back it seems I was actually around 55-70 wpm. And that was after having learned Dvorak for 6 months, so I wonder how fast I will be. I don't have the exact stats at hand, but my layout's pinky usage is also very low, something like 6% or 8% for both fingers, which I think will help in speed and comfort.
(thread hijack imminent)
Of course I needed a name, and I've decided to call it the Medius layout, because it's focus is on the middle fingers (digitus medius), and that's what sets it apart:
http://patorjk.com/keyboard-layout-analyzer/0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,42,16,23,24,15,43,48,47,20,39,25,26,27,28,31,29,19,18,32,49,30,17,22,21,38,40,41,51,45,44,34,46,33,37,50,35,36,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60The point in favor of a custom layout is easily made, and the case for moving away from Qwerty is easier still.
If you're using the Qwerty layout, the home row buttons on the left hand are ASDF. First, try typing A, S rapidly. So you'd get asasasasasasasas, etc. Then type D, F repeatedly in succession: dfdfdfdfdfdfdfdfdfdfdf. If you're like me, typing df a lot with your middle and index finger is much easier and faster than typing asasas a lot. Basically, there are movements like that, that your hands are good at, all over the keyboard when you're typing. I'm no expert on this, but this seems to me rather simple.
Taking Qwerty again, doing this:
s d f s d f s d f s d f s d f
is much easier than doing it the other way around:
f d s f d s f d s f d s f d s
Using my own layout, I have noticed many such quick movements that go from ring finger, to middle finger, to index finger, which made it very fun to type when I was learning this layout. (Still, it was a painful experience like Tony says.) I'm a little unsure how I managed to pull this off, but perhaps it is because I overloaded the middle fingers that it allows so many movements of that kind. Or maybe it's just dumb luck. And by the way, even though the middle fingers by far do most of the work, it doesn't feel that way at all. It feels quite balanced. Another interesting point is that L, S are both keys for the pinky on Dvorak. On Medius, they're on the index finger.
I didn't design Medius for anyone else in mind. I saw that Colemak tries to differ from Qwerty as little as possible to allow easy learning, but I didn't like that. I don't want to be burdened by the dead past, so I didn't care about difference to Qwerty at all. There are also some minor considerations. For example, the Unix movement keys HJKL aren't in such a bad position as on Colemak. JK are next to each other and that makes things a bit easier for the Vi users among us (including CLI apps that use Vi-like keys).
I can imagine a piece of software that tells you to type stuff on a keyboard, non-words like as as as and df df df, see how well you do, and suggest a layout based on the collected data sample. The question is, is it worth the trouble. I'm not quite sure. Medius was designed for myself, and I didn't set out to create a layout for the English speaking world. But there might be people out there who would appreciate some extra efficiency. I would be one of those people, but I already took the plunge. It's also possible that you would have a group of layouts. Say, a layout like Colemak, a layout like Medius that focuses on the middle finger, and so on. So, you wouldn't need a totally custom layout, but instead an already existing layout would be suggested to you. And if you happen to be unique, or if there's something wrong with any of your fingers, you could opt for a custom layout.
Just the layout isn't enough. At least, not for me. Standard keyboards are total, asymmetrical mess. So, I have ideas that go beyond mere re-arranging of letters.
I don't think anyone enjoys using shift keys for sustained capital letters, which is why there's a caps lock. But this seems so poorly thought out. You have a modifier, called Shift, that gives you the second layer of keys, that makes letters capital letters. There's a problem, though, because the Shift key is accessed using the pinky. The pinky already covers several keys on the left and right. Which means, if you need a capital A, and the Shift key were on the left, you wouldn't be able to hit them both. So, you have two Shift keys; if you need a capital A, you use the Shift key on the right. But sometimes (or rarely for some people), you need ALL LETTERS to be capital letters. The hands alternate pressing down the Shift keys, and doing that constantly is not pleasant, so there's a third key: caps lock. To accomplish one thing, three keys are necessary. That seems awfully dumb to me. Even worse, the position of caps lock is closer and easier to reach than the far more often reached left Shift key. Just, wow.
I think you can easily reduce those three keys to just one key by having the Shift key accessible by either thumbs. If the space bar was the shift key, it would handle all those things; two Shift keys and caps lock. If you hold down one of your thumbs on the edge if your keyboard's case and pretend for a moment you're pressing a Shift key there, it still allows for great movement by all eight fingers. Using your other thumb, you'd continue hitting the space bar like you normally would. Try typing like that, and it may take some getting used to (my right thumb usually doesn't do anything at all), but I would guess that you'd get used to it pretty quickly. And because it's so easy to hold down and do much typing, it can easily double as a caps lock.
One reason why I think thumbs are underused is that the hands are too close together on a regular board. The thumbs can bump into each other. Separating the hands is also happens to be more comfortable. I think the case for hands needing to be more spaced apart is thus easily made.
There's some more ideas I have, but I've rambled on long enough already. First, I'll need to put some of these ideas into practice, which will hopefully be soon.
