Recently I have been analyzing how my hands get exhausted and how the pressure mounts on my Wrists when I type for a long period of times. Moreover, I have been using the traditional touch typing technique and I was thinking that this is the optimal technique, but for some reason or another I was going for the backspace key with my ring finger instead of my pinky(small finger) . I have developed this habit naturally i.e., I did not force it, and on the long run it turned out to be much faster and efficient than using the small finger. The reasons because of which the ring finger is better than the pinky are:
1- The wrist does not have to move to reach the backspace since the ring finger have a natural reach for the backspace.
2- The ring finger is much faster than the pinky and has a faster firing rate :). I mean it is very fast if there are multiple consecutive typos that need to
be corrected.
Strangely After using the backspace and the CAPS LOCK for around a month my brain was able to make use of the two keys at the same time in an optimum manner. When there are multiple typos, I find myself using backspaces, and when there is 1 or two typos I find my self using the CAPS LOCK. Also if a single typo was on the right hand my brains recognize it and Use the caps lock, and if it is on the left hand I find myself using the backspace ( This happens so often, and I think with time this capacity of recognizing which appropriate key do use will increase.
I decided recently to let my finger decide which are the optimum keys they should be associated with in a manner that reduces stress on the wrist, brain, and harnesses the natural capability of the fingers and the Colemak Layout. It is really odd that in traditional touch typing the index fingers have to type 6 letters and 2 numbers while the middle and the ring finger have only to type 3 characters and one letter. This seems to be somewhat not natural especially that the index finger types some letters that are within natural reach of the middle finger(4 and p for example). Consequently, I tried for the last month to associate the ring finger with the keys that suits it the most and reduces wrist movement while increasing speed. Thus I used my index to type ~!12 0 - = backspace( I was using backspace long time ago). Note that in traditional touch typing !1 and 0-=backspace are associated with the small finger. The association felt very natural and within few days I become even faster than before ( you can feel it). Now after analyzing Colemak further I think I found a better natural association for the middle fingers and I plan to use it from now on. Thus, I would like to hear you comments about my new touch typing technique, and it would be nice if somebody could try it with me.
Here is an Image of my Low stress Improved Colemak touchtyping technique, ICT3, which only shows the new keys association with the middle finger and the ring finger. The remaining key association is still the same as old touch typing technique:
Note:
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1- with this new key association you do not have to flex your wrist to reach p,g,l, and the overall hand wrest movement is decreased because you are using longer fingers that have better natural reach
2- the middle finger has a better natural reach for 4 and p, and considering the colemak layout it you even be better to associate it with the g key provided that you do not use your left thumb to reach the spacebar, otherwise it would be more stressful and awkward.
3- typing words that has dg(edge), li (like), pr( product) , feels more natural ( try it out :) ).
4- I did not associate the middle finger on the right hand with j because the right hand uses the spacebar which limits the middle finger reachability, and for several word like (just, justification), it would be more natural to keep the index finger associated with j. This is synonymous to the old touch typing technique where on the left hand you use the middle finger to reach c and on the right hand you use the index finger to reach m , which is just a mirror of c
Finally, I would like to hear some critics about this technique, provided that you give it a try out and how do you think it can be improved?. Enjoy!!!
Edited:
- technique Figure changed
- L is not assigned to the middle finger any more
- ; is assigned to the ring fingure
- 5 is assigned to the middle fingure
- 3 is assigned to the ring fingure