Almost 6 months with Colemak

davkol · 14-Feb-2012 19:18:40

Hi,

it's been more than 6 months since I decided to go the Colemak way and 5 months since I actually made the switch, so it seems I've survived and I can share my experience. I'll try to make the long story short.

my background

I'm Czech and I write about 80 % in Czech, the rest in English. This means I need to use characters like ářšťďňéěíóúůýžč. Almost everyone in the Czech Republic uses the Czech QWERTZ (it's even worse than on the picture, because most Czech keyboards have the ISO layout, which I hate). It's terrible, especially for programming: you have to use AltGr for basic stuff like {} or ^ and what's worse, some combinations are different on GNU/Linux and MS Windows. This matters to me, because I study computer science.

I learned to touch type in 2006. In 2008, I could write at about 200 cpm and then 55 wpm in 2011. I didn't touch type "properly", though. I used my left index finger for more keys than I should (note: I'm lefty.)

the decision

My typing speed stopped improving and I wanted to switch to international US QWERTY because of programming. However, there was no standard for AltGr combos (on international QWERTYs). Of course, I took a look at Dvorak, but didn't like it: hand alternation wasn't my cup of tea and total incompatibility with QWERTY (esp. special characters) was an absolute deal breaker. And Colemak appeared to be just fine.

the beginning

I started with "QWERTY by day, Colemak by night" on 7. August 2011. I did a few lessons every day before going to bed for two weeks. I made two mistakes: (1) didn't print the layout image, (2) dedicated just about 20 minutes a day to practicing. I'm not sure, if it was due to the frustration or something else, but then I stopped practicing for two weeks.

the progress

However, I didn't give up. On 5. September, I went "cold turkey". Still no printed image. First week was a pain. 30 wpm @ ~85 % accuracy

I've been doing random online tests just occasionally, hence my records are very fuzzy.

1 month ... about 30 wpm @ 90 %
6 weeks ... up to 39 wpm @ 95 %
3 months ... over 40 wpm @ 95 %
16 weeks ... up to 50 wpm @ 95 %
4 months ... about 46 wpm @ 97 %
5 months ... about 48 wpm @ 97 %
23 weeks ... about 50 wpm @ 98 % (when I created this thread)
6 months ... about 55 wpm @ 98 % (update)
7 months ... about 57 wpm @ 98.5 % (update)
9 months ... 63.7 wpm @ 98.76 % (keyhero) and 62 wpm (10FastFingers) (update)
1 year ... about 60 wpm (5 min test @ hi-games.net), 64 wpm (10FastFingers) (update)
15.5 months ... about 64 wpm (10FastFingers) (update)
17 months ... about 65 wpm (10FastFingers) (update)

My best results have usually been about 5 wpm better than my average.

I started to use Caps Lock as Backspace after 3 months with Colemak. Great idea but makes using QWERTY on other PCs a painful experience. BTW I haven't even tried to keep my QWERTY skills... I use other people's PCs just few times a month for only a few minutes, so it doesn't make much sense to me. While using QWERTY, I have to look at the keycaps but I use all fingers at the same time, even though it's slow. I don't mind.

I've had some trouble with r/s and e/i, and j being a bit too far at first, but no other problems and I'm making less than 5 % mistakes at the moment.

I modified Colemak about a month ago — to get better access to diacritic. AltGr+a = á, AltGr+r = ř etc.

Anything else?

Last edited by davkol (05-Feb-2013 23:50:16)

pafkata90 · 14-Feb-2012 19:40:58

I'm glad you've joined us. And yes, many are indeed modifying the special characters to personal liking. How is Colemak with Czech? I assume better than Qwerty... The hell I'm Bulgarian and Phonetic Qwerty is much, much worse than "phonetic Colemak" (even though there isn't officially one). Either way I personally don't care that much cause I'm currently using my own layout (for Bulgarian) but I'm really typing on it 5% of the time or less.

Again – thanks for sharing your experience. It's a bit different, so maybe it'll be useful for newcomers.

Last edited by pafkata90 (14-Feb-2012 19:42:59)

davkol · 14-Feb-2012 20:10:25

Well, thank you. I think Colemak and Czech work just fine together, it's surprisingly similar to Colemak+English according to the Keyboard Layout Analyzer. Only issue is bit too common use of AltGr, but it's OK with my modification.

pafkata90 · 14-Feb-2012 20:34:29

Have you considered putting an unmodified dead key to get those special letters you need? Two consecutive keys are much easier to type than AltGr + a key. Well that depends on your keyboard and personal preferences but I think most would agree.

davkol · 14-Feb-2012 21:05:04

Sure, I've had this idea, but I need... all characters on my keyboard. It'd be easy with the ISO layout and the 102./105. key, but I prefer ANSI (my fingers are rather short).

Last edited by davkol (14-Feb-2012 21:08:23)

DreymaR · 15-Feb-2012 15:17:11

With short fingers, you should use a Wide mod (look it up)! It won't solve the problem of the left Shift I guess, but would help your right hand pinky. For the left hand maybe you could swap the LShift and VK102 keys?! That way your reach to the Shift would be like on the ANSI boards but without sacrificing the 105th key. I think it'd work for me at least, but maybe some people would feel it a bit unsafe with a normal-sized Shift key that way.

I too suggest dead keys. I'm making a bunch of national Colemak variants (implementing them for Linux/X.Org) by changing only a few key mappings and what I do for many languages is to add a few of their needed dead keys (like the existing national layouts already have). I put the Hacek on AltGr+7 in the standard setup, but for Czech you'd have to have it accessible unmodified as well. The acute is easy to use for me on AltGr+' but you'd probably need that one too. It really depends on letter frequencies a bit too.

davkol · 15-Feb-2012 16:10:34

Actually, my own keyboards are ANSI (except the laptop ATM). The wide mod looks interesting, but I'm waiting for a TypeMatrix 2020, so I don't think I'm ready for more experiments (possibly later?).

