Of all the keyboard layouts currently in circulation, I believe Colemak to have the best shortcuts by far, surpassing even QWERTY's. Not only does it preserve most of QWERTY's left-side Ctrl- shortcuts; several important ones are actually moved closer, resulting in a left-side shortcut density of nearly 100%.

The following image assumes Ctrl has been moved to Caps Lock (rather than the Colemak default - IMNSHO, a mistake - of having it be an extra Backspace):

Green shortcuts are preserved on their QWERTY positions.

Blue shortcuts are improved from their QWERTY positions.

Ctrl-S is minutely worsened (though placed on a stronger finger).  Ctrl-D and E are significantly worsened.

Notes:

• Destructive shortcuts (e.g. Ctrl-Q, Ctrl-W, Ctrl-X) tend to be preserved.

• Emacs-users may find C-r/C-s (incremental reverse/forward search) amazing compared to their QWERTY positions.

What should I do with this thread?

The content of this thread was originally a suggestion of how the colemak website might be updated.  If you are able to put it to that purpose, that would be awesome!

Otherwise, it serves as a short summary of Colemak talking points.  You may link to it, quote it, use the arguments as you please.

Is that first paragraph about QWERTY really necessary?

Unfortunately, I've seen enough misinformation going around about how QWERTY is "no worse" than the optimized layouts, that I thought I should immediately list some ways in which (if the reader takes even a moment to look) QWERTY is obviously flawed.

TODO:

1. Make github version?

2. Pick a better title?

3. Find a way to fit an actual picture of colemak (and probably QWERTY/Dvorak, for comparison).  When I tried putting one in the OP, it only made it look more cluttered.  Perhaps in the second post?  Help from UI-minded people appreciated. Done, though further proposals are always welcome.

4. Get values for same-finger that include punctuation.  Probably make a new thread to avoid footnote clutter.

License: All of my own content of my posts in this thread is released under the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication.

The Colemak image in the first post, and Tarmak gif are by DreymaR.

Footnotes:

¹ Same-finger is defined here as the proportion of text for which the same finger has to immediately type two different keys.  So, for example, having to type "QA" would be an instance of same-finger in QWERTY standard touchtyping, while having to type "QQ" would not be.

Standard touchtyping has artifacts unfavorable to Colemak; actual same-finger is probably better.  For example, the model suggests that one would type '<Return>' (single-quotes before and after the Enter key) solely with the pinkie, moving it twice in the process!  In reality, the pinkie and ring-finger would probably both be used in that case.

If <Return> is ommitted from the analysis, Colemak's same-finger improves to 1.27% (once every 79 keys on average), or 1.45% (once every 69 keys) if you hit C with the index finger.  Dvorak's becomes 2.05% (once every 49 keys), and QWERTY's 4.50% (once every 22 keys).

This is brilliant Lalop!

The Colemak images I've made are released freely; the "IBM-style" ones have their own CC license (CC 3.0 BY-NC-SA). So feel free to include the heat map one without further comment (unless the patorjk analyzer requires anything – which I'm pretty sure it doesn't). Also, let me know if you need any particular variants of my images. If you think my IBM-style images are too gaudy or something (they don't have to be you know), there's always the good old SEO one:

By the way, any feedback on my new Tarmak presentation topic? It was about time a new one was made and especially since it concerns the very first contact with Colemak! I just hope it's clear and attractive to the newcomers.

I think an ideal might be a small, gray/tinted, non-distracting image showing colemak, qwerty, and dvorak next to each other for comparative purposes, between the first and second paragraphs.

I don't have a very good UI sense, however.  If you have anything you think fits well somewhere in the first post, just tell me and I'll put it in.

I'll leave some feedback on the tarmak thread shortly.

That's awesome!  I think it would be useful to put in sigs linking to this thread (slash website, if it ever gets that far).

Using

convert -delay 35x100 Tarmak_SpectralAnimation_45d.gif Tarmak_SpectralAnimation_45d_slower.gif

from this recipe, I get:

I would also consider making J blue throughout.  I think it'd be less confusing that way.

