Well its my first day using Colemak, and so I will give an honest account of my experience.
I have only completed 4 lessons so far, but already I can type a paragraph without cheating too much. :)
I can already feel a glimpse of the ease of use. I know that with enough time this layout will really work for me.
Colemak is cool? No kidding. Good luck with your learning! We look forward to hearing how it goes.
Its my 2nd day now using Colemak. I have removed QWERTY altogether now, so that I can really get into it. I am at this stage dreadfully slow but hopefully that will improve. I always wanted to learn how to touch type 100% correctly so learning Colemak pretty much ensures that. Oh lastly I want to mention that I was able to map all the keys in my mind correctly on day one.
It all started while watching a YouTube video on the Dvorak keyboard layout, you see apparently the QWERTY keyboard layout is so badly designed that by switching to Dvorak you do your fingers a massive favor, and boost your keyboard productivity, well that's the short version.
I then did some research into the very best alternative to QWERTY and came across a layout designed in 2006 that is the latest and greatest, its called Colemak, well I quickly downloaded it and got started learning the layout through a series of typing tutors.
Now I must tell you I am in no way lacking in the speed department in QWERTY, I've been a programmer since forever and a day, and before that I was still using computers in some way or form. All the computers I have ever used have had a QWERTY layout, so my motivation was to gain the benefits claimed in the marketing hype from the makers of Colemak and Dvorak, hype like less overall finger movement and greater comfort while typing.
I pressed on for days trying to learn the layout, the whole experience felt like trying to run with a broken leg. I thought that soon the sensation would pass, but it never did. 4 days into the experiment I have decided to switch back to using the best layout I can think of, and that's QWERTY.
QWERTY is the layout I have been raised on, I started using it at 9 years old, I am now 30, in amongst the usage, I have adopted my own unique hand position, and I have a very good keyboard and mouse relationship with this layout, frankly said - I am very happy with it.
There is more to a switching a keyboard layout than simply just learning new key positions, this is something Dvorak and Colemak marketing hype fails to mention, let me explain - in amongst your comfortable typing routine are many little shortcuts and key/hand combinations that you acquire over time, lets just refer to them as habits, however these are the useful type of habits, along comes Colemak, and all those little things you do, that you are proud of, all those little time savers are all wiped out completely, and you end up having to relearn them, much like a brain damaged invalid, you find yourself stumbling through the keyboard. To cut it short, it feels like you've had all your brain cells removed, except 2. And you are relying on these 2 brain cells to tell you which key to press next. Sometimes the brain cells give you an immediate answer, and sometimes they don't.
I have even decided not to even try get young people using Colemak or Dvorak layouts, it makes far more sense to learn the globally accepted layouts, you never know when you find yourself on a foreign computer without installation rights, and then you are going to be stuck. Also toy laptops all possess QWERTY layouts, and I don't think you'll find Colemak coming to the shops anytime soon.
To conclude - don't waste your time, you'll end up having to repair the damage done, after learning Colemak or Dvorak, so you have been warned.... stay well away from either.
Sorry it didn't work out for you. However, don't disregard the fact that most people here have had a quite different experience from yours.
On a side note, I don't have any trouble whatsoever with installation rights: As long as I'm able to run an app from an USB stick any Windows machine will serve my own personal brand of Colemak. No trouble where I'm working at least.
And if I ever get a toy laptop for my kids, I bet I can move the keys around. I know I can on the adult ones. ;)
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Wow! from cool to uncool in 4 days!
QWERTY is the layout I have been raised on, I started using it at 9 years old, I am now 30, in amongst the usage, I have adopted my own unique hand position, and I have a very good keyboard and mouse relationship with this layout, frankly said - I am very happy with it.
While you are entitled to your choice, I would respectfully suggest the above quote makes it clear that you were not a good candidate for switching in the first place. It kinda of illustrates how quickly people will give up on something once they feel a loss without a very strong motivation or concrete feeling for what is to be gained.
Your concern about not teaching young people because they might end up on a computer without installation rights doesn't make a lot of sense. I don't know about Dvorak on Windows machines, I haven't bothered with a PC since the late 90's, but on a Mac, Dvorak has been an available alternative since the 1980's and does not require installation rights, just a mouse click on the International preferences pane. Linux Ubuntu installation now comes with Colemak as I understand it and the Mac only requires the addition of layout file provided for the International preference pane to switch.
Actually I just realised that even if I go through all the hard work of learning colemak I would gain nothing. However I am done with Colemak, and will erase it from my vocabulary.
Colemak is not for everyone. Statistically, common English words can be reached on the home row around 2/3 of the time as opposed to 1/3 on QWERTY. Not all keys are changed so it's faster to learn the layout. The backspace instead of caps lock is great idea and I can still touchtype on QWERTY, just slower than before I learned Colemak. Anyway, it's not for everyone, especially those who do not like changes...just like let's say Linux is not for everyone ;)
Your problem is *obviously* that you expected too much to happen in 4 days.
My progress was like this:
(you can scale this according to your own progress rate)
Day 01: 17wpm
Day 04: 35wpm <-- where you gave up.
Day 07: 50wpm
Day 14: 78wpm
Day 21: 91wpm
Day 28: 96wpm
Day 30: 104wpm <-- after one month
Day 65: 126wpm <-- after two months
My report is at:
http://www.ryanheise.com/colemak/
Also as DreymaR mentioned, there are colemak layout tools that can be used even on computers where you don't have admin privileges. I myself use a nice little trick. I have uploaded a colemak switching script to my website at a certain url. So wherever I am, whatever computer I use, I just type in http://ryanheise.com/colemak.exe into the web browser and my layout will switch. I do not carry even carry a usb stick with me. Besides, I can still type well enough in QWERTY (it is not too difficult to remember QWERTY because of the layout similarities -- *unlike* Dvorak, where you will likely completely scramble your QWERTY knowledge).
My typing record: http://hi-games.net/typing-test/watch?u=1
I definitey don't think you gave Colemak a fair shot, 4 days is not nearly enough to form a sound judgement. If I had given up after 4 days I would have only made it to about 10WPM!
Obviously you are allowed to have your own opinion, however warning everyone else off after not giving it a proper go is just not right.
If any newcomers to Colemak read CzechTec post, please don't take it as everyone's experiences or opinion on Colemak. There are quite a few of us out here that persevered with learning a new keyboard layout and think its the best thing we could have done!
