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    My story, from QWERTY, to Dvorak, and now...

    • Started by koolkakool
    • 17 Replies:
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    • Registered: 11-May-2008
    • Posts: 16

    I don't know what to do. i started with qwerty, i've been using dvorak for the past few days, and now i've encountered colemak. But i don't know what to do from here. I'm DEFINITELY leaving qwerty, and am deciding between colemak and dvorak. Normally, people here would probably recommend colemak, but there's more...

    I don't know if learning colemak would actually be easier, because i could never really type with qwerty in the first place. I'd say i have a very slow qwerty speed, because i often have to look for the letters and dont know where they are, i'd say my average speed could be 10 - 15 wpm. People say colemak is easier to learn if moving from qwerty, but i never really knew qwerty in the first place...

    So basically, lets just assume that i have never used a keyboard in my life, and want to learn a new layout from scratch without ever having known qwerty, what would you recommend,

    dvorak or colemak, and why,

    thanks

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    • Registered: 27-Apr-2008
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    I used Typefaster and Shai's lessons. Both are available from the 'learn' section on this site. I'm typing at 40wpm after three weeks. I don't think it matters whether you could touch type in the first place. Just remember to never look at the physical keyboard but the virtual one on the screen.

    Edit: This may help. https://forum.colemak.com/viewtopic.php?id=414. I tried Dvorak a couple of years ago but much prefer Colmak.

    Last edited by simonh (11-May-2008 15:13:21)

    "It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in." - Earl of Chesterfield

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    • Registered: 11-May-2008
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    I can actually kind of touch type in dvorak, i know most of the keys, but what i'm asking is, should i continue learning dvorak, or should i switch to colemak. (keeping in mind that i'm assuming i have no previous experience with qwerty)

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    • Registered: 27-Apr-2008
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    Personally, I found learning Colemak a lot easier than Dvorak. I gave up Dvorak after about a week. Progress just seemed to slow for me. I think most people here have the attitude that if you are happy with Dvorak you might as well stick with it.

    "It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in." - Earl of Chesterfield

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    simonh said:

    Personally, I found learning Colemak a lot easier than Dvorak. I gave up Dvorak after about a week. Progress just seemed to slow for me. I think most people here have the attitude that if you are happy with Dvorak you might as well stick with it.

    ok, would there be any speed differences between colemak and dvorak... hmm...
    i think ill just try colemak for a while, thanks for the help

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    • From: Viken, Norway
    • Registered: 13-Dec-2006
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    I can pretty much guarantee that you won't be able to prove any speed differences. Things are too uncertain for that.

    As far as ease of learning and use is concerned, I'd think that Dvorak has an edge for you. You already know a bit of Dvorak, and the Dvorak is implemented on machines already - Colemak needs an install unless you're using Ubuntu Hardy(?) [edit: nonono Drey; any X11-based distro will do!].

    Colemak is coler than Dvorak!  ;)  Whether it's also cooler depends on who you ask, but since you asked on the Colemak forum most of the people here will think Colemak is the coolest there is. I know I do. It's the 21st century at your fingertips.

    I personally find Colemak easier for a person who also has to type on other people's QWERTY boards all day and so needs to switch back and forth a lot. But ymmv I guess.

    New school, old school, what do you expect the Colemak board to answer? GO COLEMAK! You won't regret it, that much I can and will promise you.

    Last edited by DreymaR (19-May-2008 07:57:45)

    *** 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:

    I can pretty much guarantee that you won't be able to prove any speed differences. Things are too uncertain for that.

    As far as ease of learning and use is concerned, I'd think that Dvorak has an edge for you. You already know a bit of Dvorak, and the Dvorak is implemented on machines already - Colemak needs an install unless you're using Ubuntu Hardy(?).

    Colemak is cooler than Dvorak!  ;)  Whether it's also cooler depends on who you ask, but since you asked on the Colemak forum most of the people here will think Colemak is the coolest there is. I know I do. It's the 21st century at your fingertips.

    I personally find Colemak easier for a person who also has to type on other people's QWERTY boards all day and so needs to switch back and forth a lot. But ymmv I guess.

    New school, old school, what do you expect the Colemak board to answer? GO COLEMAK! You won't regret it, that much I can and will promise you.

    colemak it is :D
    i'll start learning right away and report on my progress as much as i can. see you around :)

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    • From: Houston, Texas
    • Registered: 03-Jan-2007
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    I never learned Qwerty.  I hunted and pecked for decades.  I learned Dvorak touch typing for about 3 months and did not care for it.  I have been with Colemak for over a year now and love it, my speed is around 50 wpm +/- 10. 

