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    Colemak: The Origins

    • Started by iandoug
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    • Registered: 18-Nov-2017
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    12-Jun-2021 11:51:43#1 Colemak: The Origins

    @Shai

    Is there a write-up somewhere as to how you designed the layout?

    i.e did you start with QWERTY (as per Wiki) and make "looks better" swaps, or have assistance from some software/frequency charts, or write find-best-layout.exe or somesuch?

    FWIW, since most academically-created-using-fancy-algos layouts tend to suck, I'm having a go using my own approach (rather than Tabu search, swarm/colony or simulated annealing), but given that my last attempt by hand nearly arrived at Colmak, I don't want this to end up as me reinventing your wheels... :-)

    I'm using logic to reduce the search space from 32! (a-z , . ' ; / -) down to something sane. Am including dash because it belongs with the letters not the numbers.

    Thanks, Ian

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    12-Jun-2021 16:29:39#2 Re: Colemak: The Origins

    It's right here! There are two pages, one general and one specific. Make sure you read both. There's a link at the bottom of the FAQ.

    Basically, it started with letter and bigram frequencies.

    These days, there are some interesting new thoughts on the table. I'd encourage you to seek out Semi at the Colemak Discord. Him and NotGate and a few others have been looking at finger speeds lately, and movement patterns. I find their work very interesting; it's still in the early stages of development.

    ( のvの) c[_]  ～(  Read the Colemak Design FAQ  )
      https://colemak.com/Design_FAQ

    Last edited by DreymaR (12-Jun-2021 16:49:18)

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

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    12-Jun-2021 16:43:03#3 Re: Colemak: The Origins

    Thanks, I assumed such a page existed but could not find it ... what's the path?

    Thanks, Ian

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    12-Jun-2021 16:49:44#4 Re: Colemak: The Origins

    I linked to it in my post, right under the Wise Owl kaomoji? And there's a link from the main pages too.

    Last edited by DreymaR (12-Jun-2021 16:50:12)

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

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    12-Jun-2021 20:08:39#5 Re: Colemak: The Origins

    Let me rephrase... where is the link to https://colemak.com/Design_FAQ ?

    I can't even get Google to tell me ...

    Thanks, Ian

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    14-Jun-2021 09:09:01#6 Re: Colemak: The Origins

    You, mean apart from on my pages at https://dreymar.colemak.org/links-page.html ? Erm, I can't remember. I saw it somewhere on Shai's main pages once. But it's been written up later than the main site. Maybe Shai can answer this one?

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

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