Hi all,
After a couple of dabbles with Dvorak in earlier times in my life I've never got particularly far with it: the old story of a fast qwerty typist needing to type all day, every day. However last week I swallowed the propaganda* in dvzine.org (we have some paper copies in the office) and committed to having a go again. I found out about Colemak through the Master Key typing tutor while doing Dvorak and managed to convince myself it'd be better mostly based on the quality of Shai's posts; the preservation of some keys notably the zxcv's; and fear of "ls -l" annoying me in Dvorak (I'm a unix sysadmin...).
(*I mean this in the nicest and most complimentary way! It's really well put together, and a great alt-keyboard advocacy tool.)
So, the questionnaire:
* What layout you've been using beforehand, and how long you've been typing with it
Qwerty since I was 10 (I'm 34 now), learnt to touch type when I was about 18 during a dull summer job doing data entry. I never really tested myself 'til I found Typeracer a couple of weeks ago that I used (very successfully) to re-train myself on the Kinesis keyboard. My average there is about 90wpm peaking over 100wpm--I had to do their "are you _really_ typing that fast?!" CAPTCHA test :-)
* How long you've been using Colemak for, and how many estimated hours per week you've typed with it.
Since this week, logged about 2-3h, so total newb still. I'm on the home row plus h and f (I have no idea why they do it in that order; ideas?) I've spent far longer than 2-3h reading about it though, the price/reward of being a geek...
* Mention the methods you used to learn the layout.
Master Key during the day and evenings. I realize this will take longer but I have a heavy typing workload and can't afford the "cold turkey" method, sadly. Ryan Heise's 5-10mins qwerty in the mornings is what I'll be aiming for, since qwerty is still going to be useful, I'm sure.
* What operating system you're using.
Mac OS X.
* If you mention typing speed, mention what way you used to measure it. Use one of the typing tests to measure it.
Typeracer says my last average (over ten races i think) is 90wpm.
* Share any tips about learning the layout.
I'm too new for now, although am hesitant to recommend Master Key with their not-awesome drills. Nice engine, weak data.
One thing I'd say though: drop the $$$ on a Kinesis. It really kicks ass. $300 is obviously a lot for a keyboard but hey, how much time do you spend on it? And you get around that staggered left side issue, and potential meddling with the bottom left row
Paul
