I have evaluated the qwpr layout. Method:
- I used the AdnW-algorithm (meaning that AdnW will score very high... AdnW make Dvorak-like assumptions, favoring alternation over rolls and punishing too much 'adjacent' keys. So, if you don't "buy"those assumptions, feel free to reject the metrics).
- I used a trigram algorithm (meaning it is not optimized on bigrams but on trigrams)
- on an english-only text-only corpus
- Total score is what it says..... lower is better
- Location: the ranking of the keys. Keys in easy location = better (lower) score. (There are trade-offs however. For instance, you might end up with too many frequent letters on the left hand)
- Same Finger: the precentage of lettercombinations that are typed with the same finger. Lower is better
- Alternation: the precentage of lettercombinations that are typed with two hands. Higher is better
- In/Outwards: the ratio of inward to outward movements (or rolls). 1.000 means there are exactly as many inward as outward rolls. > 1 means there are more inward rolls. Higher is better
- AdjacentKey: the precentage of lettercombinations that are typed with letters that are neighbours. Such as (qwerty) AS or KJ or OP.
- left, right: the percentage of strokes with each hand. 50/50 is best.
- tp, mi, mb: the percentage of strokes on the top row, mid row (home) and bottom row.
- also you see the percentage of each finger (left pinky, left ring, left mid, left index, right index, right mid, right ring, right pinky; sum = 100%; thumbs are not part of this percentage)
The worst layout is, of course qwerty. No further comment.
QWERTY 576.383 Total score 338.719 Location left right
6.804 Same Finger 6.299 Shift-Same Finger tp 28.0 20.2
qwert yuiopü 52.755 Alternation 41.474 Shift-Alternation mi 22.1 9.5
asdfg hjklöä 1.080 In/Outwards 11.226 Indir SameHand bm 6.8 13.3
zxcvb nm,.ß 21.628 AdjacentKey 12.586 Shift-AdjacentKey sum56.9 43.1
9.1 8.4 18.5 20.9 --.- --.- 18.4 8.9 12.1 3.6 Sh 1.1 1.7
Next up: qwpr. qwpr has a better (lower) total scores than qwerty.
qwpr 389.772Total score 205.575 Location left right
3.843 Same Finger 13.484 Shift-Same Finger tp 11.8 8.8
qwprf yukl; 58.143 Alternation 39.607 Shift-Alternation mi 28.6 37.3
asdtg hnioe 1.093 In/Outwards 10.182 Indir SameHand bm 6.8 6.7
zxcvb jm,. 12.592 AdjacentKey 13.426 Shift-AdjacentKey sum47.2 52.8
9.1 8.4 8.8 20.9 --.- --.- 18.4 8.9 12.1 13.4 Sh 1.1 1.7
This is because the keys are in better locations, same finger is much lower, it has slightly more alternation. Hand balance is about equal (47/53), which is not bad. Adjacent keys is much better than qwerty (or worse if you like that - what AdnW and Dvorak call 'clusters', Colemak calls 'rolls'. qwpr is not very 'rolly', be that good or bad).
The left pinky IS overloaded. It gets 13.4% of all keystrokes, which is a lot.
As said, take the analysis with a grain of salt, it is highly dependent on the assumptions of the algorithm which you may or may not like. The countings of the strokes, distribution over fingers and so on are facts, however.
Next: Workman. Not bad. But Same Finger is too high and, from an AdnW/Dvorak-y perspective (!), AdjacentKey is too high, 18%, meaning that nearly one in 5 letter combinations are a 'roll'. Again, from a Colemak-y perspective this is a good thing.
