Learning to Touch Type Again

In the last couple years I tried a couple resources to practice touch typing and even decided to build my own, I practiced mostly on it now: typefaster.app

When I last relearned to type with a new layout (Workman), I think I started with keybr until I had all the keys in my head/hands (One night was enough to turn off the visual of a keyboard), then after a bit moved to monkeytype where I turned on all the capitalization and symbols and set it to 60 second tests. I did daily tests, often many, and would note down when I hit a new 5 or 10wpm incremental milestone. I think it was 10wpm jumps until progress slowed down, then I went to 5. Within a month or two I was pretty close to my old speeds. Once I seemed to stop going up significantly in speed anymore, I changed to untimed 50 word tests, this way I can let loose and it's done when it's done. I don't have to worry that I'll get discomfort from going all out for too long in a row. I get higher speeds this way, so it's not a 1:1 comparison to the settings I learned on, but perhaps closer to results I got on other sites in the past like 10fastfingers when I used other layouts.

I used to use qwerty, typed over half the letters with my left hand, very non-proper technique, but I was quite fast (160wpm is the best I recall getting). I had occasional left hand pain, so at one point I changed to Dvorak. Fast forward a year or two and I've been getting right hand pain which seemed worse than the old pain. I built a Pinky4 split ergonomic keyboard (columnar stagger). I loved the keyboard, but a month or two in, my pain wasn't really solved. I decided to learn Workman because of that. I'd considered some others like QGMLWB or Halmak, but Workman was pretty unique in that it has 50/50 hand usage, while qwerty is left-biased and dvorak is right-biased (the others have a bias as well). My hand pain is gone now and I'm extremely happy with both Workman and the Pinky4. I configured my layout in the QMK firmware, so I can plug my keyboard into whatever and not have to tweak OS settings (assuming the computer is set to qwerty).

I would recommend both an ergonomic keyboard and the Workman layout, but if you only went with one, changing to Workman may have the bigger impact. I would recommend full immersion and not running away back to your preferred layout. This ensures fast progression and constant progress, though it's frustrating at the start for sure.

I use Workman on my phone as well with AnySoftKeyboard. Many people say this is ridiculous, but I just don't want to look at or use qwerty anywhere if possible. Also, I didn't make the layout available, it was already there or I wouldn't have bothered probably. I did the same with dvorak previously.

The Kinesis Freestyle keyboards are also split, but have a more traditional layout. They come both wired and wireless, with the bluetooth Freestyle 2 version allowing you to connect to multiple devices with the press of a button. It's also much cheaper.

The benefit to these keyboards is they have a more traditional layout. This makes it easier to move to different keyboards. While the 360 is really nice, it also means you have to learn a new way of typing that doesn't map well enough to more traditional keyboards.

My wrists don't hurt since using the split keyboard, and find that using the split during the day is enough where when I do use a non-split keyboard, I'm fine.

I'm doing something a little more extreme: I decided to get myself an https://artsey.io 8-key Bluetooth keyboard, not because I was aiming to type faster (I do just fine with QWERTY, and would find it really odd to depend on a different layout), but because I wanted something I could use for short sentences alongside a mouse.

I've been toutchtyping from late elementary school, and do it "too much" especially with a genetic predisposition for fine joint problems, so I'm always trying different input devices.

I do OK on splits, except for tending to reach for "b" with my right hand. I've mostly corrected that as I've used them more. They certainly help with wrists and shoulders, especially being able to tent, and take the least retraining per ergonomic benefit.

I haven't tried an ortholinear/columnar, it's somewhere on the list.

I can not get myself fully acclimated to a non-qwerty layout, whether mechanically conventional or not, its just too deep in my hands. I've been making an occasional pass at dvorak since the mid 2000s, and somewhat more frequent and dedicated attempts to get a BAT/Spiffchorder style chorder (specifically a left handed one) into my fingers for the last decade or so, and I always end up sore and slow because I start to twitch toward the qwerty motion before making the right one for the other design. It doesn't help that they're unusual enough that there aren't (AFIK) any good tutor programs suited to the progression on that style of chorder. Better every time I try, but never quite good enough for real work.

I suspect a certain degree of limited benefit using something unusual, in the same way using a non-bash shell increases friction with the rest of the universe.