Hi there :)
I'm Pavel and I decided to share my impressions of the layout and make a little comparison to the other layout I've tried - Dvorak. I hope it helps people who are wondering whether to make the switch or which layout to choose.
I'd used Qwerty for about 7 or 8 years, but actually learnt proper touch typing the last half a year I was using Qwerty. I believe I was typing at around 55-60 wpm. Then I read about Dvorak and made a switch. Went for the cold turkey approach and after two months I was typing with about 50+ wpm.
Then I found out about Colemak and after a bit of wondering I made the switch. It's been a month since and I'm typing with 45+ wpm, reaching 55 at short texts. And here are some of my impressions.
I got Colemak almost twice as fast as Dvorak, even though my muscle memory was all messed up from the previous switch, so that's a great thing about Colemak. Also I was very serious with my Dvorak learning, and I'm not as much now with Colemak.
To be frank though I have to say that I prefer Dvorak for pure text typing (long texts, not IM). It's just that the hand alternation for me is much superior and makes a big difference for me.
I also liked how I used the bottom row less than with Colemak but that's probably balanced, since Colemak has better home row usage and I have to stretch for the upper row a bit more rarely :)
I have to say I didn't like the load on my left pinky on the L and S.
The reason I changed to Colemak and I'm gonna stick to it is that I'm a shortcut guy. I don't like moving my mouse to click here and there if I can do it with the keyboard. Dvorak is no good for shortcuts because it keeps the punctuation on the left side, as well as the vocal letters, which are not that often used in shortcuts.
Colemak on the other hand even keeps some of the qwerty shortcuts on their places.
I use a lot of shortcuts in the programs I work with and this is very important for me. So I decided that switching between Dvorak and Qwerty doesn't worth the effort and I read all the lovely things you guys have written here about the layout :)
All in all I'm sticking with Colemak and if I have to advice a Qwerty typist on which to choose - Dvorak or Colemak, I would have to say Colemak, for the exact same reasons I mentioned already. Quick to learn and keeps the shortcuts-friendly keys on the left.
Another thing to mention is also that I feel more comfortable with Colemak (compared to Dv) when I have to type just a few letters on the keyboard. With Dvorak I had to first put my fingers on the home row in order to find the key I need. It's not like that with Colemak. Probably because it's closer to Qwerty.
There you go guys. I hope this helps somebody. And as for the question to switch or not - definitely go for it. It's so comfortable that you're gonna feel sorry for the people typing on qwerty around you haha. That of course is a bit exaggerated, so no offence ;)
Have a nice day!
Pavel
PS: Big thanks to Tony_VN, who helped me to start with some advices and recommended me good software to use. Thanks :)
PS2: Hey, I forgot! No matter which layout you use, definitely remap your CapsLock key to backspace ;)
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