Started using Colemak four days ago, cold turkey except for attempts to keep some ability in QWERTY.
Previously typed in QWERTY for about 10 years, with 140+ sustained, brought down to 120 due to pain in wrists. Attempting the switch due to pain.
I've been increasing speed at about 10wpm per day, in the upper 40s today.
Edit: Guess I should mention I'm not on any sort of ergo keyboard, and I haven't switched any keys.
Welcome, and best of luck! It'll be interesting to see how long you can keep up that impressive progress. You're in a different league from the rest of us, from the looks of it. ;)
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Just an observation.. It might only apply to something like a typing test, but we'll see.
It seems that when I give the word I'm typing only a cursory glance, and immediately read the next word, I more accurately and speedily type the first word. The more significant result, I think, is that my hands are already preparing to type the next word without hesitation. Of course, the more common the word or phrase, the more quickly you can absorb it.
I think this is probably a common reason for the 50wpm~ barrier. That seems to be about as fast as I go without this process, due to hesitation between words. I'm sure I did this in QWERTY, and it's probably obvious, but I've never seen it stated. I just think it's a good thing to concentrate on if you want to break a barrier. Seems to be working for me.
Edit: Oh, and thanks for the welcome. As for my ability, well, I must have been doing something wrong for my wrists to complain so much. :(
Just an update. Day (night!) 5, can't sleep, so I practiced Colemak a bit. Getting wpm consistently in the 50s at hi-games, with my highest being 59. Averaging a bit higher at keybr, of course, with a top speed of 77wpm.
Adapting more quickly than I hoped, but still mixing up /g/ and /d/ when I'm really getting into it. :( Great layout so far; it feels much more natural than QWERTY now. I can think while typing again, which feels fantastic. I expect (*fingers crossed*) I'll reach my old speeds before long.
Wow, most excellent progress! 59 wpm in just 5 days is out of this world. I hope you'll stay pain free - best of luck.
Just an update. Day (night!) 5, can't sleep, so I practiced Colemak a bit. Getting wpm consistently in the 50s at hi-games, with my highest being 59. Averaging a bit higher at keybr, of course, with a top speed of 77wpm.
Adapting more quickly than I hoped, but still mixing up /g/ and /d/ when I'm really getting into it. :( Great layout so far; it feels much more natural than QWERTY now. I can think while typing again, which feels fantastic. I expect (*fingers crossed*) I'll reach my old speeds before long.
Interesting. I used to do that, too.
You say to look at the next word you're typing. That's a good idea. I generally do that, but not completely. I just tried it and got 69 WPM. My average is 65, so that's no big deal. But I'll make it a point to use that strategy.
ETA: I think it speeds up typing because it makes it more like authentic typing. When you're making up what you type, you already know what the next word is going to be.
My typing speed record: http://hi-games.net/typing-test/watch?u=493
I was hoping to reach this yesterday, but I got a wisdom tooth pulled and excessive typing didn't agree with me. :( But I finally reached 70 wpm. A lot of errors, but that's just the way I practice. From this point, the less I make, the faster I'll get, and I don't want my fingers to get used to being slow.
http://hi-games.net/typing-test/watch?u=1079
Edit: Did 70 wpm again, but much cleaner I think.. too bad it won't update with it.
It's been a month, speed is averaging around 85. I stopped practicing every day a couple weeks ago, but I think I'll do so for the next few days and probably reach 95. Just gotta focus on the more unusual combos. QWERTY habits are almost out of my system.
Edit: Not a bad start, just broke 90 on hi-games.
Grats on your great progress! That's certainly good for a month's training, and I'm curious to see how far you'll get.
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Well, it's been a couple months, and I regularly do 100-103 on hi-games. My only complaint would be some of the left hand combos. "ct" is a minor one, it's a little awkward and slows me down a bit, but I'm working it out. It's worse in combo with xa, like in "exactly." I often miss letters there. Another difficult one is a reversal, like "crash." I expect I'll always have to slow down for that one, but I think I can get good enough at it. I've thought of moving the shortcut keys, but don't know where I'd put them yet. I'll play with the idea while I try to work out my problems.
All in all, I think I'll reach and probably surpass my QWERTY speed by a bit, and it's definitely more comfortable. I can tell I don't have it completely ingrained yet; I still occasionally make QWERTY mistakes when I'm going my fastest. The surprise slows me down more than anything.
Also, I think I've almost convinced my fiancée to ditch QWERTY. :D
The left-hand ring finger should be your least independent one. To get really good around that area, maybe you should do finger exercises like Daniel Chen suggested? He used Hanon on the piano to develop strong and independent ring and little fingers, and without special training I think it'll be considerably harder to achieve very good results for those fingers.
I don't think that 'crash' or 'exact' seem particularly difficult, but then I can't type anywhere near 100 WPM so I don't know. At least, I just improved from 65 WPM to 70 WPM from focusing on accuracy. I'm working on the rest. ;)
*** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
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