I haven't read the other topics yet but I'm on day 11 now having switched cold turkey. My qwerty speed is now pathetic. I'm not sure how this compares to others but I tend to be a very quick learner.
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- 71 wpm in 10 days
71 wpm in 10 days
- Started by iamthebest
- 12 Replies:
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Indeed you are. What was your qwerty speed before you started with Colemak?
Hi-games profile: http://hi-games.net/profile/4663
TypeRacer profile: http://data.typeracer.com/pit/profile?user=patcm
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That's quick indeed - congratulations! How did you test?
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http://www.typeonline.co.uk/typingspeed.php
I tested my qwerty with that several times before and it ranged from 65-110 depending on how sleepy/stoned I was.
I kinda panic when I take those online tests and slow down so I thought about writing a plugin for vim or something.. that would time you when you aren't looking.. I dunno I mainly code in vim though so that probably wouldn't work!
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Hmm, a test where you have to click start and stop is a bit weird, you might want to try out some others. A tip for taking typing tests: focus on making no mistakes (or as few as possible) rather than typing as quickly as you can. Good luck on your further progress.
I think it would be helpful if you checked out the recommendations for posting experiences. :)
Last edited by boli (22-Mar-2011 09:15:38)
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A test where you have to push the start/stop yourself suits me as it will be an under rather than an over estimate.
Okay the posting experiece guidelines.. well I typed for about 50 hours a week for 2 weeks. Using Linux. I'm not sure if the other suggestions are relevant.
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Edit:
I think you should document you improvement in a way that new comers will be able to see it and be motivated. So, go to http://hi-games.net/typing/ and take a 5 minutes and 30 sec tests to measure your burst speed and your top average speed, and then provide the link for your profile in this thread as all other participants are doing. Thus people could visit you profile and see your typing session by replaying it, and maybe they would be encouraged that it is possible to convert within few days and reach a descent speed if they exerted the necessary effort.
Finally, do not forget to mention the tools that you have used to practice Colemk whether they were programs or site for your experience to be meaningful, and your feeling about this conversion.
Last edited by nimbostratue (22-Mar-2011 16:20:02)
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I signed up to hi-games but they use a java-applet... using a java applet for this kind of thing sort of annoys me. I refuse to install the fat stupid java plugin (although I do realise in the past that timing used to be more accurate in Java than in Javascript).
As for learning.. ktouch is good.
When it comes to remapping things like vim I found the suggested vimrc to be missing too many commands. I've gone for a mapping where 90% of the keys are in their colemak positions, but where some are remapped to their qwerty position in order to get h, j, k and l back. This is working out really well.
I possess intelligence within the top percentile of the population of my country so posting my figures is perhaps a misleading indicator of how long it takes to learn colemak. I definitely won't be indulging in posting my learning history online to further mislead, but I will post some learning hints and re-mappings which might help others.
Last edited by iamthebest (23-Mar-2011 14:38:56)
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iamthebest said:
When it comes to remapping things like vim I found the suggested vimrc to be missing too many commands. I've gone for a mapping where 90% of the keys are in their colemak positions, but where some are remapped to their qwerty position in order to get h, j, k and l back. This is working out really well.
Sounds good. I still don't know what to do about vim. Most stuff is ok except for... yeah... hjkl. What are your mappings?
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erw said:
Sounds good. I still don't know what to do about vim. Most stuff is ok except for... yeah... hjkl. What are your mappings?
https://github.com/tuxjay/colemak
Last edited by iamthebest (23-Mar-2011 09:43:02)
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Oh one other thing I'll say.. on Linux I find capslock works much better as ctrl instead of backspace. I got used to using ctrl-h instead of backspace when I was using qwerty and this is the same in colemak. As a tmux user ctrl is essential. Plus it makes the vim alternative to "Esc" such as ctrl-] easier to type.
I'd also recommend mapping ctrl-n to enter and avoiding the enter key (on Unix qwerty ctrl-j is enter in most applications and since I have the left ctrl so close to my left digitus-minimus and n right under my index finger it involves less movement then reaching for enter).
Last edited by iamthebest (23-Mar-2011 14:33:08)
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Thanks for the mappings. I don't know about the location of 'e' since I use it a lot. I'll have to think about that... hm.
iamthebest said:
Oh one other thing I'll say.. on Linux I find capslock works much better as ctrl instead of backspace. I got used to using ctrl-h instead of backspace when I was using qwerty and this is the same in colemak. As a tmux user ctrl is essential. Plus it makes the vim alternative to "Esc" such as ctrl-] easier to type.
Caps as ctrl ftw. On Danish keyboards, the brackets are not easily reachable so I use ctrl-c, which also has the advantage that you don't have to strech the pinky.
iamthebest said:
I'd also recommend mapping ctrl-n to enter and avoiding the enter key (on Unix qwerty ctrl-j is enter in most applications and since I have the left ctrl so close to my left digitus-minimus and n right under my index finger it involves less movement then reaching for enter).
Yes, and if you don't want or are unable to remap, ctrl-m is also handy.
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erw said:
Thanks for the mappings. I don't know about the location of 'e' since I use it a lot. I'll have to think about that... hm.
e is where qwerty k is.. so e has to map somewhere else, and yet qwerty e is at 'f' so if you choose that instead.. 'f' would then be where 'e' is with my mapping. It involves an extra rotation though. But then 'f' is a useful command too so why do an extra rotation just to trade off? You could look for other remappings and rotations but then you get into murkier and murkier territory before you realise you just can't win.. i.e. some of the default qwerty mappings are hard to reach, perfection isn't attainable with only ten fingers.
erw said:
Caps as ctrl ftw. On Danish keyboards, the brackets are not easily reachable so I use ctrl-c, which also has the advantage that you don't have to strech the pinky.
ctrl-c is good too I use that in vim, but other applications don't support it.
edit: also "e" is only really useful in operator pending mode so is a good candidate for the current qwerty "y" position.
Last edited by iamthebest (23-Mar-2011 15:33:32)
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