A week in since my last post
I just scored 40 wpm and 98%
I have also changed my posture from keyboard far away and my whole forearm and elbows on the desk to keyboard closer, elbows by my side and wrists 'floating'
seems more comfortable
have ordered a filco minila blue (against advice given here) as it looks so cool - will be my 1st mechanical
my cheap-ass logitech k260 days are numbered...
minila arrived - it is very small, very heavy and very different to the k260
so much so it dropped my wpm to 20
i think i should soon recover though
it feels very 'crisp' in comparison - but it is noisy
the dual layer with the function keys makes it pretty efficient straight out of the box without having to mess around with software remapping
esdf arrow keys and backspace on ; are great
Grats, that looks really nice! I'm sure it's great to type on once you get used to it. The noise is just an added bonus... ;)
Compared to my Extend mappings, I don't like that Minila function key layer much. Ins on the home row – what *are* they thinking? I hardly use mine.
Also, the function keys are nice (and of course necessary) but their true power comes about when you can chord in modifiers at the same time: Fn(Caps)+A+4 for Alt+F4 for instance, in a quite comfortable one-hand chord.
So no way am I doing without my software remapping for now.
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hey dreymar
i guess filco have to provide the standard keyboard layout in their function layer
i think i'll prob switch to something more bespoke down the line - intend to give your wide angle a spin at some point
it is great though having the combination of high quality (in terms of sturdiness and switches) and the tiny form factor. nice to jettison all the cruft keys...
to provide a bit of balance to the experience posts where people are going from 0 - 70 in a month or so. I've been learning colemak now for almost 3 months and have plateaued at just shy of 40 wpm average with an average accuracy in the low 90's
a few ideas as to why my progress is so much slower
a) i probably haven't been practicing as much
b) i only started learning to touch type in january this year (qwerty)
c) i threw a mechanical into the mix a few weeks back and have found it very difficult to alternate between rubber dome, laptop and cherry blues
d) maybe my progress isn't slow, but the small sample of recent experiences posters have been particularly fast
in a nutshell though, i just find it very, very difficult to consistently hit the correct keys
that said, it did take me 6 months to reach ~50wpm in qwerty (i jacked qwerty in at the start of june)
i am starting to think i need to unlearn and relearn in terms of forcing myself to type slower and focus purely on accuracy
it feels pretty horrible to touch type with an accuracy less than 97%ish
If it makes you feel any better it's taken me years to get to the point where I'm a Typeracer megaracer (80+). My average is at least a good 20wpm below that. Feels like a lot of work - but you do get there in the end. I was in my mid thirties when I thought it was time to learn how to touch type, I suspect that the younger you pick up touch typing, the easier it is.
--
Physicians deafen our ears with the Honorificabilitudinitatibus of their heavenly Panacaea, their sovereign Guiacum.
good point - i shall add:
e) i am in my mid-thirties
right - my new approach is to ignore the wpm in typeracer and concentrate solely on accuracy - redoing each race until i exceed 98% no matter how slow i go...
focussing on accuracy and ignoring wpm is proving much more productive
probably should have tried this way round from the beginning
i'm sure that's the de facto advice given here, but somehow i got caught up in wpm
How we like to ignore oft trumpeted advice.
The thing to stress here is that increasing your accuracy simultaneous increases your WPM.
My fastest runs have been my accurate ones. They can feel like a trot at the time.
--
Physicians deafen our ears with the Honorificabilitudinitatibus of their heavenly Panacaea, their sovereign Guiacum.
I have set up two typeracer accounts to track my progress on my filco and my other keyboards separately
i.e. separating my progress into 'mechanical' and 'rubber dome'
what i noticed is that although my speeds are almost identical now across both categories, the sensation i get is that i am typing much faster and more smoothly on the rubber dome, or in other words, i'm slow and hesitant on the mechanical, even though there is actually almost no difference
it's very strange
on a tangent, i'm getting itchy fingers to try out those wide angle mods, but i think i will wait until i hit ~50wpm with >98%
have just discovered amphetype and am currently having a good time typing 'Walden' by Thoreau
I've also talked a colleague into giving colemak a spin...
I also have a blue mech keyboard and I feel the same. Cherry blue switch has small delay after you press over atuation point.
That's the bump feel which let you know surely you have pressed the key. Brown switch also has this kind of delay feel, only lighter.
My fastest typing records http://hi-games.net/profile/4314
My switching experience https://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?id=970
have just turned 'pro' on typeracer, avg 43 max 50
sticking strictly to my 98% accuracy threshold
approaching my qwerty avg of 45, max 63
hurrah
typeracer avg increased to 45 after a small dip in form (to incorporate dreymar's infamous wide angle mods)
thats equalled my previous qwerty speed, and i'm sure my accuracy is far better at > 98%
from here on in its unchartered waters, apart from the fact i still need to beat my qwerty max wpm of 63 (its currently 50 on colemak)
i notice that there is far less variation in my speeds with colemak than there was with qwerty
10 fast flngers seems to be doing my typing a lot of good
and I've hit 48 wpm average on typeracer
looking back in time, my best ever qwerty typeracer average was 53
looking forward to smashing through the 50wpm mark and of course 53wpm will also be an important marker
colemak feels pretty comfortable to me now - what doesn't show up directly in the wpm values is the accuracy. I am significantly more accurate with colemak than i was with qwerty - my colemak is typically > 98%
right - i think i am officially plateau'd
fastfingers no longer working its magic
i think a revisit to amphetype for some deconstruction is in order
From what I've been reading there are 2 approaches. 1) working diligently on your accuracy and using Amphetype to find your problem spots helps overcome some boundaries. 2) trying to type really fast and be ok with the errors, just getting your fingers used to moving that speed.
I'm guessing that you can break through 57 wpm with some practice for sure.
Try Typeracer Death mode for a change
http://play.typeracer.com/?universe=accuracy
My fastest typing records http://hi-games.net/profile/4314
My switching experience https://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?id=970
ooh, 'enjoy' is a nasty little colemak word..
Getting there - can i hit 60+ before 2014?
oh hello!
What a great way to ring in the new year! Congrats on beating your 60 by 2014 goal!
That's great man! Congratulations.
just established an average of 53wpm on typeracer to match my previous best in qwerty (attained ~6 months ago just before i started learning colemak)
max typeracer is 59, 4 behind my qwerty typeracer max of 63
i think that a 60+ typeracer score is on the cards soon..
