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    Zokea's Colemak Experience

    • Started by Zokea
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    • Registered: 26-Nov-2016
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    What layout did you use beforehand, and how long have you been typing with it?

    I learned QWERTY from the very beginning, but I never learned to effectively touch type for various reasons.  However, after typing with QWERTY for 16 years and learning my own way of touch typing (using WASD and IJKL as my "home keys"), I was typing at about 60 WPM.  I decided recently that I would like to improve my typing and learn to type more productively.  So for the past year I have been learning to touch type with QWERTY, and reached about 80 WPM.

    How long have you been using Colemak and how many estimated hours per week have you typed with it?

    I have been using Colemak for approximately 10 days as of writing this message.  I currently have some time available to me; thus I am able to practice about 30 hours a week.

    What methods have you been using to learn the Colemak layout?

    I initially used Typing Study to familiarize myself with the Colemak layout.  However, once I was comfortable with generally knowing the positions of the keys I began using Keybr and 10fastfingers to obtain the muscle memory of words.  A few days of practice and I began using Typeracer to help adapt my knowledge at that point into actually typing speed.  Initially, I  was typing about 30 WPM on Typeracer.

    What operating system are you using?

    I am using Linux with the Linux Mint 18 distribution.

    Do you have any tips on learning the Colemak layout?

    As unhelpful as the advice may seem, I would recommend avoiding typing anything but Colemak and avoid conflicting your muscle memory.  Additionally, I found it useful to practice some of the most common words for my language and memorize the patterns for typing them. This includes your languages most common bigraphs and trigraphs, for example:  he, th, sh, the, and, are, st...ect.

    What encouraged you to switch layouts?

    As I previously mentioned, I first attempted to learn to touch type using QWERTY and made a lot of progress.  However, I have been developing RSI in my right wrist for a few years now and only recently did research on how to prevent it developing further and from becoming more painful.  I began using my mouse with my left hand, I am learning shorthand for writing to reduce the amount I need to write and I learned to write using my forearm instead of my fingers and wrist.  I plan to make some transition to using my left hand for most activities.  This research and effort on my part made me realize that I could not type for very long (30 minutes at most) without experiencing some serious discomfort and the tension would last for the rest of the day making typing a most unhappy experience.  Therefore, I began doing research on keyboard ergonomics and came across many studies and anecdotal evidence about different typing layouts.  I attempted Dvorak (with caps lock as backspace) due to its popularity, however, the right hand use of the layout was making my hand just as tired as before, but some less pain.  After a final batch of research, I settled on Colemak due to the very limited movement and reduced movement of the hands.  My choice was validated by the fact I am now currently typing effortlessly, and without the pain I experienced in all my other typing endeavors.  For me, Colemak combines the right factors to prevent the excessive fatigue and pain I experienced and for that I am grateful.

    Current Results

    As a point of verification, this is my account on TYPERACER.  I am currently able to maintain speeds of about 50+ WPM, with my current average about 55 WPM.  I type a little faster everyday and feel better about my typing as well.  You can view an image of my progress over the past few days and I will continue to post updates as I make continued progress with the Colemak layout.

    YnM1g0P.png



    Thanks for taking the time to learn about my experience with Colemak :D.

    Last edited by Zokea (26-Nov-2016 23:38:00)
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    Nice report, thanks for posting.

    Zokea said:

    I would recommend avoiding typing anything but Colemak and avoid conflicting your muscle memory.  Additionally, I found it useful to practice some of the most common words for my language and memorize the patterns for typing them. This includes your languages most common bigraphs and trigraphs, for example:  he, th, sh, the, and, are, st...ect.

    I think this advice is spot on. At first I didn't appreciate just how important bigrams/trigrams are for muscle memory, but soon discovered it really helped a lot to get a good technique established early on for the most common finger movement patterns.

    Zokea said:

    I attempted Dvorak (with caps lock as backspace) due to its popularity, however, the right hand use of the layout was making my hand just as tired as before, but some less pain.  After a final batch of research, I settled on Colemak due to the very limited movement and reduced movement of the hands.

    Hmm, quite a lot of people seem to attempt Dvorak first.  Maybe it's just because Dvorak is more well known, and is an ANSI standard.  For me it was clear that Dvorak was a non-starter, but I read quite a bit about the pros and cons of all the layouts before making the switch.

