Hi; I'm considering converting to Colemak from QWERTY, and I have three reasons for doing so:
1) Potential to increase my typing speed. I acknowledge that not many people progress past their QWERTY speeds, but I also believe that there is a chance that one could.
2) Comfort. I needn't elaborate on this one.
3) Burdening of anyone else who uses my computer(s). Often when people want to use my laptop, my only reason to not let them is that I don't want them to use my laptop. This causes arguments. Having the Colemak layout would make these encounters more interesting.
Now: My problem. On my QWERTY layout, I don't put my fingers on the ASDF and JKL; keys. If I try to type this way, then I find my fingers feel too close together and I cannot use some fingers to hit the hey I use them for, because their path is blocked.
I position my right hand such that my right little finger is pretty much always on or above the right shift key. I find that my right index finger tends to rest and idle half way between the L and K keys. Because my right hand is shifted over this much, everything to the left of the U, H and N keys, I use my left hand for (not inclusive of U, H and N).
Because the comfort and speed benefits of Colemak derive from the lesser finger travel, I was wondering if my misplaced hand might cause the benefits to be void. I was wondering if anyone else came from a scenario like this when converting.
And finally, I plead that you don't ask me to learn how to position my hands above the keys you "should". I tried typing like this in QWERTY, and couldn't. If I swapped to Colemak, then not only would I need to learn a new layout, but a new technique as well. If you're wondering, I currently touch type at 70-80 WPM, so this isn't a major handicap.
Thanks in advance.