    Colemak is the bomb.  :-)
    of course you didn't expect Colemak forum not to be mostly fans, did you?

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    • From: Belgium
    • Registered: 26-Feb-2008
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    I did not (properly) touch-type Qwerty before I moved to Colemak either.  But whatever "method" you used to type with for a long time, you'll always have some muscle memory -- which you'll find out is stronger than you think -- hence Colemak will have an advantage over Dvorak because a lot of keys (incl. most punctuation) didn't move.

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    keyboard samurai said:

    I never learned Qwerty.  I hunted and pecked for decades.  I learned Dvorak touch typing for about 3 months and did not care for it.  I have been with Colemak for over a year now and love it, my speed is around 50 wpm +/- 10. 

    Colemak is the bomb.  :-)
    of course you didn't expect Colemak forum not to be mostly fans, did you?

    no, i was mostly expecting people to suggest colemak anyway :D

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    • Registered: 08-Mar-2008
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    I'd say go Dvorak, but only because you already started learning it. Colemak is better, though the difference is small, practically unnoticeable compared to QWERTY.

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    • From: Houston, Texas
    • Registered: 03-Jan-2007
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    If as what you said in your original post is true that you had only been using Dvorak for a few days, that's not significant enough investment to stop you from switching in my book.   If you had been using Dvorak of five years then that be worth consideration, but not days.

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    ok so, its now a week since I started colemak, and I can now type without looking at the keyboard at all. yay, I love colemak, still a bit slow though.

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    ok so, I just did the hi-games.net speed test twice and got 11wpm both times. hopefully ill improve soon...

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    • Registered: 27-Apr-2008
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    Are you using typefaster and the lessons from Shai? If so this helped me, posted by Shai:

    "I recommend to focus on the virtual keyboard when typing on Colemak. Your main focus while learning a keyboard layout should be accuracy and certainty. I believe that looking at a virtual keyboard will help in increasing accuracy. Each time you're not sure where the key is and you guess wrong, you have to unlearn your guess, which is counterproductive to the learning process. Moreover, I believe that having a virtual keyboard makes it easier to learn, and decreases the frustration involved in the learning process.

    As your typing improves, you'll reach a point where your fingers can find the keys almost as fast as your eyes, and in that case your eyes will naturally shift their focus towards the text more and more. Eventually you just won't need the virtual keyboard anymore."

    I'm now at 45wpm after a month of mostly evening practice.

    "It is an undoubted truth, that the less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in." - Earl of Chesterfield

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    simonh said:

    Are you using typefaster and the lessons from Shai? If so this helped me, posted by Shai:

    "I recommend to focus on the virtual keyboard when typing on Colemak. Your main focus while learning a keyboard layout should be accuracy and certainty. I believe that looking at a virtual keyboard will help in increasing accuracy. Each time you're not sure where the key is and you guess wrong, you have to unlearn your guess, which is counterproductive to the learning process. Moreover, I believe that having a virtual keyboard makes it easier to learn, and decreases the frustration involved in the learning process.

    As your typing improves, you'll reach a point where your fingers can find the keys almost as fast as your eyes, and in that case your eyes will naturally shift their focus towards the text more and more. Eventually you just won't need the virtual keyboard anymore."

    I'm now at 45wpm after a month of mostly evening practice.

    Its been a few weeks since I started anyway. I dont really do the lessons anymore, but am getting on good. I have summer holidays from school now and I am just going along at my own rate. Im not really typing much anyway, just the odd google search or forum post. Im sticking to it though, and improving slowly but surely. :D

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    im now at around 20 wpm...im still sticking to it, i just dont type that much  :D

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    • From: Houston, Texas
    • Registered: 03-Jan-2007
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    Yes, it's better if you are practicing everyday (probably at least an hour or two) and working on accuracy.    The more confident you are in hitting the correct keys the more you will naturally speed up.  Work on proper posture to.  Pay attention to where you find letter  combinations that seem to roll nicely together.   Like "ing" and "tion". 

    I practiced some of those like "ar ar ar ar ar ar ar"   or  "st st st st st st st"  or "ie ie ie ie ie ie ie"   
    etc.

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