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    colemak-qwerty on a mac

    • Started by asdffff
    • 11 Replies:
    • Reputation: 1
    • Registered: 01-Jul-2008
    • Posts: 3

    OS X has a nice feature when you want to switch to a Dvorak layout, or any international layout for that matter, where it retains QWERTY mapping when you hold down the command key... That way, system functions and so on remain the same. This is important on a mac because we use command-Q and W and I and so on a lot more often than XZCVV, which coleman so courteously left the same. This is the only thing holding me back from choosing colemak over Dvorak, so is there any way to achieve this same layout with colemak?

    Thanks

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    • Registered: 08-Mar-2008
    • Posts: 303

    Well Colemak has all the shortcuts in the same place or equally easy places. I used that thing too when I was on Dvorak, but you don't need it for Colemak. Q, W, X, Z, C, V are kept in place, and S is pretty close. (I use save a lot when programming.)

    Colemak has all the shortcuts plus it's better than Dvorak. Learn it.

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    • Registered: 01-Jul-2008
    • Posts: 3

    Yeah, I guess you're right... only problems are S and F... meh, I guess I'll manage. It seems like it's worth it. Thanks.

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    • From: Houston, Texas
    • Registered: 03-Jan-2007
    • Posts: 358

    I used that when I was learning Dvorak before I knew of Colemak.  It was nice, but most of it's still there with Colemak and and Cmd-S is on stronger finger and I don't have to reach for Cmd-T or move my finger for Cmd-N for example so it didn't take long to let go of that.  The fact that Apple would have seen a need to come up with that special Dvorak setup shows that Colemak has got the right idea.

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    • From: Belgium
    • Registered: 26-Feb-2008
    • Posts: 480

    Will the Command-key reverting your keyboard to Qwerty not just confuse you even more while learning Colemak or Dvorak?

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    • Registered: 01-Jul-2008
    • Posts: 3

    This is really weird... it looks like the original QWERTY key positions are default when using them with command in Firefox (I'm using Firefox 3) but go back to colemak in any other program...
    Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Maybe I just need to restart Firefox for it to recognize colemak... but it shouldn't, because switching between the two in the input menu is good enough for all the other apps.

    At any rate, it doesn't really matter, because I figured out a way to essentially make a colemak-qwerty like the dvorak-qwerty... I downloaded Ukelele, and started a new layout based on the colemak layout that I had downloaded, and after much frustration, I managed to map the corresponding QWERTY keys to important keys that don't match in colemak only when command is being held down.
    For the record, Ukelele is a damn glitchy program, but if you can get it to work, it's pretty handy. I also used it to map caps lock to ctrl+backspace... that way I can still use the caps lock key as backspace, but if I ever really really want caps lock I still have the option.
    @ Keyboard Samurai, I hear what you're saying about some of them being under stronger fingers... and given that, I may try to switch to full colemak down the road, but for now, and at least until I figure out why firefox is behaving separately, I think this is the way to go.

    If anyone is interested in what I did with Ukelele and you don't want to mess around with Ukelele yourself, let me know in this thread soon and I can send it to you.

    Thanks for everyone's input.

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    • From: Houston, Texas
    • Registered: 03-Jan-2007
    • Posts: 358

    As I note elsewhere,  FireFox 3 falls back into the Qwerty layout when you press the Command key.  FireFox 2 did not have this problem. Safari 3 does not do this.   I don't know what they did but needs to be reported.

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    • Registered: 30-Nov-2016
    • Posts: 3

    I understand that it's been eight years, but I really need Colemak with command layout as it is in Qwerty. Asdffff, can you send me the files, please? :)

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    • From: Viken, Norway
    • Registered: 13-Dec-2006
    • Posts: 5,343

    If it were Windows, I could've helped you. Is there no simple tool you can use for this?

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

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    • Registered: 30-Nov-2016
    • Posts: 3

    I think I can use Ukelele for this, the app comes with the layout for Dvorak Qwerty ⌘, but I haven't figured out how I should make it yet. When I used Windows, I solved the problem by making my own layout. I opened MSKLC, and just re-saved Colemak under a language different than English, Ukranian in my case, and it worked well, all hotkeys with a control key pressed down were as they are in Qwerty. If I manage to create a keyboard for Mac with all commands as in Qwerty, I'll post a link to it here.

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    • Registered: 12-Sep-2016
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    In Ukelele, when you create a new keyboard layout, you can specify a base layout and a layout that is active when ⌘ is pressed. If you select Colemak as base layout and QWERTY as layout for ⌘, you should get the layout you want.

    Or you could use my Keyboard Layout Files Creator :-). I just added custom shortcuts for keylayout files.

    By changing the 'fullName' to "Colemak - Qwerty ⌘" and the 'name' to "colemak-qwerty", and adding '"qwertyShortcuts": true' in example/colemak.json, you should get the layout you want.

    Then, by executing

    klfc colemak.json altgr_colemak.json --keylayout-custom-shortcuts --keylayout colemak-qwerty

    inside the example folder, you should find your file you want in colemak-qwerty/colemak-qwerty.keylayout.

    By copying colemak-qwerty.keylayout to "~/Library/Keyboard Layouts" and logging out and in, the layout should be available as input source.

    Create advanced keyboard layouts in various formats using my Keyboard Layout Files Creator!

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    • Registered: 30-Nov-2016
    • Posts: 3

    Thank you so so much, 39aldo39. I've downloaded your keyboard layout, and it works just right. I may later try other options out with your KLFC, like moving the right side of the layout one column right, but for now that is just what I need :-)

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