    Zokea said:

    I am currently able to maintain speeds of about 50+ WPM

    Good going! Your progress seems pretty rapid to me. Probably because you learned to touch-type already - anecdotally, that does seem to help. Best of luck with future progress but sounds like you're well on your way to nailing it.

    Last edited by stevep99 (27-Nov-2016 15:50:05)

    Using Colemak-DH with Seniply.

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    Dvorak is still better known than Colemak, it seems. Good people, we have a job before us.

    For rehearsing common words, may I recommend Amphetype? It works on both Windows and Linux, and I think it's brilliant all in all. I also use it to "type-read" books.

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

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    stevep99 said:

    Nice report, thanks for posting.

    Zokea said:

    I would recommend avoiding typing anything but Colemak and avoid conflicting your muscle memory.  Additionally, I found it useful to practice some of the most common words for my language and memorize the patterns for typing them. This includes your languages most common bigraphs and trigraphs, for example:  he, th, sh, the, and, are, st...ect.

    I think this advice is spot on. At first I didn't appreciate just how important bigrams/trigrams are for muscle memory, but soon discovered it really helped a lot to get a good technique established early on for the most common finger movement patterns.

    Zokea said:

    I attempted Dvorak (with caps lock as backspace) due to its popularity, however, the right hand use of the layout was making my hand just as tired as before, but some less pain.  After a final batch of research, I settled on Colemak due to the very limited movement and reduced movement of the hands.

    Hmm, quite a lot of people seem to attempt Dvorak first.  Maybe it's just because Dvorak is more well known, and is an ANSI standard.  For me it was clear that Dvorak was a non-starter, but I read quite a bit about the pros and cons of all the layouts before making the switch.

    Zokea said:

    I am currently able to maintain speeds of about 50+ WPM

    Good going! Your progress seems pretty rapid to me. Probably because you learned to touch-type already - anecdotally, that does seem to help. Best of luck with future progress but sounds like you're well on your way to nailing it.

    Dvorak seems to have the advantage in the popularity department.  However, it has been around for a greater period of time, I suppose that would affect the result.  Dvorak did feel better that Qwerty to me, but for me it was not as much improvement as I was looking for in a keyboard layout. 


    Dvorak is still better known than Colemak, it seems. Good people, we have a job before us.

    For rehearsing common words, may I recommend Amphetype? It works on both Windows and Linux, and I think it's brilliant all in all. I also use it to "type-read" books.

    I would say that Dvorak is more popularity due to its place in the history of keyboard design.  Being one of the first and somewhat advocated for in that period of time.  In addition, I took you recommendation and tried to use Amphetype.  It is a nice program and I had not heard of it before you mentioned it.  I will try experimenting with it, if you have any advice for interesting ideas for its use, I would be glad to read it.

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    There was a post on this forum with lists of common words. You can paste one of those into the lesson generator and go crazy. Or you can type away for a while and let the generator pick words that you did poorly.

    I usually get a book as a text file from Project Gutenberg, and put it into Amphetype. Experiment a little with how large chunks you want to use (in preferences, maybe you want longer or shorter chunks). I use a biggish font myself, and maximize the window. Then I recommend using not too strict parameters so you won't have to type the same page again very often. This is brilliant for getting a lot of typing mileage. I've "read" Machiavelli that way, as well as Alice Through The Looking Glass and a 19th century lewd English book! ;-)

    I found a note about making lists (from that forum post). Here it is:

    Generating typing training lessons in Amphetype (by Nimbostratue, 2011)
    =======================================================================
    
    
    Here is how to practice the 1000 most common words lesson in an effective way.
    
    I place the 1000 words in Amphetype and use settings that will generate two lines of text like this:
       "the of to the of to the of to and a in and a in and a in is it you is it
       you is it you that he was that he was that he was"
    
    I set the program to allow me to keep practicing until I reach a certain desired accuracy and speed (see below).
    When I pass this threshold I am allowed to continue to type the next 2 lines from the 1000 words.
    In this way I learn the layout and practice the common words and bigrams (th,st,nt,ou,io,ea, etc)at the same time.
    
    In fact I do not type the 1000 words most of the time. What I type is the first 130 to 150 words.
    Then I start again from the beginning and increase the threshold by an extra +10 WPM.
    
