Firstly I have to say – why would you ask this in Colemak forum?

But hey, I'm nice and I will give you my opinion on the two layouts, seeing I've used Dvorak for a little over 2 months before and Colemak for the last year. So here's what comes to my head right now. I'll try to keep it brief and keep in mind that these are only my thoughts and could be very different for anyone else:

- Dvorak is harder to learn. Like you I wouldn't care about that, but harder to learn means slower progress. So after a few months you're likely to be at lower speed than Colemak. After my first month with Colemak I had reached my two months Dvorak speed. Also the fact that Dvorak is so different from the familiar Qwerty makes it harder to type just very short things like 2-3 words. You have to position your fingers and all that stuff – again something I've experienced, not necessarily what anyone else does.

- Dvorak has more hand alternation. That really depends on the way you type and like to feel the keyboard but it's hard to say what you prefer if you hadn't tried both. I like Dvorak for its higher hand alternation. The hands feel much more free and the error rate is lower. The overall typing is more fluent.

- Dvorak has lower bottom row usage. That isn't mentioned much when comparing the layouts but when I was typing Dvorak my hands were slightly moved upward – closer to the numbers. That actually made the typing a bit easier then but isn't an issue with Colemak, because you can just learn to type properly and it isn't a problem :)

- Dvorak's keys are very awkwardly positioned for shortcuts because it keeps the vowels and punctuation signs right under your left hand. And the very common Z X C V W and so on are on the right side. Depending on how you use your computer and which programs you use that could be a problem. There are ways to customize the Windows and the program's shortcuts but it's a lot of time to and takes a while to get used to, obviously. There is also a way to use the Qwerty keys when you hold Ctrl, so you can basically use the "old" shortcuts but... I don't think a real Dvoraker would do that.

- Dvorak has the L letter on an arguably bad position. I personally haven't found it too troublesome but many people do.

- Dvorak may have a lot of users but undoubtedly the Colemak community is much more active on the net. You'll have bigger support and help if needed if you go with Colemak. Again that doesn't say that you shouldn't stay if you decide to use different layout than Colemak but still – this is a Colemak forum, and as far as I know it's the biggest of its kind (correct me if I'm wrong).

You can read a bit more on my thoughts in my experience thread (more or less what I've already said here)

One more time – all this is only my personal opinion on the matter, so... ;)

See my keyboard modding topic: There are several way the resourceful modder can get his homing nubs.

Changing layout in itself will actually improve your speed it seems: You have to work a bit of course to get there, but everyone I know who have switched will get a little faster. I improved my speed going from QWERTY to Dvorak (50 -> 55 WPM), and then some more going to Colemak (55 -> 60 WPM). I probably wouldn't bear practicing like that just to get better. But if you want blinding speed you'll just have to practice like mad and learn alternative fingering for lots of common words and then I don't think it matters much which layout you do it with.

But Colemak is sweet love for the fingers, and a solution for this millennium. ;)

What kind of advice are you expecting from a Colemak forum?

Both Dvorak and Colemak have their stumbling blocks.  While learning Dvorak your errors will be swapping letters for the most part; beginner Colemak typists seem to experience issues with placement of R and S.

I considered Colemak, but there were some sequences which felt awkward, especially on my IBM Model M keyboard.  DreymaR, however, has got my same keyboard, but is enjoying his Colemak choice.

If you are after blazing speed improvements, you'll face disappointment.  Your speed is likely to improve because of less hurdles, but unless you currently are a lousy typist, it is not going to grow twofold.

Whichever layout you choose, you'll set yourself up for a life of more comfortable typing.  Sometimes, while I'm typing, I realize how effortless an ergonomic layout feels, and pity Qwerty typist who will never see the light ;-)

You can check this Alternative Layout review by a geekhacker who have tried both Dvorak and Colemak with speed around ~100wpm

http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:10018

That's so very true. I wouldn't take anything the guy in the review, posted form Tony, says for pure "tuth" because in several places he is actually wrong when talking about pros and cons of the layouts. All this is very subjective, obviously, so just keep an open mind when reading things like that and know everyone's experience is different, so his advices and opinion may or may not apply to you.

I have heard equally good reviews about both, to be honest. However, Im currently using Colemak, but when I used to learn to type with dvorak, I used http://www.typingstudy.com
The choice is up to you!