Workman 341.920 Total score 195.444 Location left right
3.005 Same Finger 8.626 Shift-Same Finger tp 13.0 6.8
qdrwb jfupßö 55.794 Alternation 51.567 Shift-Alternation mi 29.6 34.1
ashtg yneoiä 1.088 In/Outwards 8.415 Indir SameHand bm 7.6 8.8
zxmcv kl,.ü 18.394 AdjacentKey 12.531 Shift-AdjacentKey sum50.3 49.7
9.0 10.5 13.2 17.6 --.- --.- 15.3 15.4 10.2 8.9 Sh 0.9 1.8
Then: Dvorak. Here we see a German version, but that's a detail. Morem inward movements and more alternation, and lower adjacent keys. The right pinky has much work to do, too much to my liking, but a bit less then in qwpr. Dvorak is very right hand balanced (55%)
DvorakTyp1a 321.724 Total score 201.888 Location left right
2.668 Same Finger 13.145 Shift-Same Finger tp 6.0 17.0
ä,.py fgcrlq 70.679 Alternation 33.265 Shift-Alternation mi 36.1 30.5
aoeui dhtnsß 1.606 In/Outwards 6.623 Indir SameHand bm 2.9 7.6
öüjkx bmwvz 11.100 AdjacentKey 20.835 Shift-AdjacentKey sum45.0 55.0
9.7 8.2 13.0 14.1 --.- --.- 16.5 13.3 13.7 11.5 Sh 1.8 0.9
The layouts keep getting better.....here's Colemak! It has a nice distribution over hands and over fingers, a good (low) Same Finger percentage. Alternation is, as expected, low; adjacent keys high. This doesn't win points in the AdnW-world! But because of the good scores on other factors, it still gets a good, low total score.
Colemak 307.722 Total score 186.227 Location left right
1.348 Same Finger 14.374 Shift-Same Finger tp 7.8 8.2
qwfpg jluy 58.143 Alternation 39.607 Shift-Alternation mi 32.7 37.3
arstd hneio 1.041 In/Outwards 8.772 Indir SameHand bm 6.8 7.3
zxcvb km,. 17.492 AdjacentKey 9.009 Shift-AdjacentKey sum 47.2 52.8
9.1 7.8 11.6 18.7 --.- --.- 18.8 15.4 9.8 8.7 Sh 1.1 1.7
Next up: AdnW. Designed to be as good in English as in German. (For English you can of course put different characters on üäß... such as ;/@ etc.) It has a great (low) same finger count, a nice (high) alternation and has twice as many inward movements as outwards. Partly because of word like THE and THIS.
AdnW 281.047 Total score 184.270 Location left right
1.020 Same Finger 17.224 Shift-Same Finger tp 4.5 12.0
kuü.ä vgcljf 71.389 Alternation 21.757 Shift-Alternation mi 38.3 31.6
hieao dtrnsß 2.136 In/Outwards 7.795 Indir SameHand bm 5.0 8.6
xyö,q bpwmz 8.122 AdjacentKey 20.009 Shift-AdjacentKey sum47.8 52.2
7.6 11.2 11.7 17.4 --.- --.- 18.7 10.7 13.1 9.7 Sh 1.9 0.9
Finally, RieaoP,my own AdnW-version, optimized for Dutch and English. About the same total score as AdnW, a different sub scores. Subjectively, I find AdnW better at English than my own version. Numbers only tell you so much, the feeling is really different; AdnW is more alternating and has less adjacent keys then my RieaoP. The reason? Keyboard layouts are compromises. I wanted a layout that performed equally well in Dutch as in English. In Dutch, the total score is about the same, with a slightly higher Same Finger (1,4% versus 1,1% in English) but lower adjacent keys (8% in Dutch, 12% in English).
RieaoP 280.779 Total score 189.407 Location left right
1.144 Same Finger 9.432 Shift-Same Finger tp 6.6 13.9
y.u,! pclhqz 66.008 Alternation 29.201 Shift-Alternation mi 39.5 28.3
rieao gdtnsk 0.908 In/Outwards 5.772 Indir SameHand bm 2.3 9.5
x:?j/ vwmbf 12.097 AdjacentKey 13.241 Shift-AdjacentKey sum48.4 51.6
9.7 8.2 14.2 16.2 --.- --.- 13.3 14.9 13.0 10.3 Sh 1.9 0.8