    In theory and my practice (I have tried this method with over 20 layouts) you should be able to advance every day by 6-10 WPM until 50 WPM. Once I practiced for only 2 hours every day using this method, and I was advancing 6+ WPM each day. So you do not need to spend too much time typing in the beginning when you learn a layout. You should focus on increasing your muscle memory for the common bigrams and common words, which will help you increase your speed quickly. This way will not train you for individual keys, it will train you for common bigrams and you will notice that you become much faster at typing bigrams than remembering key positions, but with the other lessons in my lessons thread you can improve on this. I usually use this method exclusively until I reach 28-30 WPM and then I start the other lengthy lessons in the lessons thread.
    
    
    Amphetype settings:
    
    1) On the Preferences tab set "Try to limit text and lesson to between 100 and 100 characters".
    
    2) On the Lesson Generator tab:
       "In generating lessons, I will make 3 copies of the list below and divide them into sublists of size 3"
       The program will create either a single or multiple copies of each word interleaved according to the selection made.
    
       For example if you pasted the text "about the" and chose X,Y (I usually chose 3,3 or 3,4) you get
          2,2 --> about the about the
          2,1 --> about about the the
    
       Paste in the 1000 words (below), name the lesson at the bottom and click "Add to Sources" to save it.
    
    3) On the Sources tab set "Repeat texts that don't meet the following requirements:"
          WPM              your average speed (e.g., for 2 min at hi-games) + 10 WPM
          Accuracy         99 or 100%
       Set the lesson fields to the same values.
    
       Select to get new lessons "In Order".
    
       Choose your lesson from the Sources pane on the left and double-click on it to start typing.
       Keep typing each line until you pass the threshold. Do not hit Esc to skip any lines.
    
    
    The 1000 most common English words (From the web):
    
    the of to and a in is it you that he was for on are with as I his they be at one have this from or had by hot word but what some we can out other were all there when up use your how said an each she which do their time if will way about many then them write would like so these her long make thing see him two has look more day could go come did number sound no most people my over know water than call first who may down side been now find any new work part take get place made live where after back little only round man year came show every good me give our under name very through just form sentence great think say help low line differ turn cause much mean before move right boy old too same tell does set three want air well also play small end put home read hand port large spell add even land here must big high such follow act why ask men change went light kind off need house picture try us again animal point mother world near build self earth father head stand own page should country found answer school grow study still learn plant cover food sun four between state keep eye never last let thought city tree cross farm hard start might story saw far sea draw left late run don't while press close night real life few north open seem together next white children begin got walk example ease paper group always music those both mark often letter until mile river car feet care second book carry took science eat room friend began idea fish mountain stop once base hear horse cut sure watch color face wood main enough plain girl usual young ready above ever red list though feel talk bird soon body dog family direct pose leave song measure door product black short numeral class wind question happen complete ship area half rock order fire south problem piece told knew pass since top whole king space heard best hour better true . during hundred five remember step early hold west ground interest reach fast verb sing listen six table travel less morning ten simple several vowel toward war lay against pattern slow center love person money serve appear road map rain rule govern pull cold notice voice unit power town fine certain fly fall lead cry dark machine note wait plan figure star box noun field rest correct able pound done beauty drive stood contain front teach week final gave green oh quick develop ocean warm free minute strong special mind behind clear tail produce fact street inch multiply nothing course stay wheel full force blue object decide surface deep moon island foot system busy test record boat common gold possible plane stead dry wonder laugh thousand ago ran check game shape equate hot miss brought heat snow tire bring yes distant fill east paint language among grand ball yet wave drop heart am present heavy dance engine position arm wide sail material size vary settle speak weight general ice matter circle pair include divide syllable felt perhaps pick sudden count square reason length represent art subject region energy hunt probable bed brother egg ride cell believe fraction forest sit race window store summer train sleep prove lone leg exercise wall catch mount wish sky board joy winter sat written wild instrument kept glass grass cow job edge sign visit past soft fun bright gas weather month million bear finish happy hope flower clothe strange gone jump baby eight village meet root buy raise solve metal whether push seven paragraph third shall held hair describe cook floor either result burn hill safe cat century consider type law bit coast copy phrase silent tall sand soil roll temperature finger industry value fight lie beat excite natural view sense ear else quite broke case middle kill son lake moment scale loud spring observe child straight consonant nation dictionary milk speed method organ pay age section dress cloud surprise quiet stone tiny climb cool design poor lot experiment bottom key iron single stick flat twenty skin smile crease hole trade melody trip office receive row mouth exact symbol die least trouble shout except wrote seed tone join suggest clean break lady yard rise bad blow oil blood touch grew cent mix team wire cost lost brown wear garden equal sent choose fell fit flow fair bank collect save control decimal gentle woman captain practice separate difficult doctor please protect noon whose locate ring character insect caught period indicate radio spoke atom human history effect electric expect crop modern element hit student corner party supply bone rail imagine provide agree thus capital won't chair danger fruit rich thick soldier process operate guess necessary sharp wing create neighbor wash bat rather crowd corn compare poem string bell depend meat rub tube famous dollar stream fear sight thin triangle planet hurry chief colony clock mine tie enter major fresh search send yellow gun allow print dead spot desert suit current lift rose continue block chart hat sell success company subtract event particular deal swim term opposite wife shoe shoulder spread arrange camp invent cotton born determine quart nine truck noise level chance gather shop stretch throw shine property column molecule select wrong gray repeat require broad prepare salt nose plural anger claim continent oxygen sugar death pretty skill women season solution magnet silver thank branch match suffix especially fig afraid huge sister steel discuss forward similar guide experience score apple bought led pitch coat mass card band rope slip win dream evening condition feed tool total basic smell valley nor double seat arrive master track parent shore division sheet substance favor connect post spend chord fat glad original share station dad bread charge proper bar offer segment slave duck instant market degree populate chick dear enemy reply drink occur support speech nature range steam motion path liquid log meant quotient teeth shell neck
    Last edited by DreymaR (30-Nov-2016 10:19:12)

