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    Just setting off on my Colemak journey! Wish me luck.

    • Started by Crazycrabman
    • 16 Replies:
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    • Registered: 17-May-2018
    • Posts: 8

    I'm using tarmak to try to gradually ease into Colemak as I heard that was recommended on this forum. I'm posting this here to try to give myself a bit of accountability for my decision. I'll try to post here if I make any progress.

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    • Registered: 03-Feb-2018
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    Excellent stuff! How did you find out about Colemak by the way?

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    NottNott said:

    Excellent stuff! How did you find out about Colemak by the way?

    I heard about alternate keyboard layouts from a friend and reserched the different alternate layouts. I saw Colemak and it looked like the best option available. The community here on the forums also seems very encouraging and friendly.

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    • Registered: 01-Apr-2018
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    Welcome aboard. If you're looking for encouragement, ideas, and a healthy amount of humor, you've come to the right place. :) Best of luck, but I have a feeling you won't need luck once you've gotten into the swing of things.

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    • From: Chicago
    • Registered: 27-Apr-2016
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    My advice - do not look back. Imagine that Colemak is the only possible layout in a world and learn it. Be like a child who study qwerty in elementary school, no hesitation about "if I'm studying the right layout". Many people here on the forum proved that Colemak is worth to study. You may feel the true beauty of it only when you will be able to type with a reasonable speed.

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    • Registered: 08-Oct-2017
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    Welcome to the crazy house ;)

    Good luck, and keep on practicing, you will get there, I never regretted learning colemak, it has really made typing a lot more comfortable and fun for me.

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    ckofy said:

    My advice - do not look back. Imagine that Colemak is the only possible layout in a world and learn it. Be like a child who study qwerty in elementary school, no hesitation about "if I'm studying the right layout". Many people here on the forum proved that Colemak is worth to study. You may feel the true beauty of it only when you will be able to type with a reasonable speed.

    one of us, one of us...

    In all seriousness, having used Colemak for 3 and a half months, I actually got to the point where I was thinking 'that's enough of this experiment, time to go back to QWERTY'. So I did for a day or two, and my accuracy and speed was pretty good like I used to be on QWERTY. It was like I never had learned another layout. But once you know how little your fingers actually have to move on the right layout, it's very hard to want to willingly type on the worse layout. So I really confirmed to myself that it's probably Colemak for life, as you just can't stop noticing how crap typing on QWERTY is after you properly learn it.

    It's like taking the red pill. You're probably scarred with it for life after you learn it. You have been warned!

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    In all seriousness, having used Colemak for 3 and a half months, I actually got to the point where I was thinking 'that's enough of this experiment, time to go back to QWERTY'. So I did for a day or two, and my accuracy and speed was pretty good like I used to be on QWERTY. It was like I never had learned another layout. But once you know how little your fingers actually have to move on the right layout, it's very hard to want to willingly type on the worse layout. So I really confirmed to myself that it's probably Colemak for life, as you just can't stop noticing how crap typing on QWERTY is after you properly learn it.

    It's like taking the red pill. You're probably scarred with it for life after you learn it. You have been warned!

    Not sure what on earth could have inspired you to try the old way again, but this does make a good point. There is a very subjective but no less important aspect of Colemak that this speaks to - efficiency and all else aside, you may very well develop a preference based on what you've learned. I think maximal productivity has much to do with having a layout that you like and want to use above others. That preference makes typing a joy, not a chore.

    It's a bit like using LaTeX versus writing in Word (though this is a flawed analogy in many ways). Can you do the same things in Word pretty quickly? Sure. But there will probably be a lot more that you dislike about the experience and more of your attention will be diverted to the process of editing rather than focusing on the content. The experienced LaTeX user will be able to compose what they want and have a blast doing it.

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    azuvix said:

    It's a bit like using LaTeX versus writing in Word (though this is a flawed analogy in many ways). Can you do the same things in Word pretty quickly? Sure. But there will probably be a lot more that you dislike about the experience and more of your attention will be diverted to the process of editing rather than focusing on the content. The experienced LaTeX user will be able to compose what they want and have a blast doing it.

    Seeing people like Luke Smith bang out something amazing looking with some LaTex code really makes me want to learn it. I might try it when I need aesthetics over speed.

    Part of me was annoyed that I couldn't type properly on my friend's laptop when I went to see him, so I gave QWERTY another shot. By comparison it really doesn't hold up for me anymore - I bet most long term Colemak typists in this forum would happily agree with me here.

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    azuvix said:

    It's a bit like using LaTeX versus writing in Word (though this is a flawed analogy in many ways). Can you do the same things in Word pretty quickly? Sure. But there will probably be a lot more that you dislike about the experience and more of your attention will be diverted to the process of editing rather than focusing on the content. The experienced LaTeX user will be able to compose what they want and have a blast doing it.

    I just went the lazy route, and write most of my stuff in markdown and use a a converter to get latex, I loose out on flexibility, but gain on editing speed ;)

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    stage_1.png
    Currently on stage two of Tarmak!

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    • From: Viken, Norway
    • Registered: 13-Dec-2006
    • Posts: 5,360

    Best of luck, crabman! ^_^

    Make sure you've read a little of the Big Bag to know all your options. I'm happy you chose Tarmak! But maybe you should decide already whether Colemak-Curl(DH) is your cup of tea. I like it a lot, but I've got an ISO keyboard which makes it more natural.

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

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    DreymaR said:

    Best of luck, crabman! ^_^

    Make sure you've read a little of the Big Bag to know all your options. I'm happy you chose Tarmak! But maybe you should decide already whether Colemak-Curl(DH) is your cup of tea. I like it a lot, but I've got an ISO keyboard which makes it more natural.

    I was thinking of using the curl(DH) mod, but I will be doing a lot of typing on my chomebook, which I think only has the standard colemak.  Also my laptop is an ANSI keyboard.

    Also, I just moved on to stage three and the stupid J R key is killing me.

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    • From: Viken, Norway
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    The stupid R key and its stupid sibling the S key are probably the worst rascals of the whole Colemak learning experience! Best of luck tackling them!

    Lots of people use Colemak-DH aka Curl with the ANSI-Z Angle mod, so it seems safe enough if you're willing to mess up your Z position which I consider a small sacrifice.

    As for MacOS, we have solutions for it. But unfortunately, not a complete Extend mapping layer yet since Sierra obviated Karabinier.

    Last edited by DreymaR (27-May-2018 19:55:56)

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

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    stage_3.png

    Soing pretty good on stage 3

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    5.png
    I was getting a bit impatient so I decided to skip stage 4 and go straight to full colemak. So far its going good, although I still need a lot more confidence because I tend to revert to querty when interrupted or when just starting to type. Once I get in the groove though it feels really good.

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    • From: Viken, Norway
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    Good progress, Crabman!!! ^_^

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

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