Hi,
I've been using Colemak for two weeks now. A guy on my company gave a talk about Colemak and that he was using it for the past years, and I give it a try to see...
I've been using a "cold turkey" approach, and I've use a tutor to learn it (I use Master Key on OSX). For the first week everything was OK, but after that, I felt a little discomfort on my left hand. Calling that "pain" will be too much, but is not something that goes out if I stop typing. By the way, the first day I experienced it, I stopped using the computer for the whole weekend, to try to relax, as my initial idea is that I was over training... The feeling on my left hand/forearm didn't dissapeared, not even just when I woke up, and then the monday I had no choice but to go to work and type. I took that easy, type slowly (but still using Colemak) for the last week, and not training at all...
Right now is more or less on the same point as the monday. It is not stopping me to type (and I clearly note that I am more confortable with Colemak), but I am not sure what to do. Precisely my idea of changing was to avoid long-term problems, as I am aware that, as a software developer, I work with my hands, and I will like to be careful with that...
Some comments:
- I had never experience any kind of discomfort using QWERTY, except for pushing me in training trying to go quick (if I did too many TypeRacer races, for example), but that goes out after resting a reasonable amount of time.
- When I use Colemak, it looks like I am leaving my fingers over the keys when I am not doing anything. That's probably because I am training to touch-type. When I use QWERTY, my fingers are not located directly over the letters. This "resting position" feels a little awkward, specially on my left hand.
- Another thing I have notice, is that I keep my wrists low, maybe even touching the desk. I tried to raise the hands for a more "standard" position, but then my arms get tired very quickly. I doesn't seem to see any kind of effect (relief, etc) for raising them, but, as I say, my arms get tired and I naturally lower them. I think I keep my arms sightly higher when typing on QWERTY.
- Another point is the use of CAPS. If I use QWERTY, it seems that, when I hav to type a Cap, I use the opposing SHIFT. Bt if I have to type a full word in all CAPS, I use only one (the one on the starting letter) and use it all the way down until finishing the word. I just adjust the fingers to type each letter. When doing that on Colemak, I have to be alternating one letter at the time, which is slow and stressful.
I am feeling a little confused about all that, as Colemak is supposed to help with this kind of issues. Should I go back to QWERTY? Should I try to rest, because maybe I'm not giving enough time to my hands to get use to Colemak? Any ideas?
Thanks!