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

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    DreymaR said:

    There was a post on this forum with lists of common words. You can paste one of those into the lesson generator and go crazy. Or you can type away for a while and let the generator pick words that you did poorly.

    I usually get a book as a text file from Project Gutenberg, and put it into Amphetype. Experiment a little with how large chunks you want to use. Then I recommend using not too strict parameters so you won't have to type the same page again very often. This is brilliant for getting a lot of typing mileage. I've "read" Machiavelli that way, as well as Alice Through The Looking Glass and a 19th century lewd English book! ;-)

    I found a note about making lists (from that forum post). Here it is:

    Generating typing training lessons in Amphetype (by Nimbostratue, 2011)
    =======================================================================
    
    
    Here is how to practice the 1000 most common words lesson in an effective way.
    
    I place the 1000 words in Amphetype and use settings that will generate two lines of text like this:
       "the of to the of to the of to and a in and a in and a in is it you is it
       you is it you that he was that he was that he was"
    
    I set the program to allow me to keep practicing until I reach a certain desired accuracy and speed (see below).
    When I pass this threshold I am allowed to continue to type the next 2 lines from the 1000 words.
    In this way I learn the layout and practice the common words and bigrams (th,st,nt,ou,io,ea, etc)at the same time.
    
    In fact I do not type the 1000 words most of the time. What I type is the first 130 to 150 words.
    Then I start again from the beginning and increase the threshold by an extra +10 WPM.
    
    In theory and my practice (I have tried this method with over 20 layouts) you should be able to advance every day by 6-10 WPM until 50 WPM. Once I practiced for only 2 hours every day using this method, and I was advancing 6+ WPM each day. So you do not need to spend too much time typing in the beginning when you learn a layout. You should focus on increasing your muscle memory for the common bigrams and common words, which will help you increase your speed quickly. This way will not train you for individual keys, it will train you for common bigrams and you will notice that you become much faster at typing bigrams than remembering key positions, but with the other lessons in my lessons thread you can improve on this. I usually use this method exclusively until I reach 28-30 WPM and then I start the other lengthy lessons in the lessons thread.
    
    
    Amphetype settings:
    
    1) On the Preferences tab set "Try to limit text and lesson to between 100 and 100 characters".
    
    2) On the Lesson Generator tab:
       "In generating lessons, I will make 3 copies of the list below and divide them into sublists of size 3"
       The program will create either a single or multiple copies of each word interleaved according to the selection made.
    
       For example if you pasted the text "about the" and chose X,Y (I usually chose 3,3 or 3,4) you get
          2,2 --> about the about the
          2,1 --> about about the the
    
       Paste in the 1000 words (below), name the lesson at the bottom and click "Add to Sources" to save it.
    
    3) On the Sources tab set "Repeat texts that don't meet the following requirements:"
          WPM              your average speed (e.g., for 2 min at hi-games) + 10 WPM
          Accuracy         99 or 100%
       Set the lesson fields to the same values.
    
       Select to get new lessons "In Order".
    
