I just realized that in colemak, typing words such as link, talk, think .. etc requires jumping of the index finger. Which makes it impossible to exceed qwerty speeds on those words. Do the other benefits of colemak outweigh this disadvantage? I'm wondering if I should keep using colemak. I just did a speed test. 99 net wpm for qwerty, 52wpm for colemak. Seems hard to exceed my qwerty speed.
When did you start touch typing with qwerty and how long have you been using cmk for?
Uh i started touch typing with qwerty before i was 10 (I'm 17 now), I think. I've started learning colemak since 2007 but switched to qwerty often, until this summer, where I try to use colemak as much as possible
If you started at such an early age and don't feel qwerty is uncomfortable for you, I personally wouldn't reccomend for you to switch to colemak.
Edit: What does everybody else think, though?
I actually like colemak a lot, i just feel uncomfortable with the problem I described above. Many frequently used words end in nk, lks.
I'm not looking forward to exceed my qwerty speed. but i want to at least regain my qwerty speed with colemak
I don't see why you couldn't regain your qwerty speed, but you started qwerty years ago at a young age when you brain was still growing and much more unshaped and adaptable. You are now learning colemak after your brain anatomy has mostly matured you might need at least a few months of serious use before you approach such a high speed. Hell, I never really learned Qwerty, and after starting Colemak at 45 about 6 months ago, our Colemak speeds are about equal and I have gotten kind of lazy about typing practice. With my old brain that never learned touch typing, I'll be happy to be consistently above 60 wpm net.
I don't see the the words you mentioned as better in qwerty, they look worse to me, but the analysis that when in to Colemak is way more than just a few words.
but just for fun, for example look at "think"
qwerty
jump to awkward "t" position with left index finger followed by right index finger to "h" followed by jump up to "i" followed by jump down with same hand index finger to "n" followed by same hand "k" with ring finger. Qwerty is all over.
colemak
depress left index finger followed by right index finger on h followed by fast inward roll (ring-index) of "in" on same hand followed by slight right arm movement to depress k. Seems to me that colemak is a lot more efficient and potential for speed than qwerty in this isolated case.
"link" is an easy forearm movement with the same inword roll "in" as you pass the middle row.
qwerty covers all three rows with multiple fingers
"talk" has an easy outward roll "ta" followed by an easy forearm movement "lk"
granted that qwerty has an inward roll for "lk" but you have that awkward reach for the "t" to start.
I just don't see how Colemak is not just kicking Qwerty's ass hands down on these words. :-) I think it allows me to use the whole arm movement in more situations with near zero finger movement than Qwerty does.
You have to realize that at your qwerty speed burned in at a young age, you are like a talented athlete. You make what is actually hard look easy. It's only later in life that all that finger movement may cause joint problems when you hands do not recover has quickly enough for significant daily typing sessions. Just like my knees not what they were at 17 no matter how much I think I am just as tough.
hm. the awkward position of t in qwerty seems less a problem than pressing L and jumping to K, since the letter before T is likely not anything using left index finger.
But you're right. Comparisons shouldn't be based on a few words. Words like 'the' are actually very efficent in colemak.
I'll continue using colemak.
Overall, Colemak has a very low same-finger ratio, even better than Dvorak.
GH/HG in Dvorak for example occurs about 2.2 times more frequently than NK/KN in Colemak, and ED/DE in QWERTY occurs over 10 times more frequently than NK/KN in Colemak. In every keyboard layout these things will occur, but in Colemak they happen much less frequently.
While the index fingers do more work, they are also very strong and very agile fingers, and they can easily handle the extra workload, although for some people it might take a little time to get used to the extra load.
I just realized that in colemak, typing words such as link, talk, think .. etc requires jumping of the index finger. Which makes it impossible to exceed qwerty speeds on those words. Do the other benefits of colemak outweigh this disadvantage? I'm wondering if I should keep using colemak. I just did a speed test. 99 net wpm for qwerty, 52wpm for colemak. Seems hard to exceed my qwerty speed.
May experience is that going from 20 to 40 word in a new layout takes a few days to a few weeks depending on the number of keys moved. And that going from 40 to 50 takes about a month even if only a few keys were moved. And going from 50 to 60 takes two months. And I think that has more to do with motor reflex training than ergonomics.
Instead of using your speed to judge the efficiency, consider comfort. If it's more comfortable, then it's probably also faster (at least thats my theory until I find evidence to the contrary).
While I think Colemak has weaknesses, using the index twice in a row for n and k is not one of them for at least three reasons.
1: 'nk' is not a home row jump (lk is, but lk is fairly infrequent).
2: n and k are adjacent (as opposed to hm which is very rare).
Most importantly, its on a strong fast finger for most people. Since same finger combinations are unavoidable, it's best to restrict them as much as possible to adjacent positions on the index and ring fingers.
To me jumping pinkie ring combinations like a-r and o-i (o-i isn't too bad in English).
And changing rows, as with a-w, w-a, r-c, y-comma, and n-y are more serious problems.
Colemak does a reasonable job of avoiding the problems especially in comparison to qwerty.
But I think it would be better to have s-d in place of a-r (or a similarly infrequent combination that goes from ring to pinky instead of pinky to ring).
And C should be on the home row instead of O.
It's better to have O on the index finger next to U because it's used very frequently with U.
"Things will get better despite our efforts to improve them" - Will Rogers
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