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    3 years now, wow!

    • Started by jlaustill
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    • Registered: 22-Feb-2008
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    19-Mar-2011 02:03:17#1 3 years now, wow!

    Ok, so I just realized that it's been 3 YEARS since I switched to colemak!  I went back in the forums to find a picture of my keyboard to show someone and noticed that it was dated feb of 2008!  So, I thought that I would give an "experience" from 3 years of typing almost strictly on colemak :)

    I still type qwerty on my phone as the palm pre isn't easily changed.  And being in the Army Reserves I still type on qwerty whenever I have a drill weekend and have to use one of their computers.  Other than that I am 100% colemak, and it drives me NUTS to type on a qwerty keyboard.  I basically finger peck on qwerty anymore unless I have to use it all day, I can still get it back after a few hours and get back to around 40ish wpm on qwerty, but I have no desire to ever switch back, so that's only when I HAVE to type on a "normal" keyboard haha.

    In my professional job I am a computer programmer and I use colemak exclusively.  It's an amazing layout for computer programming!  In my experience though i have to use the registry remapping so that the colemak carries over to remote desktop sessions and the login screen.  At home I use a macbook pro and I haven't found a way to switch the system default to colemak on it yet, but if anybody knows PLEASE tell me!

    So, after 3 years I type about 80 wpm normally.  If I really concentrate and just do transcription type typing I can get upwards of 120 or 130, but I hardly ever do that kind of typing so usually I'm around 80.  Most importantly I get a lot of comments about how I don't look like I'm even moving my fingers and words are flying onto the screen when people watch me type.  That always makes me smile :)

    So lastly, I typed this entire post on colemak, and it took about 2 minutes :).  Have a great day everyone, I hope there are other people out there that are as happy with the colemak layout as I am, cause I'm NEVER going back!

    Joshua

    P.S., if you have any questions for a person that is a long term user of colemak, fire away, I'll answer anything that I can :)

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    19-Mar-2011 11:08:25#2 Re: 3 years now, wow!
    jlaustill said:

    At home I use a macbook pro and I haven't found a way to switch the system default to colemak on it yet, but if anybody knows PLEASE tell me!

    What do you mean by that? I assume you've already installed the layout and followed the instructions? That is move the colemak.keylayout file to /Library/Keyboard Layouts/ and set the keyboard layout to Colemak for each user.
    If you go to System Preferences > Accounts > Click Login Options > Check Show input menu in login window you can also select Colemak in the login screen (it's only available in the login screen if you install the layout in the global /Library/Keyboard Layouts/ and not your personal ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts/).


    Update: If you like you can use the Colemak.bundle I made with Ukelele. It's simply the colemak.keylayout file combined with the favicon from this site into a single bundle. If you'd like to have an icon for your keylayout, just use this bundle instead of the keylayout file, that is: put the bundle into /Library/Keyboard Layouts/.

    This is what it looks like:
    keyboard_menu.png

    Last edited by boli (19-Mar-2011 11:43:47)

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    19-Mar-2011 12:49:13#3 Re: 3 years now, wow!

    @jlaustill
    Could you elaborate more on you experience and speed increase. For example, how much was your speed in 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, etc... Or do you have a thread where you did so?

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    19-Mar-2011 13:26:04#4 Re: 3 years now, wow!
    boli said:
    jlaustill said:

    At home I use a macbook pro and I haven't found a way to switch the system default to colemak on it yet, but if anybody knows PLEASE tell me!

    What do you mean by that? I assume you've already installed the layout and followed the instructions? That is move the colemak.keylayout file to /Library/Keyboard Layouts/ and set the keyboard layout to Colemak for each user.
    If you go to System Preferences > Accounts > Click Login Options > Check Show input menu in login window you can also select Colemak in the login screen (it's only available in the login screen if you install the layout in the global /Library/Keyboard Layouts/ and not your personal ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts/).


    Update: If you like you can use the Colemak.bundle I made with Ukelele. It's simply the colemak.keylayout file combined with the favicon from this site into a single bundle. If you'd like to have an icon for your keylayout, just use this bundle instead of the keylayout file, that is: put the bundle into /Library/Keyboard Layouts/.

    This is what it looks like:
    http://homepage.mac.com/boli/colemak/keyboard_menu.png

    You answered my question EXACTLY Boli, thanks a ton!!!  I tried to figure out the login screen a few years back and couldn't so i just gave up and never thought about it again until now.  Thanks again!

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    19-Mar-2011 13:30:02#5 Re: 3 years now, wow!
    nimbostratue said:

    @jlaustill
    Could you elaborate more on you experience and speed increase. For example, how much was your speed in 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, etc... Or do you have a thread where you did so?

    Sure, when I decided to switch I was typing around 80-100 with qwerty, but I was having very very bad wrist problems.  If you search for posts I've made you can see a picture of my keyboard at work.  i switched to a natural keyboard and the colemak layout at the same time.  I've since had no more wrist problems and I can play my guitar again without pain :)

    As for speed, the first couple of weeks were a real pain, especially at work, but within 3 months I had switched completely.  I don't remember exactly when I got up to the typing feeling natural with colemak point, but it was within 6 months for sure.  My reasons for switching weren't about speed, they were about wrist health mainly.  I did discover that for me at least, cold turkey was the only way to go because for at least the first year I would get really natural feeling on colemak, then use a qwerty keyboard, then it would take a day or two for my brain to readjust.  I don't have that problem so much anymore however.

    Have you switched, or are you just thinking about it?

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    19-Mar-2011 14:11:06#6 Re: 3 years now, wow!

    Yes, I have already switched around 2 months ago and now my best is 81WPM for 46 seconds and 66WPM for 5 minutes. The main reason for switching was the same as yours( wrist pain) and some medical injury in the left wrist. I did find that the layout helped a lot in terms of wrist pain, but I think that no layout will completely remove wrist pain, especially if you typed for three straight days. I was doing some research about a better way and I guess I have found it, at least for my left hand, so if you are interested you can see my second thread ( Alternative touch typing for Colemak). And here are all my threads, maybe you can find something useful or contribute in.
    https://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?id=997
    https://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?id=1041
    https://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?id=1048
    https://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?id=1042
    https://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?id=1047

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    09-Jun-2011 04:14:00#7 Re: 3 years now, wow!

    Great !

      It's shocking to me that I just figured out that it's been over FOUR years since I started to learn Colemak.   It doesn't seem like it's been that long.

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    10-Jun-2011 20:26:14#8 Re: 3 years now, wow!

    Three years for me (No QWERTY). Speed 65-70wpm. No desire to switch layout ever again. Thanks Shai.

    "It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in." - Earl of Chesterfield

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