For the original post: I'm liking the look of the "small" tinted gif version (the freezeframe with all black letters).  In particular, getting rid of the number row reduces distraction, though I'm not 100% sure about the punctuation on the right side; I might keep that.  It also doesn't look as good as the higher dpi one, so maybe just keep that DPI or there's some smallest intermediate size that still looks okay?  Use your discretion and I'll put that between the 1st and 2nd paragraphs I guess.

Edit: cropping the high DPI pic gets me:

(If I read correctly, these two are released under CC 3.0 BY-NC-SA and are modified from the original.)

Trying this on for size.

Is it possible/advisible to make it even darker?  Say, the color of the shift key?  Edit 5: Also, would it be possible to distinguish the home keys slightly?  I've already had someone say they were confused of where the home row was supposed to be.

Edit 2: These are cropped from your "Space: The Final Frontier" one:

I reckon they don't look as good as partial images; perhaps if the letters were made bigger?  This one is nice in showing the punctuation in more detail.

Edit 3: These are nice and small from a non-intrusiveness perspective... perhaps too small?

Cropped from the website:

Cropped from one of your images.  Not sure if the colors help or are distracting in this case.

Edit 5: would it be possible to distinguish the home row keys (say in Edit 1?).  I've already had someone say they were confused of where the home row was supposed to be.

Edit 6:

Found this.  Currently I'm trying out the 500px rendering, but it's svg so if you want to resize/work any magic on it (tint it, distinguish the home keys?), that would be cool!

Edit 7: I still think the image is distracting.  Suggestions (including "you're just imagining things") appreciated.

People now don't trust in PR, but trust what their friends told them. A review of Colemak in Geekhack.org, Overclock.net, Deskthority, Facebook or reddit would be very good.

Removing the space from that particular image makes it look funny, I think:

I think there's something to be said for "full information" images like the wiki svg.  It provides the most points of reference, with an instantly recognizable general shape.  Were any part left ambiguous, people would tend to wonder what is there.  The end result, I think, might even be less distracting: it's easy to pattern-match, and the reader can just skim it and move on.  So, while I'm not particularly attached to any image, my current impression is that a variation of the svg (tinted, home-rowed, some of the more superfluous labels removed?) might be the best "first colemak image" overall.

Edit: updated OP with my attempt at tinting (including svg file if anyone wants to improve on it)

Edit 2: Alternate version with home row lighter than modifiers

Edit 3: Lighter version

Edit 4: Lightest version

Even "horrible" (which I don't exactly see) does not preclude "best first colemak image".  The priorities here are:

1. Pattern matching: the reader should be able to identify the shape of the layout at a glance

2. Non-distracting: ideally, the reader should be fine with just that one glance to acknowledge that "I'll come back to it later".

3. Inconspicuous: It should also not capture attention while the reader is reading nearby sections.

4. A notion of the home keys (doesn't have to be obvious, but should be effortlessly discernible if the reader wants to verify which key is pressed by which finger).

5. Stretch goal (not met with the current one): make it work well on a black background as well as a white one

As always, I'm open to alternatives.

When I tried using the lightest image, it seemed... more painful.  Just tried it again and similar result.  Possibly the slight contrast with the forum background helps.

Again, alternatives.  Without them, my choices are limited even if, theoretically, you are correct.

I'm... going to avoid using the more painful one, regardless.

I like it, but it took me a couple of seconds to realise the scheme.  The bold letters being those that change their Qwerty positions.  The green I read firstly as English letter frequency/finger wear marks.  But then I read your comment about them being your perceived home keys.

What I like is the contrast between Qwerty and Colemak.  Perhaps the key changes would be better highlighted in the green.  And not trying to put too much into the figure.

Done – update your browser window for the new version. I think we just drop the "secondary home" coloring.

You can try rescaling the image yourself, as that's a bit map issue pretty much. But unless you go all the way to 50 % there's usually resampling issues that detract from the image's quality. Too bad.

Not sure what you mean about confusing the bold keys with the home keys, or what final color needs to be picked? At any rate the image caption should specify what the image shows. While that's up, maybe you should mention that ETAOINSHRD are the most common letters in English (and even among the most common letters in most Western languages!). It's nice to look at the picture and see them all placed on the home row I think.