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Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm

  • Started by nicpottier
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14-Jun-2018 23:35:02#26 Re: Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm

81 wpm in TypeRacer now. Made a new switch the other day which was to replace my right shift with the backspace key, which I'm quite liking. For whatever reason I've always used the left shift exclusively, and caps lock has been control since my days programming Sun workstations, so that wasn't an option for backspace. But right shift is nearly as easy to hit as CapsLock and doesn't get in the way of my normal flow. I'm pretty much totally remapped to using it now, though my accuracy isn't quite 100% in hitting it precisely.

90 seems very much within reach, just a matter of continuing to push my pace and get rid of remaining typos!

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15-Jun-2018 09:23:08#27 Re: Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm
nicpottier said:

81 wpm in TypeRacer now. Made a new switch the other day which was to replace my right shift with the backspace key, which I'm quite liking. For whatever reason I've always used the left shift exclusively, and caps lock has been control since my days programming Sun workstations, so that wasn't an option for backspace. But right shift is nearly as easy to hit as CapsLock and doesn't get in the way of my normal flow. I'm pretty much totally remapped to using it now, though my accuracy isn't quite 100% in hitting it precisely.

90 seems very much within reach, just a matter of continuing to push my pace and get rid of remaining typos!

That's a great progress, and hopefully you're feeling the comfort as well :) Yeah, errors are really the bane of my existance as well, I'm kind of too sloppy when I'm writing, I need to get that in order and then I'll get over my current 70 wpm plateau.

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27-Jun-2018 19:15:23#28 Re: Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm

Checking in.. now at 86 wpm in TypeRacer, finish many races in the 90s but then and now do have problems still. Typing day to day is natural though still more mistakes than I'd like. I REALLY like the right shift as a backspace key, I've adapted to that quickly and it is a very nice switch for me. Hoping for 90 in the next few weeks and breaking into the 100s in the next few months, we'll see!

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28-Jun-2018 09:05:03#29 Re: Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm

That's great work, I'm still not that fast, but I'm slowly building speed. I don't think I'd be willing to sacrifice a shift key for backspace though, so you're only using the left one then or?

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28-Jun-2018 14:54:29#30 Re: Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm

Ya, for whatever reason I've always used the left shift key exclusively (and right thumb for spacebar exclusively). Didn't seem to slow me down at all in QWERTY so didn't see any reason to really change that. Having the backspace be so accessible has been nice, though will admit that especially early on I was hitting enter often instead if the right shift which is just about the worst mistype you can make when you know something is wrong on the line you are in. But I don't tend to make that mistake very often at all anymore.

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29-Jun-2018 09:50:26#31 Re: Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm

For backspacing I find Extend(+T)+O very handy, especially the Ctrl+Back functionality that avoids key mashing and uncertain autorepeats. If you're not used to Extend you may think that the extra key makes it less optimal, but Extend chording becomes second hand in no time and makes you very powerful.

Last edited by DreymaR (29-Jun-2018 09:51:02)

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29-Jun-2018 12:51:03#32 Re: Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm

A cool, the combo with t o even works on my keyboard, never thought about that, thank you DreymaR, I'll try to get used to using that, I've found that deleting the whole word mostly is faster than going back a set amout of characters and correct.

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29-Jun-2018 15:10:49#33 Re: Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm

Yeah, it's brilliant. There's a little passage on it in my Amphetype topic and of course in the Extend topic. But I guess I've written so much that it's hard to find the gems... ;-)

Ctrl+Back doesn't always delete words, unfortunately, but in most places it works. Annoys me when I'm using shells. ^_^

Last edited by DreymaR (29-Jun-2018 15:46:11)

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29-Jun-2018 18:35:31#34 Re: Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm
DreymaR said:

Ctrl+Back doesn't always delete words, unfortunately, but in most places it works. Annoys me when I'm using shells. ^_^

Ctrl+W there, annoys me when not using shells. ;-)

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02-Jul-2018 08:26:40#35 Re: Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm
ghen said:
DreymaR said:

Ctrl+Back doesn't always delete words, unfortunately, but in most places it works. Annoys me when I'm using shells. ^_^

Ctrl+W there, annoys me when not using shells. ;-)

esc-yyp is not there when I'm using anything else than vim, that annoys me:p

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02-Jul-2018 10:15:57#36 Re: Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm
sotolf said:

esc-yyp is not there when I'm using anything else than vim, that annoys me:p

The Extend sequence is less elegant, but "always" there for you and easy enough once you understand it:

Ext+{ L, S+Y,   C } : Copy current line,
Ext+{ Y, Space, V } : then paste after current line.

It's also relatively easy to paste the line somewhere else this way, or to select/copy/delete until start/end of line/paragraph/text.

Last edited by DreymaR (02-Jul-2018 10:17:43)

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12-Sep-2018 17:33:54#37 Re: Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm

Checking in. Been at it a while now but I must admit I'm not practicing very often anymore. Just tried a few races on TypeRacer and I'm at about 90 wpm. That seems to match my feeling which is "fast but not as fast as before" which I'm fine with as I trust the rest of the speed will come, just with a bit more time. (especially without practice)

Certainly love the daily typing feeling, when things are going well it really feels like cheating.

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12-Sep-2018 21:25:31#38 Re: Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm

*waves enthusiastically*

Last edited by DreymaR (12-Sep-2018 21:25:56)

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26-Mar-2019 22:04:54#39 Re: Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm

Coming up on a year since I took the Colemak plunge!

Just did a quick test on 10fastfingers and I'm at 106 wpm with 98.7% accuracy. Funnily in a way I still feel slower than I was on qwerty, which I am but only slightly. I think because it is a bit less dramatic to type over 100 wpm on Colemak compared to Qwerty it may just feel less dramatically fast.

Still loving my right shift as backspace.

I'll try to check in again in another year or so! :)

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27-Mar-2019 18:11:38#40 Re: Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm

Glad to hear you're happy with it! Best of luck onwards too.

*** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
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18-Nov-2019 20:24:49#41 Re: Colemak from 30 years of Qwerty @ 110wpm

Now at 112 at 99% accuracy, so about as fast as I ever was on Qwerty. (though again doesn't really seem like it, I go through periods where I feel great but others when I'm still struggling a bit)

I'll try to check in on my two year anniversary this April!

https://10fastfingers.com/share-badge/1_DI

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