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    my pitfalls and rabbit holes as a colemak beginner

    • Started by kataya1
    • 4 Replies:
    • Reputation: 0
    • Registered: 04-Oct-2019
    • Posts: 2

    One of the quirky things that sold me on the colemak layout is the Caps Lock turning into a backspace, i mean it should have been this way all along, in other layouts as well. But the one on the official website doesn't have that. there is a link to a one that does but it leaves the backspace as it is making the keyboard have two backspaces and no caps lock, but it might be a design consideration so i think it might be purpose and there is a link that shows you how to hack/modify header files in MsKLC.

                Although relatively new to the layout. i couldn't help put fall into a rabbit hole of things i have to do for a normal workflow, from scripting shortcuts to modifying registry but i wanted to stop worrying so i elected just switching layouts just to use capslock and also to execute keyboard shortcut -thanks to altgr-. it's not ideal.

                and this is a different rabbit hole than the one with the Colemak-DH, ansi/iso keyboards and workman layout. but i solved it by not worrying too much. choosing a home row optimized layout like colemak would make all the difference between it and qwerty and the difference is quite noticeable. but the difference between other optimized layout is just diminishing returns. and i don't have an ansi keyboard prob never will so i don't need to worry about things i cant change.

                But back to the main point. the floor of a colemak layout is quite high with spiralling stair cases to get there. its a bit demoralizing for beginner switching from a regular qwerty layout . so i made a layout with the caps lock and backspace switching places and almost all of altGr functionality that might conflict with shortcuts removed.

               i didn't think i'd ever make a layout. because when niches have standards it can help it grow. but i think i should stop worrying, if it caters to my needs why the heck not. here is a link to the layout in the user contribution section

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

    Yeah, there's a lot to take in and I'm never sure about how best to ease the newcomer into the rich world of Colemak.

    You don't want an ANSI keyboard. ANSI keyboards don't support the Angle mod as well as ISO keyboards do, and CurlAngleWide is lovely. :-) Or without the Curl/DH part, Angle and AngleWide are still lovely.

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

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    • Reputation: 2
    • Registered: 12-Oct-2017
    • Posts: 15

    Thanks kataya1, I think your contribution is very useful actually.

    For me, I have always considered the alpha keys and the backspace (or in more general, the modifier keys) two quite separate and not necessarily related things which can be useful independently of each other.

    Also, it does seem that there is a lot to take in at the beginning, but that is also of you want to take everything at once. I think what new users should keep in mind is that switching from Qwerty to vanilla Colemak is the biggest and most beneficial change, all the rest is just personal comfort mods. And most people did not do it all at once, they evolved step by step into their optimal solution.

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    • Reputation: 214
    • From: Viken, Norway
    • Registered: 13-Dec-2006
    • Posts: 5,360

    The most beneficial change is Extend, and it's a lot easier to learn than Colemak. Fight me. :-)

    Last edited by DreymaR (14-Oct-2019 10:12:40)

    *** 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: New York, New York
    • Registered: 22-Nov-2008
    • Posts: 130

    Lately I've been using the Colemak converter on the website, and it does not have the backspace option for Caps Lock (; for obvious reasons, it's only a converter).

    sadness

    Colemak typist

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