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Awesome slogan idea!

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DreymaR said:

Do your keyboard a favour: Colemak.

this is not about doing your keyboard a favour, its about doing your fingers a favour!!

How about

fast, faster, colemak

or

comfortable, more comfortable, colemak

okay, the last one was a joke. the first one just sucks.

Last edited by vilem (24-Apr-2007 19:01:19)
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No, I like the idea that you're doing your keyboard a favour. The fingers are so obvious. As a keyboard lover, I find the idea of a keyboard with feelings very cute. On a more serious note, this is exactly the kind of slightly bizarre discrepancy that ad agencies use intentionally to create interest and tension. Nothing beats tickling the old brain folds a bit.

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yeah, but DreymaR, most people are normal, so we'd want to target our slogan at them...

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  • Shai
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My favorite slogan so far is DreymaR's "Love your fingers. Colemak."; I also liked NeoMenlo's "Your fingers will thank you!" which is also very nice, but "Love your fingers" is more catchy and only 4 syllables.
I also really liked NeoMenlo's "Take miles off your fingers", but it irks me to use the (mostly) obsolete imperial units in a slogan for a modern keyboard layout, and the other variations of "miles" don't sound as good IMO.

Keep them coming!

Last edited by Shai (24-Apr-2007 22:20:44)
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Kilometers sounds awkward. Maybe it's just me though.

I'm in the US, so I use imperial without even realizing that it isn't what you use. Here, most people don't look at it as obsolete. I think the majority of people know that metric is easier and that the rest of the world uses it, but since it's so deep into society it doesn't really feel obsolete.

I think this may be one of those things that we should also consider.
Colemak is to QWERTY as metric is to imperial.

Not the most perfect, but a pretty accurate analogy. For most of you, who use metric, it won't make sense. You are similar to those who already use colemak. Those who are still using imperial, would understand perfectly why exactly someone wouldn't want to switch.

It's not "normal". The transition is expensive. It seems to be only slightly easier when you're on the outside. Most importantly, you don't really think about it that much.
Nobody here ever complains "I hate converting feet into miles" even though most of us don't even know how many feet are in a mile without looking it up.

I think that whatever the slogan is, it should stress that It IS worth it to switch.

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I would say

"Love your keyboard. Colemak"

in the sense that because of Colemak you are no longer straining, frustrated, in pain, etc.
because of your keyboard. 

I already love my fingers. 

at your service,
kbs

Last edited by keyboard samurai (24-Apr-2007 22:13:23)
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That actually makes a lot of sense when you put it that way.
I don't think that the phrase quite expresses the idea though. It took a little more explaining for me to get it.
maybe "Colemak. LEARN to love your keyboard."

The part that I did not get was the change in my current feelings. Most people don't love their keyboards or having to type, they kinda just put up with it.

maybe "Colemak: Enjoy typing"
or even "Colemak: Learn to enjoy typing"

i like learn because you have to learn the layout in order to enjoy it.

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  • Shai
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I thought up of another few:
* "Don't type off-key" (maybe something else related with music)
* "Learn to love typing" (a bit more catchy than "Learn to enjoy typing")
* "Rediscover typing" (variation of Firefox's "Rediscover the web")
* "Who moved my keys?" (pun of "Who moved my cheese?")
* "Master your keyboard. Colemak."
* "Colemak. Typing made fun."
* "No place like home (row)"
* "Colemak. It feels so good."

Last edited by Shai (29-Apr-2007 11:54:23)
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wow. We have a ton of great suggestions... how are we going to decide?

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I agreed. These are some wonderful slogans. Perhaps we could narrow it down and have a poll on which slogan people think is best?

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Colemak: Typing for Human Beings

:-P

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Shai said:

I thought up of another few:
...
* "Who moved my keys?" (pun of "Who moved my cheese?")

I read that as someone looking for their car keys, and then came up with these:

"Find your keys where they should be."
"Leave your keys in the right place."

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okay, that's really not bad! But on top of that we also need a really catchy slogan... something short but precise.

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What we have so far.

Your fingers will thank you!
Learn it once, enjoy it for life!
Invest a little, save a lot
Colemak – learn once, enjoy for life!
Colemak - learn once, enjoy for life...
Colemak - perfection at your fingertips
Colemak - your next lifehack. Install today!
Better by Design.
Finger clickin' good!
Because QWERTY hates you!
Impress your boss
Reward your fingers
Relieve your fingers
Take miles off your fingers
Designed for the computer age
Travel less, type more
The natural layout
Statistically Better Design
Modern, Unique, Easy
Fast, Accurate, Easy
The better choice for typists
Learn it, Use it, Love it
Stop wasting time, do something useful
More Typing, Less Distance
More Typing, Less Leaping
Less distance, more typing
Colemak – the improved layout for a new millennium
Colemak - the improved layout, for the computer era
Colemak. The new black.
Do your keyboard a favour: Colemak.
Love your fingers. Colemak.
Fast, faster, Colemak
comfortable, more comfortable, Colemak
Colemak. LEARN to love your keyboard
Colemak: Enjoy typing
Colemak: Learn to enjoy typing
Don't type off-key
Learn to love typing
Rediscover typing
Who moved my keys?
Master your keyboard. Colemak.
Colemak. Typing made fun.
No place like home (row)
Colemak. It feels so good.
Find your keys where they should be.
Leave your keys in the right place.

