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    Getting Started

    • Started by dietsche
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    • Registered: 19-May-2012
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    26-May-2012 00:28:43#1 Getting Started

    Hi,
    I've recently learned about colemak, and want to try it out due to some wrist problems. Does anyone have any tips or tricks? I am a C# programmer and use VsVim in Visual Studio. Also, I have Kinesis Advantage keyboards at work and home. I'm especially interested to know how well colemak works with this type of setup from anyone who has a similar configuration. What's the best way to make this switch? What's the best way to use vim with colemak?

    I'm typing this with colemak at home and learning at home by spending 30-60 minutes with it a night. So far I'm up to about 20 wpm (I'm 90-100 wpm on qwerty and very comfortable in vim). In my mind the two biggest hurdles I have with colemak are regaining my typing speed an comfort level in vim. Suggestions?

    Thanks!

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    26-May-2012 04:19:49#2 Re: Getting Started

    Your speed will come in over time, the same way that your QWERTY speed built up through practice. My speed is now about the same on Colemak and QWERTY (though I've never been a particularly fast typist), but Colemak is not just about speed. The most important reason for my switch was a desire for something more elegant. You said that you are interested in reducing wrist problems. Personally, I'm okay with typing a bit slower if it means using a better layout.

    Rebuilding your muscle memory in vim is something I don't have a lot of insight into. I'm not a big user of keyboard shortcuts personally, and most of my muscle memory is used for PC games...which I play exclusively on a QWERTY-equiped gaming PC.

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    26-May-2012 12:22:58#3 Re: Getting Started

    I'd have thought that your keyboard already would make Qwerty infinitely more comfortable, taking away the awkwardness that's pained on the left hand/wrist.

    I'd have thought if you really wanted the same comfort in Vim, you'd want to mimic the placement of shortcuts designed under Qwerty - as they are optimised for that layout.  For me though that's too much of a head ache.  You'll loose the benefits of your built up muscle memory if you change.

    Have you looked into using the Maltron layout for your fake Maltron?

    A question for 'Boli' me thinks.

    --
    Physicians deafen our ears with the Honorificabilitudinitatibus of their heavenly Panacaea, their sovereign Guiacum.

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    26-May-2012 16:34:38#4 Re: Getting Started

    I think you will regain your old Qwerty speed in around 3 months or so. Focus on accuracy and the speed will increase in its own accord.

    Since Colemak is 25-30% optimized compared to Qwerty, your wrists will not hurt as much.

    If you depends on Vim, there are ways to use it in Colemak, do a search "Colemak with vim" and you will find a thread here.

    My fastest typing records http://hi-games.net/profile/4314
    My switching experience https://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?id=970

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    28-May-2012 00:54:40#5 Re: Getting Started

    Thanks guys,
    Well... for now I think I'm going to work on my typing, and once I get that down, I'll worry about vim when I start using colemak at work. One thing at a time seems to be the best way to start.

    Haven't taken a look at the maltron layout.  I spent a lot of time choosing between dvorak and colemak. Colemak won out for me because I type 'ls' a lot, and the common keyboard shortcuts (xcv) stayed the same. From what I could tell beyond that, the difference in efficiency seemed negligible between the two layouts and either appears to be a good choice.

    The kinesis keyboard is really nice and comfortable when compared to regular keyboards; especially when paired with vim. At first I was worried about the {} characters and the arrows, but they turned out to be a non issue (the grid layout makes finding them very easy without looking).

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    28-May-2012 10:20:36#6 Re: Getting Started

    Search for threads with Boli and Maltron/Kenesis.

    The Kenesis keyboards look fantastic (best out of a bad bunch.)  They don't look 'right heavy' either, so I'd have thought that they'd be very Dvorak friendly.  I'm a Dvorak user and whittled down my choices to Dvorak and Colemak.  I do quite a lot of computer hopping - so Dvorak made more sense personally for me.  Sadly I can't compare the two, as I think it takes months to really get a feel for a layout - and I've only flirted with Colemak.  'ls' is not a deal breaker in my mind - it's a non-issue.  If it really did get you down then you could always alias 'dir'!  There are other advantages with Dvorak, you might prefer some of the other punctuation placement.

    Last edited by pinkyache (29-May-2012 08:12:22)

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    Physicians deafen our ears with the Honorificabilitudinitatibus of their heavenly Panacaea, their sovereign Guiacum.

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    28-May-2012 23:06:05#7 Re: Getting Started

    I think it's going to be colemak for me :)
    In addition to 'ls' the semicolon is placed better for me on colemak, and I use that key a lot too. Also I spend >95% of my time on 3 computers, so I'm not to worried about having to set it up repeatedly or explain it to other people.

    I did the searches that were recommended, and am finding lots of good info! If boil reads this, I'd be interested to know how he made the nice kinesis keyboard images that show his key mappings.

    I've been practicing this weekend and am up to 33wpm!

    Last edited by dietsche (28-May-2012 23:07:09)
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    29-May-2012 08:11:03#8 Re: Getting Started

    Yeah you got me there, the placement of the semi-colon with Dvorak sucks on a regular keyboard.  Though I reckon it would be fine on a Maltron.  Hyphen and Equals might be better placed though!  It's all a game of tit for tat.

    --
    Physicians deafen our ears with the Honorificabilitudinitatibus of their heavenly Panacaea, their sovereign Guiacum.

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    • From: Aalborg, Denmark
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    11-Jun-2012 02:28:32#9 Re: Getting Started

    Another Kinesis and vim user here.

    Here's what I do in vim:
    https://bitbucket.org/erw/colemak/src/tip/colemak.vim

    No fancy second-guessing vim, just hjkl on hnei and then patching it up. It's pretty, simple: Cycle KNJE and swap IL.

    http://hi-games.net/typing-test/watch?u=4610

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    18-Jun-2012 03:28:51#10 Re: Getting Started

    Thanks for the vim tips! I've been so busy that I've not had time to try anything out yet, so I'm using vim with no remappings at all currently. And that is working reasonably well actually. In fact, a number of common commands I use are in better places I think.

    I'm curious what you do with the escape key on your kinesis? I remapped mine to the "Delete" key next to the backspace key. And then I remapped the right ctrl key to be my delete key. It's working pretty well.

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