When you were starting out, how did you learn the Colemak layout, and looking back, what would you say to your beginner self?
I would also like to ask what you guys think is the most efficient way to learn the layout?
Thank you for taking your time on reading this post! I hope you're having a nice day!
The approach I recommend now is to practice for 10 minutes a day for a couple of months (inspired by this Reddit post).
Even though it may take longer, it will reduce the effort, strain and frustration to a minimum.
When you're practicing, make sure you're having fun doing so, above anything else.
Maybe I'd tell myself to check out the options properly before starting. I learnt Colemak in 2007 when there weren't that many options available, but I came from Dvorak which made the transition more difficult. Maybe I could've gone straight for Colemak if I had known more from the get go. (IIRC, I couldn't really though, as I learnt Dvorak before Colemak was launched in 2006.)
I recommend reading the BigBag, at least take a long hard look at the headlines to see what you might be interested in. There are extensions (Extend and dead keys being the most important ones), ergo mods, locale variants should you need those, different platform implementations etc etc. ( のvの)
In the BigBag there's a topic about learning and training and a program named Amphetype. There are various recommendations in there. Keep in mind that everyone's different. Some want to tackle typing head-on as a kind of sport, almost a martial art. Some want a more fun approach, typing games maybe. And some prefer a gradual approach without a big hit to productivity in the meantime – they may benefit from the Tarmak transitional layouts. It's all in the BigBag.
Same thing with ergonomic mods, people have different experiences and preferences. Vanilla Colemak is just fine, but in my not so humble opinion I prefer Colemak[eD]-CAWS†+Extend! If you feel that you have a hankering for one or more mods or will develop one shortly, you may steer towards it already. But mods aren't generally that hard to learn so you may decide to start out with the standard Colemak and maybe think about mods later on. If you start modding, you'll have to use something like the EPKL program as the standard installers and (non-Windows) OS implementations are for standard Colemak only.
If you want someone to talk to, you may also check out the Discord. It's the liveliest corner of the Colemak community these days, with helpful and proficient users. The world's fastest Colemak typists hang out there, as well as hardware enthusiasts and modders like myself.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Colemak and alt-layouting! Hope your stay is inspiring and wonderful. (✿ʘ‿ʘ)爻(ʘ‿ʘ✿)
___________________
†: CAWS = Curl(DH)AngleWideSym. Again, check the BigBag and EPKL
*** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
*** Check out my Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks for Win/Linux/TMK... ***
This is where I started out: https://forum.colemak.com/topic/2370-ho … e-colemak/
I started out with this annoying thing: http://first20hours.github.io/keyzen-colemak/, then started spamming keybr.com.
Just took me loads of practise, but was super fun especially considering every time I went to sleep my WPM would go up the next day. Sleep is really important to develop skills by the looks of things. I found going cold turkey Colemak was the best way for me to improve, when I had no other important things to do. When you're immersed in the layout you can't do much but improve with it.
Been typing on Colemak for two years now. Holy crap, it's been that long already?!!?!