MyFavs said:

Take miles off your fingers.
Learn it, Use it, Love it.
Fast, faster, Colemak
Colemak - learn to love your keyboard.
Master your keyboard. Colemak.
Designed for the computer age.
Learn to love typing.

Last edited by NeoMenlo (30-Apr-2007 23:04:18)
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Leave your keys in the right place.

I like that one.

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None of Neo's favs appeal much to me, and vice versa it seems. Same with others I suppose. This is difficult.

Better let Shai decide I guess. I have no idea how we could even narrow it down enough to make a poll effective.

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  • Shai
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Excluded for being too long: (I want a slogan to be no more than 6 syllables, excluding "Colemak")
* Learn it once, enjoy it for life!
* Invest a little, save a lot
* Colemak - perfection at your fingertips
* Designed for the computer age
* Statistically Better Design
* Do your keyboard a favour: Colemak.
* Stop wasting time, do something useful
* Colemak - the improved layout for a new millennium
* Colemak - the improved layout, for the computer era
* comfortable, more comfortable, Colemak
* Find your keys where they should be.
* Leave your keys in the right place.
* The better choice for typists
* Learn it, Use it, Love it (too long because of the pauses)

Excluded because it doesn't give any information:
* Colemak - your next lifehack. Install today!
* Better by Design.
* Impress your boss
* Who moved my keys?
* The natural layout
* Colemak. The new black.

Excluded for misc. reasons:
* Colemak. LEARN to love your keyboard – loving your keyboard sounds weird
* Colemak - learn once, enjoy for life! – shorter, but doesn't sound like proper English
* Because QWERTY hates you! – a slogan should be positive
* More Typing, Less Leaping
* Modern, Unique, Easy – a list of adjectives is not a slogan
* Fast, Accurate, Easy – ditto
* More Typing, Less Distance – duplicate of Less distance, more typing
* Take miles off your fingers – uses Imperial units
* Finger clickin' good! – you click on a mouse, not on a keyboard
* Travel less, type more – people would rather travel more

We're left with the following:
* Less distance, more typing
* Colemak: Enjoy typing
* Colemak: Learn to enjoy typing
* Learn to love typing
* Rediscover typing
* Love your fingers. Colemak.
* Your fingers will thank you!
* Reward your fingers
* Relieve your fingers
* Fast, faster, Colemak
* Don't type off-key
* Master your keyboard. Colemak.
* Colemak. Typing made fun.
* No place like home (row)
* Colemak. It feels so good.

I prefer not to do a poll for the moment> I would like everyone to write a few words about what they like or don't like about each slogan. When you reply, sort them from your favorite to least favorite.

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the only one I remotely like of what's left is

Less distance, more typing


maybes ...

* Master your keyboard. Colemak.     --- maybe but something not quite ....
* Colemak. Typing made fun.            --- maybe but it won't initially be all that fun
* No place like home (row)                --- cute , maybe too cute


total rejects...

* Colemak: Enjoy typing                --- yawn, boring, like saying "enjoy watching paint dry"
* Colemak: Learn to enjoy typing   --- see above
* Learn to love typing                     --- like saying "learn to love work"
* Rediscover typing                        --- reaction likely to be indifference to this or see above
* Love your fingers. Colemak.        ---  I already love my fingers, slightly naughty connotation here
* Your fingers will thank you!         ---  cheesy, very cheesy
* Reward your fingers                     ---  a manicure ?
* Relieve your fingers                      ---  sounds strange
* Fast, faster, Colemak         --- making claims that won't impress many good qwerty typists (my sister for one), wrong thing to focus on, too controversial

* Don't type off-key                          --- typing on a piano ???? as a musician I'm not into this one.
* Colemak. It feels so good.               --- sounds like a bad commercial.  way too corny.

Last edited by keyboard samurai (01-May-2007 22:35:23)
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Heh, Shai actually took my KFC joke (semi-)seriously.  :)  You never know on the net, for sure. But that one could never ever have taken to the air, and not because keys don't click under my fingers (they do).

The "lifehack" one gives a lot of information, come on. Colemak is just that, one of my better lifehacks. That's just way to geeky to use. Anyway...

I think that Shai's and Samurai's rejections make sense to me as well, for the most part.

"No place like home (row)" may need work but it's growing on me. The main problem is the parentheses in that slogan, I feel. "No place like home row" or "There's no place like home row" should work; the first feels truncated but so does the second because of the missing "the" which on the other hand will probably make it too long. A dilemma there.

Maybe another "home" one that's not so cute might fit the bill? Not sure what. "Stay at home – get farther"? (Disclaimer: That was a joke, heh; it's still kinda cute).