       Choose your lesson from the Sources pane on the left and double-click on it to start typing.
       Keep typing each line until you pass the threshold. Do not hit Esc to skip any lines.
    
    
    The 1000 most common English words (From the web):
    
    the of to and a in is it you that he was for on are with as I his they be at one have this from or had by hot word but what some we can out other were all there when up use your how said an each she which do their time if will way about many then them write would like so these her long make thing see him two has look more day could go come did number sound no most people my over know water than call first who may down side been now find any new work part take get place made live where after back little only round man year came show every good me give our under name very through just form sentence great think say help low line differ turn cause much mean before move right boy old too same tell does set three want air well also play small end put home read hand port large spell add even land here must big high such follow act why ask men change went light kind off need house picture try us again animal point mother world near build self earth father head stand own page should country found answer school grow study still learn plant cover food sun four between state keep eye never last let thought city tree cross farm hard start might story saw far sea draw left late run don't while press close night real life few north open seem together next white children begin got walk example ease paper group always music those both mark often letter until mile river car feet care second book carry took science eat room friend began idea fish mountain stop once base hear horse cut sure watch color face wood main enough plain girl usual young ready above ever red list though feel talk bird soon body dog family direct pose leave song measure door product black short numeral class wind question happen complete ship area half rock order fire south problem piece told knew pass since top whole king space heard best hour better true . during hundred five remember step early hold west ground interest reach fast verb sing listen six table travel less morning ten simple several vowel toward war lay against pattern slow center love person money serve appear road map rain rule govern pull cold notice voice unit power town fine certain fly fall lead cry dark machine note wait plan figure star box noun field rest correct able pound done beauty drive stood contain front teach week final gave green oh quick develop ocean warm free minute strong special mind behind clear tail produce fact street inch multiply nothing course stay wheel full force blue object decide surface deep moon island foot system busy test record boat common gold possible plane stead dry wonder laugh thousand ago ran check game shape equate hot miss brought heat snow tire bring yes distant fill east paint language among grand ball yet wave drop heart am present heavy dance engine position arm wide sail material size vary settle speak weight general ice matter circle pair include divide syllable felt perhaps pick sudden count square reason length represent art subject region energy hunt probable bed brother egg ride cell believe fraction forest sit race window store summer train sleep prove lone leg exercise wall catch mount wish sky board joy winter sat written wild instrument kept glass grass cow job edge sign visit past soft fun bright gas weather month million bear finish happy hope flower clothe strange gone jump baby eight village meet root buy raise solve metal whether push seven paragraph third shall held hair describe cook floor either result burn hill safe cat century consider type law bit coast copy phrase silent tall sand soil roll temperature finger industry value fight lie beat excite natural view sense ear else quite broke case middle kill son lake moment scale loud spring observe child straight consonant nation dictionary milk speed method organ pay age section dress cloud surprise quiet stone tiny climb cool design poor lot experiment bottom key iron single stick flat twenty skin smile crease hole trade melody trip office receive row mouth exact symbol die least trouble shout except wrote seed tone join suggest clean break lady yard rise bad blow oil blood touch grew cent mix team wire cost lost brown wear garden equal sent choose fell fit flow fair bank collect save control decimal gentle woman captain practice separate difficult doctor please protect noon whose locate ring character insect caught period indicate radio spoke atom human history effect electric expect crop modern element hit student corner party supply bone rail imagine provide agree thus capital won't chair danger fruit rich thick soldier process operate guess necessary sharp wing create neighbor wash bat rather crowd corn compare poem string bell depend meat rub tube famous dollar stream fear sight thin triangle planet hurry chief colony clock mine tie enter major fresh search send yellow gun allow print dead spot desert suit current lift rose continue block chart hat sell success company subtract event particular deal swim term opposite wife shoe shoulder spread arrange camp invent cotton born determine quart nine truck noise level chance gather shop stretch throw shine property column molecule select wrong gray repeat require broad prepare salt nose plural anger claim continent oxygen sugar death pretty skill women season solution magnet silver thank branch match suffix especially fig afraid huge sister steel discuss forward similar guide experience score apple bought led pitch coat mass card band rope slip win dream evening condition feed tool total basic smell valley nor double seat arrive master track parent shore division sheet substance favor connect post spend chord fat glad original share station dad bread charge proper bar offer segment slave duck instant market degree populate chick dear enemy reply drink occur support speech nature range steam motion path liquid log meant quotient teeth shell neck

    Thank you for sharing your notes for Amphetype!  I like the method described in the notes and will attempt to use it for practice.  I will try posting some result for reference at some later point.