On the other hand, I might use the otherwise useless Menu key (I don't want to break the basic layout). I mean: use the AltGr itself for the accents and remap Menu to AltGr.

Tony_VN · 16-Feb-2012 03:16:44

Great to see another Colemak user. You will soon surpass your Qwerty speed in a year.

davkol · 18-Feb-2012 14:53:29

In a year? I hope to get there in two weeks (six months since going cold turkey).

I've registered at keyhero.com. My results depend on the keyboard I'm using at the moment and the environment (e.g. I sometimes do tests during breaks at school).

Last edited by davkol (18-Feb-2012 14:54:27)

pafkata90 · 18-Feb-2012 15:55:26

It depends a lot on the person. Given that you've been using it for 6 months, and you know the rate of your progress, I suppose your estimations would be correct.

davkol · 21-Feb-2012 22:08:25

After 24 weeks:

I've repeatedly scored 51 wpm on 2 minute test (hi-games.net).
My average on keyhero.com is 54,5 wpm with accuracy over 98 %.
I can peak at about 60 wpm and often type almost without any errors. However, I'm using a very compact scissor-switch keyboard (Benq DeskSaver) at the moment, so sometimes typos can be fatal, then my speed drops to less than 50 wpm with 96 % accuracy. I hope this is going to get better as soon as I get a mechanical keyboard or the TypeMatrix.

Last edited by davkol (21-Feb-2012 22:11:07)

Tony_VN · 22-Feb-2012 03:19:00

Filco brown + Ninja ABS keycaps.

Great to hear that you plan to have a mechanical keyboard. I am typing this post with a Filco (brown switches) and I think it increases my speed about 4-5wpm.

Using mechanical keyboards with ergonomic Colemak layout would be excellent for your hands.

Last edited by Tony_VN (22-Feb-2012 08:42:24)

Tony_VN · 22-Feb-2012 03:24:05

Here are some stories you could type with Amphetype

http://www.mediafire.com/?5bnc9j71959lb7t

20,000 miles under the sea - Jules Verne
Anna Karenina - Lev Tolstoy
Around the world in 80 days - Jules Verne
Return Sherlock Holmes - Conan Doyle
Secret Adversary - Agatha Christie
Sherlock Holmes - Conan Doyle

For more stories to type you may go to
http://gutenberg.org

davkol · 22-Feb-2012 06:58:11

Thanks for the motivation to try Amphetype. It works just fine (so far) under Wine!

I'd love to get a CM Storm QuickFire Rapid (Cherry MX Blue) as soon as it comes to Europe, and a Noppoo Choc Mini (Cherry MX Red) in the meantime. My experience with Cherry MY and white ALPS hasn't been very positive so far.

Last edited by davkol (23-Feb-2012 20:11:19)

davkol · 01-Mar-2012 23:01:45

Hell yeah! It's been 6 months minus three days since I went cold turkey... and my current speed is about 55 wpm @ ~98 % accuracy.

Tony_VN · 02-Mar-2012 03:43:45

Excellent progress. You'll get 5-15wpm more, with mechanical keyboards

DreymaR · 02-Mar-2012 08:45:50

davkol: You don't have to run Amphetype under Wine! You can run it natively in Linux
as it's in python. To avoid using the terminal, I just added a launcher like this:

#!/bin/sh
cd ~/bin/amphetype
python Amphetype.py

(Someone might know a better way of running it.)

DreymaR · 02-Mar-2012 08:48:00

@Tony: There you go again, with your absolutes that confuse the weak of mind! ;)

What you mean to say would be: "You [insert something more moderate than WILL] get 5-15 WPM...".

davkol · 02-Mar-2012 08:50:43

Uh, PyQt4... awesome!

davkol · 05-Mar-2012 17:31:52

OK, confirmed: 53-57 wpm with accuracy usually slightly over 98 %. After 6 months.

Repeatedly scored 55 wpm on 2-minute test and 56 wpm on 1-minute test @ hi-games.net today.

davkol · 12-Mar-2012 21:21:29

Just tried different style of typing: moving whole wrists across the keyboard. Six tests on KeyHero today... four of them over 60 wpm, three with accuracy better than 99 %. My average keeps around 55-57 @ 98+ % accuracy.

pafkata90 · 12-Mar-2012 21:58:00

Yes that flowing your hands over the keyboard is easier on the wrists also. Many people recommend it :)

penguin · 13-Mar-2012 07:08:21

@davkol

Late greeting. Hi!

I use exclusively Debian Linux. ^^
I'm a bilingual also.

davkol · 22-Mar-2012 23:20:15

Hello.

My recent (average) speed on keyhero.com is 60 wpm @ 98.7 % accuracy, best score is over 66 wpm.

I guess I'm at about calm 57 wpm. However, real-life speed is probably different: I guess it might be about 40 wpm (taking notes in Czech with loads of formulas in LaTeX, while sitting in an awkward posture on a totally unergonomic chair).

davkol · 09-Apr-2012 22:26:01

Little to none training recently. After 7 months, my long-time average is about 57 wpm with 98+ % accuracy. I'm becoming more fluent on the number row.

My daily driver is a Cherry G84-4100 with Cherry ML switches these days. I'm a bit slower on it (about 50 wpm) if I try to not bottom out, but it's comfortable, I love not having to bottom out. I've ordered the noppoo with red switches and hope to get it this month (I've heard CM Storm QFR is only 88 key in Europe and I hate the left ISO Shift.)

Last edited by davkol (11-Apr-2012 20:23:32)

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#1 14-Feb-2012 19:18:40