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    POST conversion 3 months :)

    • Started by jlaustill
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    • Registered: 22-Feb-2008
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    09-Jul-2008 21:58:28#1 POST conversion 3 months :)

    Hello all, it's now been a full 3 months since I started typing on a Colemak keyboard and wow, I can't believe I didn't make this switch sooner!  I am now touch typing WAY faster than I EVER did on QWERTY.  I am still forced to use qwerty at work on servers, but on my desktop and all my computers at home it is Colemak fulltime :)  I find that it also doubles as a GREAT security layer at home.  Even with my passwords on sticky's nobody can get into my computers.

    My only downside now is that when I am forced to use QWERTY for awhile it messes with me for a few minutes when I go back to the "correct" layout haha.  another interesting effect is playing world of warcraft.  That is one weird game the way that it is programmed.  All the shortcut keys are remapped, which is no big deal, BUT, the cursor keys are NOT remapped, so they must be hard coded to the keys or something.  What that means is that hitting R no longer brings up the menu it's supposed to, but A and W are in the same spot so still work fine.  S is moved, but it's just down instead of right.  I figured out how to map the R menu to D and bingo, problem solved.

    So, after MANY failed attempts to learn DVORAK I am now colemak to stay!

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    • From: Viken, Norway
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    09-Jul-2008 23:09:05#2 Re: POST conversion 3 months :)

    Glad to hear you're enjoying the layout!  :)

    That's interesting about WoW. You have a Windows machine, I suppose? Maybe a script (AutoHotKey) could do something to the odd behaviour of your keys? I'm thinking an application-only remapping of S to D and R to S, which would mess with your in-game chat I suppose but make the WASD block work.

    Or, you could put that in an MSKLC layout as a CapsLock state mapping. Then, you could hit the CapsLock key (or whichever key you'd want to use as your CapsLock) to switch between normal Colemak and the "WASD-mapping".

    So in short, I think there could be workarounds for your problem if you feel they're necessary.

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

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    10-Jul-2008 03:41:38#3 Re: POST conversion 3 months :)
    jlaustill said:

    Hello all, it's now been a full 3 months since I started typing on a Colemak keyboard and wow, I can't believe I didn't make this switch sooner!  I am now touch typing WAY faster than I EVER did on QWERTY.

    That's great! Congratulations!

    Can you give more details on your final QWERTY and Colemak speeds, and how long you trained on QWERTY before making the switch?

    Last edited by makdaddyrak (10-Jul-2008 03:42:33)
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    10-Jul-2008 17:36:30#4 Re: POST conversion 3 months :)
    makdaddyrak said:
    jlaustill said:

    Hello all, it's now been a full 3 months since I started typing on a Colemak keyboard and wow, I can't believe I didn't make this switch sooner!  I am now touch typing WAY faster than I EVER did on QWERTY.

    That's great! Congratulations!

    Can you give more details on your final QWERTY and Colemak speeds, and how long you trained on QWERTY before making the switch?

    Heya, I averaged about 60-70 wpm on QWERTY before.  I started typing when I was about 8, so just under 20 years on QWERTY.  After 3 months I'm doing about 90-100 wpm on Colemak, but if I trained daily and stuck to it I know I could reach 130-140 in a few weeks.  At one time I was doing 125-130 on qwerty, but it took daily practice to keep in shape.  I am considered an expert typist by people that know me haha.

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    10-Jul-2008 17:53:09#5 Re: POST conversion 3 months :)
    DreymaR said:

    Glad to hear you're enjoying the layout!  :)

    That's interesting about WoW. You have a Windows machine, I suppose? Maybe a script (AutoHotKey) could do something to the odd behaviour of your keys? I'm thinking an application-only remapping of S to D and R to S, which would mess with your in-game chat I suppose but make the WASD block work.

    Or, you could put that in an MSKLC layout as a CapsLock state mapping. Then, you could hit the CapsLock key (or whichever key you'd want to use as your CapsLock) to switch between normal Colemak and the "WASD-mapping".

    So in short, I think there could be workarounds for your problem if you feel they're necessary.

    Heya, actually, I'm on a Powerbook G4 1.5mhz :)  I'm running OSX 10.3.9 atm.  I don't think that I explained my problem very well.  The ASDW keys still work as they would in QWERTY in wow, even when I'm in colemak.  So my fingers still lay properly and everything works as expected.  It's only the OTHER keys that are remapped.  Since R is a common shortcut in wow, and it works as the down key in colemak, I just had to remap the function to the D key and everything works great!  Does that make sense?

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    10-Jul-2008 23:01:25#6 Re: POST conversion 3 months :)

    As long as it works, heh.

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

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