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Starting Colemak (USA QWERTY -> Colemak, touch typist for 25 years)

  • Started by unfy
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  • Registered: 29-Apr-2014
  • Posts: 65

Colemak: 49wpm / 95% accuracy

Qwerty: i shudder to think.

Lots of my typos are moving into the realm of out of order key presses.  Still plenty of wrong key presses (I/L is a common mistake, for trying to type L that is).

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edit: half as many errors and 25% faster.  woo. heh.

Last edited by unfy (12-Jun-2014 05:05:33)
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I'm about where you are in terms of types of errors. Around 45 WPM and 98% accuracy consistently. Haven't been testing my QWERTY.

Actually hit 52 WPM at 98.6% accuracy this morning, but it was an easy sample, I think.

Last edited by jfmcbrayer (12-Jun-2014 12:31:08)
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Been away, I know.  Busy with real life.

Colemak: 70wpm / 96%

Qwerty: haven't been practicing.

My standard 3min typing tests.  Was an Aesop fable this time.

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Typing is also a bit weird, not on my prefered MX-Blue keyboard (MX-Browns here at work), and for the last week I've been learning guitar - thus fret hand finger tips are still numb most of the time.

70wpm feels a bit slow but it's prolly a decent representation.

Last edited by unfy (17-Jul-2014 05:02:19)
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Oh yeah.

I'm about over my hatred over the moved semicolon key.  I'm still sour about it though :D

And, my coworkers get a good laugh out of things.  I'll go to a different desk or go fiddle with a server in the other room and have to hunt and peck at Qwerty :D

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Sadly, the learning guitar has afforded me my first minor injury.  Bad form on my fret hand wrist has that wrist really upset with me heh.  I've learned from my mistake and am gonna have to struggle to fix form... and take a few days off... *sniff*

I will say that I'm thankful for Colemak layout, the less movement and stuff has made things a bit easier here at work, typing with bad wrist :D

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  • Registered: 19-Jul-2014
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Way to hang in there!  I am in the process of making the switch to Colemak.  Looking back, do you wish you had just switched cold-turkey?  I feel like it's all too confusing to maintain multiple layouts at high speeds.  I've heard of some people doing it, but everytime I learn a new layout, once I hit about 40 wpm, my previous layout speed is gone completely.  So this time I'm not looking back at all.

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I've heard of some people doing it, but everytime I learn a new layout, once I hit about 40 wpm, my previous layout speed is gone completely

Errrr... you've learned multiple layouts over the years ?!

Anyway -- I quit practicing Qwerty a while back.  I do wish that I had kept practicing.  Two of my systems at home are still Qwerty, but I don't type on them much.

I'd have to look at the thread to tell... but I think after 2 weeks I was basically all colemak anyway ? I wouldn't call my switch cold turkey, and with typing as my day job (coder), cold turkey wasn't really an option. Is cold turkey the way to go ? Depends on personality I think.  While I can persevere quite decently - I *was* getting pissed off at my keyboard and myself quite frequently during The Change (TM).  I personally was quite happy to switch back to Qwerty when the pressure was on, and struggle with Colemak the rest of the time :)

I still plan on revisiting Qwerty.  I'd like to be able to keep it if I haven't lost it in it's entirety already.  Am hoping it's like riding a bike :)

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8 months since going through The Change (TM).  Just posting an update.

3 min test: 81 wpm, 97% accuracy

It was some song lyrics with non-standard sentence capitalization (grr).

I do still Qwerty frequently.  I'll try a Qwerty test at a later time - don't wanna fry my brain at the moment.  With some warm up, I imagine my Qwerty times should be decent.

For me, Qwerty / Colemak typing selection is all about location.  If I'm at like, one of three computers - I'll instinctively type Colemak.  Every place else, I'll instinctively type a slightly bad form of Qwerty.  Switching locations back and forth can yield some confusion at times heh (when working on a server for example).

I'm "over" the movement of the semicolon finally heh.

D / G are probably my current two sticking characters.  I'll transpose them very weirdly (hitting the wrong layout key, or hitting the opposite key for the correct layout). I can't describe it.  I also have some weirdness with the P key on occasion.

Apps / games / keyboard shortcuts are still a bit weird.

Hands feel great \o/

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  • From: Viken, Norway
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That's good speed stats, grats! :-)

One thing I really liked with the DH-mod was getting the G back in its QWERTY position. It deserves to be there, in my opinion – especially given the realization that the middle-trench "straight home row" position isn't quite as good as previously heralded (in the opinion of many). The D and H, naturally, also feel much better with the DH-mod. Consider it, even though you're on an ANSI board. If you're willing to uproot your Z key for instance – or go full A-Wing – the benefits should be tangible I feel.

P isn't so nice, I agree, especially since it's one of the two keys that switch hands. But don't sweat it, I think it's in a suitable position in Colemak.

Last edited by DreymaR (01-Jan-2016 17:15:30)

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

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D and G still get me once in a while. I have a new top speed on keybr (148wpm) and my 10fastfingers time has finally broken 90. Considering it's been four months and that I had a 10ff speed of 137 on qwerty, I am still a bit disappointed.

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  • From: Viken, Norway
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People have varying progress speeds. To rise above the 90 mark I think you should practice common words (using for instance Amphetype) and preferably implement a little alternative fingering if you haven't already. But I'm below those speeds myself so I'm not sure. I think that's what Ryan Heise said though.

Last edited by DreymaR (08-Jan-2016 10:09:35)

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

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