Sure, here're a few tips:

* Try to look ahead while typing, i.e. look at the next word instead of the one you're currently typing.
* Try to keep a nice and even pace. Slow down for particularly hard words rather than make mistakes.
* When practicing, go for accuracy sometimes, speed sometimes.
* Let your hands hover above the keyboard while typing. Accentuate movements with your hands.
* Learn alternate fingering. While not nearly as useful on Colemak as on Qwerty I think you can eke out another 5 wpm or so with these tricks. Look elsewhere in the forum for the particulars.
* Get a better keyboard; One with a light touch and good key switches.

Hmm, what's funny is that with Colemak I touch-type fully but with QWERTY I only used 5 fingers yet the speed is the same. The Das Keyboard Ultimate looks awesome since the keys are unmarked which means custom Colemak time, but all of these keyboard seem like they are a bit too expensive. Hmm, I downloaded amphetype also and it seems like it is a very useful program indeed. Thanks for the feedback, and it seems like I have to develop a constant rhythm like Ryan Heise says on his website.

What's the point of getting an expensive straight keyboard with no key labeling when you can just put stickers/whiteout/whatever on your existing keyboard?

I wish I could get hold of an IBM M-type clicky keyboard (with a VK_102 key). I'd paint it.  :)

The best I've managed so far is a Dell board with black Cherry switches. Clicky, but not perfect. It doesn't have the Win/GUI and Menu keys, but I can work around that.

migo: As was clearly stated, the point of the Das is the mechanical switches. The Microsoft Natural series have soft dome switches. Which one you prefer may be a matter of taste, but what is not a matter of taste is that mechanical key switches are much more expensive to manufacture. That, and economy of scale, is why the Das keyboard costs more.

If you want longer travel, especially with overtravel, as well as strong auditory and tactile feedback, mechanical switches is the way to go and you are just going to have to pay up.

Over travel is the extra distance a key travels after it has been activated before it bottoms out. It allows you to not hit the unyielding surface of the keyboard where your finger will come to a hard stop. It is especially useful in combination with tactile feedback so you can exactly gauge the force necessary to activate a key.

This page describes the difference between some popular switch types:

http://www.ergocanada.com/ergo/keyboard … tches.html

You could always try buying a second hand one. I bought my first mechanical 'board for £2! Check on ebay, charity shops etc.

In my opinion, numpads are teh evil anyway since they force your mousing arm so far away from your body. If you really need one, get a cheap separate USB numpad and put it on whichever side of the keyboard you are not currently mousing on. Problem solved and your shoulders will thank you.

Yeah that makes a lot of sense, but I realized that numpad increases my finger distance a lot so instead I have started to use the regular assortment of numbers for most of my work, just to get used to it for when I get my mechanical keyboard that may or may not have a numpad. Thanks for the advice though. If I never get used to it, it looks like that is what I will have to do.