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    Update:  I am seeing a slight increase in my average.  In addition, I took some advice from Sean Wrona from their website in which they discuss briefly some typing history and tactics for improvement.  If you would like to read about it, you can find it here.  Also, I have an image to share from Amphetype for anyone interested in what data they might see if they decided to use it.

    q3diSUz.png

    BlUmsMb.png

    Overall, my current fastest is 69 WPM and my average is 60 WPM.

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    Sean Wrona said:

    • I believe my biggest advantage in typing is that I do not necessarily use the same finger to type the same key. I use whichever finger is most comfortable, which can vary based on the context of the letters in the word. I cannot completely explain what I'm doing since I have been doing it since my childhood and it comes naturally, but I do tend to use whichever finger is closest based on the positioning of my hands typing the other letters in the word.

    • Additionally, if you want to increase your speed, do not type each word at uniform speed. Speed through the easier words and take a little more time on the harder words to ensure accuracy. Always focus on the word after the word you are currently typing so there are no unnatural pauses in your typing.

    • I recommend using caps lock instead of shift to type capital letters to allow more flexibility in the hand that you would normally use shift with.

    This is generally excellent advice. We usually call the first tip "alternative fingering". Even if you don't get the point of combinatoric plasticity that the masters possess, you can have fun and benefit from it. For instance, to type HN/NH (or NK/KN without the DbgHk-mod) I simply slide the hand in so the middle finger types N. Same for JL/LJ for instance (although that one's rare). This becomes second nature after a while and is very useful.

    I don't know anyone else besides Sean that uses CapsLock this way. I've heard a few rumors, is all. Sounds awesome if you manage to type fast enough to need it? :-)

    Last edited by DreymaR (02-Dec-2016 11:11:56)

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

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    DreymaR said:
    Sean Wrona said:

    • I recommend using caps lock instead of shift to type capital letters to allow more flexibility in the hand that you would normally use shift with.

    I don't know anyone else besides Sean that uses CapsLock this way. I've heard a few rumors, is all. Sounds awesome if you manage to type fast enough to need it? :-)

    I think what he's really saying there is that the standard shift keys are terrible, whereas CapsLock is a little better. 

    But I'd say better yet is to use a solution for capital letters that works properly.  And that means using a thumb key!!

    Last edited by stevep99 (02-Dec-2016 12:09:58)

    Using Colemak-DH with Seniply.

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    No, that isn't what he's saying at all. And I wouldn't say that Caps is easier to hit than any of the Shift keys (at least, when using AngleWide). His reason for using Caps or Sticky Shift, as I understand it, is that at his speeds it's tricky to use modifier-key combos. You can easily end up with one shifted letter too much or suchlike. So he says it's easier to hit first a shift key and then the letter key. Also what he says in that quote: Holding down a Shift key will tie up one hand. If you're really good at using both Shift keys it may not matter much, but at his level maybe it will.

    I'm a bit surprised that he suggests Caps instead of Sticky Shift. I think he suggested the former too, another time. Caps will be one more tap (and with the pinky, to boot!) so I don't see how that's as good.

    But, sure, thumb keys may well be better than anything else short of mindlink. I wouldn't know. :-)

    Last edited by DreymaR (02-Dec-2016 15:12:49)

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

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    So, that means caps might be better for two reasons (1) avoids having to hold down a key while pressing another and (2) caps is easier to reach than shift (although perhaps not so much on an ANSI board).

    In that case it seems he might be better to use CapsLock as a sticky shift?  Perhaps then the problem would be in the cases where he needs to type a string of capitals -- having to do that with alternating pinky shift keys would be slow.  Or, I can imagine using sticky shift keys for single capitals, and CapsLock for longer strings would be effective for speed typing.

    For normal typing though, obviously it's better to ditch CapsLock entirely and use it for something better, e.g. Extend.

    If speed typers started using keyboards with configurable thumb keys, they might well break records. I can imagine a sticky shift thumb key to be super fast.

    Last edited by stevep99 (04-Dec-2016 16:53:36)

    Using Colemak-DH with Seniply.

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    Yeah, I wonder how much leeway you may have by way of hardware solutions in typing competitions? Macros are right out of course, but what about thumb keys or Fn/Extend or...?

    Last edited by DreymaR (05-Dec-2016 10:30:59)

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

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