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Colemak or Dvorak... Hard to choose...

  • Started by knightjp
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  • From: Viken, Norway
  • Registered: 13-Dec-2006
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09-Jan-2014 13:32:51#201 Re: Colemak or Dvorak... Hard to choose...

I didn't miss the point. You seem to have a mental hangup that makes you type badly when you concentrate but when you don't focus on it you prove that you really know Colemak now after all. Maybe your own focus on your errors is part of that? What I noticed when type-reading a book with Amphetype was that focusing on the text itself rather than the typing let me get a lot of practice and in turn better typing flow.

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

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09-Jan-2014 13:42:57#202 Re: Colemak or Dvorak... Hard to choose...

Thanks DreymaR... Perhaps that should be it. That's all well and good if I was copying text. But when I'm writing a blog or something like that, it tends to be a entirely different matter. I need to find a way to get over this fast or switch to  a layout where I do not have this problem.
Another thing that I do notice is that my fingers do start to feel fatigued and feel a like they're a bit cramped if I type for long periods at a time; i.e. a huge paragraph or something. This increases the number of mistakes. Maybe its because of the position of the keyboard. It sits nested to my left rather that directly in front of me. That could be a factor that I'm not even considering.

Last edited by knightjp (09-Jan-2014 13:43:46)
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09-Jan-2014 14:17:48#203 Re: Colemak or Dvorak... Hard to choose...

Your typing skills are exercised in several phases

1. Muscle memory:
You can touch type what's on screen.

2. Muscle memory integrated with brain's hearing part.
You can touch type what are being dictated to you.

3. Muscle memory integrated with brain's thinking part.
You can touch type what you are thinking.

4. Muscle memory integrated with the whole YOU
You sit there, do nothing, just watch and adore yourself. Your brain and your fingers do it all.

To reach that final level where your typing skills are effortlessly integrated with all parts of your brain, it would take several years.

It looks like some parts of your brain are more developed than the others.

Last edited by Tony_VN (09-Jan-2014 14:20:48)

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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17-Jan-2014 09:14:44#204 Re: Colemak or Dvorak... Hard to choose...

Still struggling and its getting so damn frustrating. Thinking of giving up using a keyboard all together and getting a system like Stephen Hawking. Maybe that's the only way I can type accurately.

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17-Jan-2014 09:30:54#205 Re: Colemak or Dvorak... Hard to choose...

Any kind of input keyboard will need the user to do typing exercises to increase accuracy. You cannot do it right the first time. Stephen Hawking will be happy give you some advice on how to do these exercises more efficiently on his keyboards.

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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12-May-2014 12:38:55#206 Re: Colemak or Dvorak... Hard to choose...

Its been a while since I posted anything on here about my colemak.
You'll be happy to know that while I have given up on Colemak, I have been sticking with it and seen some sort of fruit. Its not perfect but my mistakes are less and depends on my keyboard. At home I have a new Hackintosh with one of the new Apple keyboards and that has helped considerably.
I started noticing the improvement after I started using the same kind of keyboard both at work and at home. I also started using the layout right in front of me. Ergonomically its a bit of stretch to get the mouse in a full size keyboard but fine. Not something that will cause a whole lot of discomfort.
I'm not perfect, but its getting there and I hope to reach a level where I will be able to type an entire paragraph without having to use the backspace even once. :)

I did come close to thinking whether I made the right choice in sticking with Colemak. I recently got a promotion and a new computer at work with it. Being windows, Colemak is not installed and I had to use QWERTY for a couple of days till IT got around to installing it on my new system. I came to the point that I'd use Dvorak from here on since it comes standard on any PC. I also have another new system coming in and will need to make sure that Colemak is installed on that as well.
This so far has been the only drawback with Colemak of late; other than the fact that it took me almost 1 year to master the home row for me. :)

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