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    Love Colemak!

    • Started by timothy.crosly
    • 5 Replies:
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    • Registered: 31-Oct-2009
    • Posts: 3

    I have been touch typing for several years using qwerty at 60 wpm average; but it took me at least 2 years of hunting and pecking till I got to that point. Since then Ive never gotten above 60 wpm -- despite typing several hours a day every day. After just 2 weeks of typing with colemak and I'm up to 40 wpm average on typeracer(with 47wpm being my record).  Every few days I feel like I am making 5 wpm jumps. It just feels so much more natural typing on it than qwerty!

    There have however been a few negatives involved in the switching process:
      - I work as a software developer and for the last 2 weeks I have checked in significantly less code than I usually do because I was still getting used to the layout.
        (This is probably due to the fact that I am somewhat dyslexic -- and simply could not get myself to type in qwerty after just 1 day of using colemak at home.)
      - The capslock(colemak backspace) key on both my apple aluminum keyboards is kinda sticky. I find myself having to hit it twice per a key more often than not.

    Overall,  I am very pleased with the switch to colemak and the increased comfort it provides.

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    • From: Belgium
    • Registered: 26-Feb-2008
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    timothy.crosly said:

    - The capslock(colemak backspace) key on both my apple aluminum keyboards is kinda sticky. I find myself having to hit it twice per a key more often than not.

    Well, the Apple keyboards haven't been designed with much ergonomics or even typing quality in mind, just "good looks" (and that's very subjective).  I once bought an Apple aluminium keyboard, mainly because it'd allow me to shuffle the keys to Colemak positions, but I hated it because I found the keys not being "distinct" enough for touch typing, if you know what I mean.  So I turned back to my older Apple keyboard (I'm no Mac user though) but I'm starting to dislike it too now, because some of the keys are getting sticky.

    Overall,  I am very pleased with the switch to colemak and the increased comfort it provides.

    Great!  I hope you'll enjoy it, and welcome to the forums!

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    • Registered: 20-Oct-2006
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    The older Mac keyboard did have problems with keys sticking, yeah. The new one is like typing on a laptop (or like typing directly on the surface of the desk, as I describe it). If you like full size keyboards, you probably won't like it. If you have owned primarily laptops for the last decade (as I have), it's wonderful.

    For the OP, have you installed PCKeyboardHack (http://www.pqrs.org/tekezo/macosx/keyre … extra.html) yet? It improves the Delete behaviour of the Caps Lock key, although there is still a slight delay in the key due to the firmware.

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    Update: It has been about 2 and a half months since I started using colemak and am already faster using colemak than qwerty (62 avg on typeracer). Updating the firmware on the apple allunimum kb seemed to fix the backspace issue for the most part (and im finding myself having to use it less and less anyhow :) ).

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    • From: Belgium
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    timothy.crosly said:

    Updating the firmware on the apple allunimum kb seemed to fix the backspace issue for the most part.

    Is this the firmware update you're referring to?

    Is there a way for non-Mac users to update their Apple keyboard's firmware? Or do I need to find a Mac user to help me out here?

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    Yes that's the firmware update. I don't have a mac either -- the only way I found to update it was to borrow one from a friend :(.

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