Is Colemak worth the switch? My journey to find out. - Experiences

soupysauce
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05-Sep-2013 23:24:48#1 Is Colemak worth the switch? My journey to find out.

Hello All. Soupysauce here.

Recently as I was looking for a new keyboard to upgrade from my current Dell L100, I came across the Colemak format. I've never looked into new keyboard layouts but saw that certain layouts are supposed to be better for typing and less stress on the hands etc. Since I'm currently an undergrad studying Computer Engineering, I figured I'll be doing a lot of typing and thought about making the switch, however, my current typing speed with QWERTY is already incredibly fast.
typetest

This was the fastest run I got with under 10 errors in 5 tries. 142 was the fastest with no errors.

Seeing as how I already type this fast with this mushy Dell keyboard, I was wondering if it was be worth it for me to make the switch to Colemak. Today starts my journey of learning this layout and I will update this whenever I can.

Thanks for tagging along or for giving me about 2 minutes of your time.

Cheers,
Soupy

Last edited by soupysauce (05-Sep-2013 23:25:13)

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Tony_VN
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06-Sep-2013 03:56:32#2 Re: Is Colemak worth the switch? My journey to find out.

Good luck to your Colemak journey.

You will type as fast in 3 months' time, but with comfort and relaxed typing feel that Colemak layout offers.

The first three weeks is the hardest, so make sure you have less paperwork to type in that period.

My fastest typing records http://hi-games.net/profile/4314
My switching experience https://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?id=970

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DreymaR
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09-Sep-2013 11:09:59#3 Re: Is Colemak worth the switch? My journey to find out.

Best of luck! Maybe you can be the world's fastest typist eventually? ;)

*** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
*** Check out my Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks for Win/Linux/TMK... ***

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soupysauce
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13-Sep-2013 02:00:44#4 Re: Is Colemak worth the switch? My journey to find out.

Alright Week #1 Update. I haven't spent a lot of time memorizing and working with colemak yet. As of today I just have the homerow down. Been crazy busy with work and moving houses and not much time for practice, but knowing the home row so far and after much research, I can understand why the Colemak layout is worth learning. My mechanical keyboard should be coming in soon which will hopefully help my typing as well as I'm almost done moving into my new house which leads to even more practice time for me. We'll see how this experience goes better in the future. I plan to do weekly updates but may find time to update more than that.

@Tony_VN I'm most likely going to be needing more than 3 weeks to learn this layout haha. Maybe about 5 weeks. But I'm looking forward to being a more a relaxed typer.

@DreymaR Maybe! I feel like I'm at a plateau at around 155wpm but this is just from years of experience, I don't even practice typing or anything of that sort. Haha.

Thanks for the luck guys. I'll need it. Especially with school starting around the corner.

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DreymaR
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13-Sep-2013 08:22:14#5 Re: Is Colemak worth the switch? My journey to find out.

Did you see this:

http://www.ryanheise.com/colemak/

Ryan's a fast typist, albeit not as fast as you. His experiences might be interesting. And 5 weeks? I'd allow for more than that... ;)

*** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
*** Check out my Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks for Win/Linux/TMK... ***

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soupysauce
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17-Sep-2013 09:24:01#6 Re: Is Colemak worth the switch? My journey to find out.

Check in #2, Currently have the whole middle row memorized, around 95% accuracy and around 45-55 wpm according to TypeFaster and keybr. I have some of the top row memorized but due to my QWERTY nature I'm not used to using my middle and ring finger as much when I type the upper row. I'm getting there. I have 2 weeks until school starts which means a lot of free time for practice. We'll see how much faster and more accurate I can get within these two weeks. I hope I can become efficient enough to where it doesn't slow my school work down. I have no trouble switching between QWERTY and Colemak so far, even though I only know the middle row. I'm very confident that Colemak is the way to go. I've been thinking about switching "cold turkey" soon but I know that all the PC games I play are QWERTY and I don't feel like changing up the setup too much.

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DreymaR
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17-Sep-2013 14:34:34#7 Re: Is Colemak worth the switch? My journey to find out.

Nice going. May I recommend plonking a list of the most common words into Amphetype and drill them? That's nice for both speed and accuracy, and working on the most common words first will pay off handsomely.

*** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
*** Check out my Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks for Win/Linux/TMK... ***

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soupysauce
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17-Sep-2013 22:07:55#8 Re: Is Colemak worth the switch? My journey to find out.

Interesting. I may have to go for that program, it sounds interesting. Btw, I appreciate the feedback DreymaR!

Last edited by soupysauce (17-Sep-2013 22:08:07)

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koekjestrommel1
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17-Sep-2013 23:26:17#9 Re: Is Colemak worth the switch? My journey to find out.

Good luck man! Getting back to 160 WPM will be one hell of a job. Do you still use qwerty in your daily life, or have you competely switched to colemak? Because the main thing I see here, is as soon as you completely swich to colemak your speed will increase a lot.

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soupysauce
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17-Sep-2013 23:40:55#10 Re: Is Colemak worth the switch? My journey to find out.

Thanks koekjestrommel1!
I plan on getting to at least 140wpm by Christmas and be fully switched over by then. I still use QWERTY daily just because I haven't memorized the whole Colemak board yet, school's coming up and I have programming to do, as well as just being used to QWERTY. I heard switching "cold turkey" aka completely switching to Colemak at once will actually frustrate me more and slow my productivity a lot which I have no time to do right now. But I do plan on being fully switched to Colemak by December. I practice everyday whether it be 30 minutes or 2 hours. Once I get the whole layout memorized then making the switch will be a lot easier.

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soupysauce
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01-Oct-2013 10:37:27#11 Re: Is Colemak worth the switch? My journey to find out.

Oh mannnn. Its been a while since I've updated. Currently this post is being typed out with all Colemak. I've pretty much made the full switch while touch typing. My wpm is somewhere around 50 but I know for sure it's going to rise soon. It's such a huge difference now that I can pretty much type without really stretching my fingers around. I've been pretty busy with school but I've been making huge progress with colemak. Will speedtest soon.

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