– "Less distance, more typing" sounds like a strict school teacher snapping commands at me. No thanks.
– "Typing made fun" is a bit too fluffy? "Oo, squee, I'm typing, omg!", if you catch my drift.
– I didn't fall for "Master your keyboard". Sounds like the keyboard is still a wild lion but we became lion tamers. We need to make it sound like it went from wild lion to luck dragon and we can fly because of that.
– I can see how the potential connotation bites "Love your fingers" in the ass.

"Rediscover typing" isn't bad. I'm not indifferent to it at least, don't see why others would be and I disagree that it sounds anything like "learn to love work".

"Take your typing further"
"Typing just got better (again)"
"The keys to better typing"
...I have a feeling we're not done yet.

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how about

There's no place like home
       (arstdhneio)

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Interesting one, I think. It even introduces a key feature of the layout (which could also be made a graphic).

Colemak – tune your keys!

(See the T-shirt topic.) I fell for the double connotation of a tuned car (power and speed to the fingers) and a tuned musical instrument (finesse and beauty). Might appeal to a broad group that way?

There's also "Style your board" for the skater reference, but I don't think that works as well because then it'd be more about looks which isn't so appealing.

Last edited by DreymaR (02-May-2007 00:30:38)

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My two cents:

Look at some famous slogans:
Nike - Just Do It
Apple - Think Different
L'Oreal - Because You're Worth It

None of these slogans actually describe the product, rather, they appeal to the feelings of the customer/user.

So, I'm going to vote for something that touches my inner self!

--
padde,
colemak consultant

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It just struck me that if the slogan is combined with a layout graphic, this might actually work:

There's no place like ARSTDHNEIO

Without a graphic, it might be possible to pull it off well using a Keycaps font for the home row too; however, I don't think those are standard in most systems.

If ThinkGeek can make T-Shirts saying "There's no place like 127.0.0.1", then by Jove we should be free to use that one (even if TG are a breed apart)!

The home row on the graphic would be a bright yellow, and the other rows grass green (or brick red like it is at the start in Munchkin City; or possibly one of each). And on the back of our T-Shirt, it'd say We're not on QWERTY anymore.  :D

OzYellowAndRedBrick.JPG

Last edited by DreymaR (02-May-2007 14:22:10)

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throwing in a couple of slogans.

Colemak. Feel good.
Colemak. Change the rules.
Colemak. Be innovative.

--
padde

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Honestly, you guys want to make this look like it's for everyone, but many people out there don't use their brains.  A huge chunk of people use Windows, IE, and QWERTY, and that group of people, who don't think outside the box, are the people who may just be hardest to target.
I think that it's important to help them think outside of the box first, which unites your objective with that of the Linux community in general.  As this is the case, I think it's important to get colemak included with major Linux distributions' layout lists.

My recommended course of action: officially put colemak under the BSD license.  This takes it from "public domain" to "open source", immediately making it more attractive for inclusion in major Linux distros like Ubuntu.  Contact the Linux keyboard layout software people, let them know that you exist, and why you're worth including in with other pre-installed keyboard layouts.

Make your motto: "Colemak: Rediscover Typing", to make you seem more familiar to firefox users.  Or, you could have multiple mottoes of varying lengths to cater to different uses, and help make the process of elimination easier by having more survivors ;) .  Say, one for a simple catchphrase, one for t-shirts, one for people with RSI, etc.

Colemak: It's what the doctor ordered.

Or, hey, you could play on the alt-alt theme, and rhyme, and throw in clichés, and yet another catchphrase, all at the same time. (man I love special characters on the fly.)

You don't use Windows and you don't use a Mac.
We don't use QWERTY and we don't use Dvorak.
Third time's a charm.  Colemak: designed for your fingers.
Ok, now I'm probably just going overboard.

All said, my main point is that you're not going to get very far by targeting the brain dead masses (sorry to be harsh- maybe I'm slightly elitist...), something us other life hackers have learned over the last 5 years fairly well.  Target the rest of us nerds.  Target family members of the dvorak people with inferiority complexes ;)  , target Linux and BSD users, Firefox users, slashdot-digg-engadget readers, etc.  And remember that the use of an official BSD license will make you more attractive to them.

I know you want to be out there for everyone, but you already have windows and mac covered. And the BEST forms of advertisement, in fact the only forms of advertisement I cooperate with, endorse, or respect, are facts and satisfied customers.  The facts you have well covered, and the quickest way to get the most satisfied customers is to target us open source nerds.  I have proof that this works, too.  The only person I've convinced to switch to date is a member of this group, and if I wasn't one, I would never have come across this site.  Once all of us use it, it will simply be a matter of the general public coming to their senses.

Side note (as if this post wasn't long enough): it would be very nice if the Linux installation wasn't so hard.  I'm fine with command prompt stuff, but when it doesn't work right the first time, it's easy to give up on.  Perhaps someone here could make an automated Linux installer or .deb archive?

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