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One year with Colemak

ruudvanasseldonk.com

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Re: One year with Colemak

#11

Post by dkersten »

xiaomai wrote: post #2

I wish this would have gone more in depth in his experience with colemak and vim. I've considered switching keyboard layouts in the past, but applications with lots of keyboard shortcuts (like vim) make it seem too difficult.

I switched to Colemak about 3 years ago and I'm a very heavy vim user (basically all I use at work). I remapped the navigation keys to úéñí (for up, down, left, right). So AltGr+ueni, which on qwerty would be AltGr+ikjl and this makes for very comfortable one-handed navigation. As a bonus, I mapped ÚÉÑÍ to 10ú 10é 10ñ 10í.

Other than that, I did not configure any other vim keys.

Overall, I love colemak and couldn't imagine going back to qwerty. I've internalised it and find it natural to type with and I'm still often amazed at how much I can type with the home row and I love how common key combos just roll off the fingers (ie they use keys that are right next to each other or otherwise really really easy to type in combination).

I dunno if I'm really much faster. Probably not, but my accuracy has improved and I find it much more comfortable for long periods of typing.

Re: One year with Colemak

#12

Post by thesteamboat »

When I was in college I took up Dvorak for a while. It was definitely an interesting experience trying to switch between Qwerty and Dvorak with any frequency. I found that I could touch type in either, but to type Dvorak I had to look at the screen and to type Qwerty I had to `look' at the keyboard. When I wanted to type Qwerty it didn't matter if my eyes were shut, but my head had to be tilted down.

Re: One year with Colemak

#13

Post by legulere »

xiaomai wrote: post #2

I wish this would have gone more in depth in his experience with colemak and vim. I've considered switching keyboard layouts in the past, but applications with lots of keyboard shortcuts (like vim) make it seem too difficult.

The only real problems I'm having with vim:

hjkl is awkward: only h stays the same, j moves down but is on the upper row, k moves up but is on the lower row, l is on the upper row (though you still have space)

You can't use 'jj' for entering normal mode from insert mode anymore. 'nn' (what is at the same position as qwerty 'jj') is quite common when typing stuff, similar for all other keys you have your fingers on (maybe not 'ii'). So I settled for 'hh'

The other stuff isn't really an issue in vim.

I don't have problems with anything else really. Most standard gui shortcuts remain unchanged

Re: One year with Colemak

#14

Post by Seghers »

I'm using Colemak for 2-4 years and I have the same Experience(helping someone using another layout, non-blind typing previous layout, games) as you have. I used Azerty 95% and Qwerty 5% before the switch. Because I don't type much French anymore, I'm not missing Azerty layout.

I'm even using Colemak on Android.

Re: One year with Colemak

#15

Post by read »

hkmurakami wrote: post #6
nanexcool wrote: post #3

I switched to Dvorak about 7 years ago. In hindsight I probably should have stayed with Qwerty. Nobody can use my machines. My girlfriend already knows to Ctrl-Shift to change keyboard layouts, but that's on my PC where Windows is in English. On my laptop with Windows in Spanish it's Alt-Shift. Even I get confused sometimes. Most games I play don't recognize layouts, so WASD doesn't work. I have to Ctrl-Shift before…

As a person with RSI in both wrists, I'm glad I changed to Dvorak last year, including a change to the kinesis keyboard. That being said, I can never apply to grad school anymore because I can no longer type in qwerty and won't be able to take the way portion of those electronic tests very well. (And that would affect my performance in other sections)

Why must you type in qwerty to take the tests? Can't you bring in your own keyboard that supports Dvorak in hardware?

Re: One year with Colemak

#16

Post by Ruud-v-A »

Seghers wrote: post #14

I'm using Colemak for 2-4 years and I have the same Experience(helping someone using another layout, non-blind typing previous layout, games) as you have. I used Azerty 95% and Qwerty 5% before the switch. Because I don't type much French anymore, I'm not missing Azerty layout. I'm even using Colemak on Android.

I still use Qwerty on my phone, because I always type with two fingers. Does Colemak have any real advantage there? The muscle memory for two-finger touchscreen typing is different from that for ten-finger blind typing, so that is not an issue for me.

Re: One year with Colemak

#17

Post by StephenGL »

stronglikedan wrote: post #9
hkmurakami wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a person with RSI in both wrists, I'm glad I changed to Dvorak last year, including a change to the kinesis keyboard. That being said, I can never apply to grad school anymore because I can no longer type in qwerty and won't be able to take the way portion of those electronic tests very well. (And that would affect my performance in other sections)

I've been looking at the Kinesis keyboards to try to get some relief from wrist pain. Which do you use? Have you tried the MS Natural, or did you go straight to Kinesis?

Kinesis can strain your thumbs. I used one for 14 years. Still got major wrist pain and really bad thumb pain. Microsoft Sculpt Mobile and that style of keyboard ended up being my best option.

Re: One year with Colemak

#18

Post by uaygsfdbzf »

hkmurakami wrote: post #6
nanexcool wrote: post #3

I switched to Dvorak about 7 years ago. In hindsight I probably should have stayed with Qwerty. Nobody can use my machines. My girlfriend already knows to Ctrl-Shift to change keyboard layouts, but that's on my PC where Windows is in English. On my laptop with Windows in Spanish it's Alt-Shift. Even I get confused sometimes. Most games I play don't recognize layouts, so WASD doesn't work. I have to Ctrl-Shift before…

As a person with RSI in both wrists, I'm glad I changed to Dvorak last year, including a change to the kinesis keyboard. That being said, I can never apply to grad school anymore because I can no longer type in qwerty and won't be able to take the way portion of those electronic tests very well. (And that would affect my performance in other sections)

If it's just remembering Qwerty that is holding you back, it shouldn't be a problem.

I switched to Dvorak many years ago. Typing Qwerty was very frustrating for the first ~two weeks while learning Dvorak, but not a problem after that.

I rarely type Qwerty now (maybe a few words every fortnight), but I can still touch type it without any trouble or significant speed loss.

A friend of mine learned Dvorak before Qwerty. He can still type Qwerty just fine, though it's a lot more annoying to him since he never bothered to become proficient at it.

I don't think learning Dvorak will lower your Qwerty proficiency except for first few weeks (or less) of learning. Muscle memory lasts a long time and returns quickly.

Re: One year with Colemak

#20

Post by trigoman »

read wrote: post #15
hkmurakami wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a person with RSI in both wrists, I'm glad I changed to Dvorak last year, including a change to the kinesis keyboard. That being said, I can never apply to grad school anymore because I can no longer type in qwerty and won't be able to take the way portion of those electronic tests very well. (And that would affect my performance in other sections)

Why must you type in qwerty to take the tests? Can't you bring in your own keyboard that supports Dvorak in hardware?

I took the GRE and pretty much skipped the written portion of it.

Before taking the test, they emailed me and asked me if I needed accommodations, to which I brought up the keyboard layout issue. They, however, wouldn't let me bring my own keyboard or change they keyboard layout. Typing in Dvorak does have it's disadvantages...

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