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    Colemak and best way of typing.

    • Started by noulis4
    • 4 Replies:
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    • Registered: 22-Apr-2007
    • Posts: 1
    22-Apr-2007 08:18:00#1 Colemak and best way of typing.

    Hello.

    <prologue>
    Until now i type using qwerty. I wanted to change to dvorak for a long time but i always postponed it.
    A few days ago i tried to use dvorak but found some difficulties (some of them are mentioned in the
    Colemak FAQ)
    e.g some common combinations in UNIX (i don't have windows at all) are "cd .." "ls" are
    difficult to use in dvorak also the different punctuation didn't fit me for programming (i guess i would
    be used to this after some time)

    Anyway i read about Colemak and the advantages of it over dvorak and i thought to give it a try.
    I also like the fact that it wasn't made in 1900 like qwerty,dvorak and since it is a new standard
    it will be much better oriented towards computer use and nowadays needs.
    </prologue>

    Now my post is about correct way of typing. I have read some pages from google and every page
    mentions the exact same thing. Fingers rest on arst,neio (or asdf,jkl;) and each finger reaches
    to type letters from the other rows.

    I "touch type" (meaning that i don't need to see the keyboard to find the keys, my fingers go
    to the appropriate position without me looking) but i mainly use index,middle,ring fingers of
    each hand. (i type the way the person in this video does
    https://youtube.com/watch?v=twuPDqWihN0 )

    I tried the "spider contester" and i type 70-80 wpm in qwerty my way and not even 20 by using all fingers
    and reaching

    So my questions are:

    1) I have read that the pinkies don't get much stretching since they are the weakest fingers. But in the layouts
    pinkies get a lot of keys like -=[]'\/ which are frequent and are far away. Isn't this painful for the pinkies ?

    2) Is my way of typing more painful than the typing with all fingers ? (or is the typing with all fingers the best way?)
    I ask this because i tried using ktouch to touch type this way and it was very difficult even in qwerty but since
    i am learning the Colemak layout i can try to use all fingers at the same time if it is more convenient.

    Thank you for your time and i am sorry for my big post.

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    • From: Viken, Norway
    • Registered: 13-Dec-2006
    • Posts: 5,343
    22-Apr-2007 08:39:05#2 Re: Colemak and best way of typing.

    Hi, and welcome!

    1) The pinkies are weaker, but not hopeless. Since the many keys they have to cater for are all very rare, they don't get that much load all in all. I feel it may be a bit worrying that the weak fingers need to "remember" so many keys; maybe they have poorer motor memory or something, being weaker and apparently more "auxiliary" to the hands? But it seems not to be a problem. Now, if you were to do lots and lots of programming the usage would obviously differ from what most keyboard layouts have been optimized for. But I don't think it should amount to anything painful nevertheless.

    2) Obviously, your way of typing isn't used by professional typists and/or in contests (that I know of). That kinda answers your question maybe? Your way isn't optimal. Whether it will be worth taking the pain of changing to a true touch-typing technique is up to you I guess. I know I would, but then I'm not you. Just consider how much time you'll spend typing throughout the rest of your life, and I think you'll find that even the smallest improvement will be worth quite a lot of work really. Most people don't think that way however.

    Your post was nice I think. Not too long at all.  ;)

    *** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
    *** Check out my Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks for Win/Linux/TMK... ***

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    • From: Houston, Texas
    • Registered: 03-Jan-2007
    • Posts: 358
    22-Apr-2007 09:26:12#3 Re: Colemak and best way of typing.

    It's interesting to see someone choosing touch typing fast that way given that some have questioned Colemak's heavier load on the strongest fingers.   Basically here you are really loading up the stronger fingers with everything and choosing to move the wrist and arms more. A step above what I was essentially doing with Qwerty using just the two strongest fingers on each hand for hunt and pecking because that felt comfortable.  In my experience with Colemak the past few months, I have found using all the fingers with Colemak pretty comfortable and I have a crooked bone in my right hand that cuts down on the mobility of my right pinky.

    Last edited by keyboard samurai (22-Apr-2007 09:28:01)

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    • Registered: 05-Oct-2006
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    24-Apr-2007 22:13:18#4 Re: Colemak and best way of typing.

    you may be interested in these diagrams:
    https://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?pid=914#p914

    Please note that the symbols that you talk about are not on the diagram, but they probably would not be visible anyway, since they would likely be below 2% as an average.

    Obviously, key usages depend very much on your writting style and purpose. If you are programing you'll end up using those keys so much more than someone who instant messages all day.

    you may wish to take a sample of your average work and put it in here:
    https://colemak.com/Compare

    To answer your second question, I would say yes. The more fingers that you use, the less strain they will get. For example, if you had 30 fingers, each of them would get almost no strain. If you had only 1 finger, that finger would do much more work. On the other hand, if the fingers that you use are substantially stronger than all the rest, it may end up that using all of them would cause strain at first, but more evenly and comfortably distribute the load after they got stronger.

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    • From: Jakarta, Indonesia
    • Registered: 04-Jun-2007
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    04-Jun-2007 09:13:11#5 Re: Colemak and best way of typing.

    I can symphatize with Noulis4.

    I learnt to touch-type by my own, so my hands & fingers run all over the keyboard. With that, I can still manage a sustained 66-70 wpm in English. Want to know how I touch-type? Let's see (I'm using a QWERTY currently):
    - I rest my index fingers on the nice bumps of F and J, but usually my hands will then widen (i.e. the index then rests on D and K)
    - Left pinkie types only ( Ctrl Shift ) Caps upward gets pressed by the ring finger
    - Index finger gets two columns ( RFVTGB | YHNUJM )
    - Middle finger gets two columns ( WSXEDC | IK,OL. )
    - I shift my right hand rightward to type in punctuations (such as brackets, colons, quotes, etc), so the finger varies.
    - Right pinkie types ( Enter Shift Ctrl )
    - I backspaced using right ring finger

    I've been using this eversince my typewriter days.

    Yet I have no RSI at all. I think because since my hand moves a lot, the palms just can't rest, so I raise my palms slightly. Thus my fingers are always in a natural position, the wrist is straight in relation to the front arms. In fact, I always throw away the wristpad-attachment from the keyboards I use.

    Oh, and I drive my mouse using the thumb and the ring finger, resting the wrist well :)

    Last edited by pepoluan (04-Jun-2007 09:38:49)
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