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    Much less pain with Colemak

    • Started by zuluindia
    • 7 Replies:
    • Reputation: 0
    • Registered: 07-Dec-2006
    • Posts: 4

    I've been switching to Colemak from Qwerty for about 3 months now, and I feel that my decision to switch has already bring some fruits in which I feel much less pain in my fingers when I have to type long text, although I type mostly in Indonesian, which have different letters frequency than English (e.g. the frequency of the letter "a" is around 20%).

    Previously, I use QWERTY and I have to bought a Microsoft Natural Keyboard (which is the only ergonomic keyboard available and affordable in my place) because I felt that I can no longer bear the pain when I have to type long text using normal keyboard. Using Microsoft's keyboard only alleviate some pain, then switching to Colemak really helps to diminish the pain.

    My typing speed right now maybe about the same as my previous QWERTY speed, but my productivity is much higher. I can concentrate more to my work than to worry about RSI.

    Being a translator, I have to type lots and lots of text everyday. So learning a new layout is not an easy decision. I need to do it in the right moment, when my workload is not too high. And I did it around the month of Ramadan and Eid festival, when there were less assignments that I need to take.

    I use TypeFaster to learn, but i prefer not to be distracted by the keyboard hints, so I put the Colemak layout diagram as my desktop wallpaper, and put the TypeFaster window on the lower side of my monitor with the part showing the keyboard is outside the visible window, i.e. only showing the typing input box.

    I type in Indonesian 95% of the time, the other 5% is in English. My English ratio is quite high compared to typical Indonesian typist which most of them type 100% in Indonesian. The keyboard layout comparison still gives better statistic for Indonesian text in Colemak layout compared to QWERTY and Dvorak, although I can see that English text fare even better.

    Even better, I can type Indonesia using only the home row! And it's quicker to write smilies like this :-))

    Thank you, Shai for this wonderful layout! I will be glad if you willing to share your design steps/considerations so I can optimize the layout for Indonesian, because my pinky finger still get an "A" ;-)

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    • Registered: 02-Dec-2006
    • Posts: 8

    There are always problems with different languages. Layouts are optimized for a specific language and rarely for several of them at one time. Thankfully, Colemak suits my Lithuanian needs very well (maybe except J letter, because its has average frequency, not the least as its in English. And also, we do not use qwx - luckily, those letters aren't in the best places). As for Indonesian, maybe there are special layouts for your language? Your country is way bigger than mine, so there must be specialists who work on this subject.

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    • Registered: 18-Nov-2006
    • Posts: 14

    Although it makes sense that a layout won't be optimal except for a particular language, I wonder if (for European languages at least) a layout optimized for English would work fairly well for other European languages too. After all, letter frequencies in other languages are not much different than English, e.g.

    English  ET.AOINHSR.DLU.MCWGFY.PB.KV.XJQZ
    French   E.ASITN.RUOL.D.XCMP.VQYGFB.HZJ.KW
    Spanish EA.OS.RNID.LCTU.MP.BGYVQHF.ZJ.XWK
    German E.NIRS.ATDUH.LGOC.M.BFWK.ZVP.JYXQ

    The 11 most common letters of English are ETAOINSHRD... of these, all except H are in the top 11 for French; all except H  are in the top 12 for Spanish, and all except O are in the top 10 for German.

    Also consider that European languages share a lot of word roots from Latin and maybe other sources like Greek (but I'm no expert in cross-liguistic etymology). Thus there would be many common digraphs.

    And of course, any language using Roman letters would probably use all five vowels on a regular basis, and alternate frequently between vowels and consonants (a strength of Dvorak.)

    So while an English layout wouldn't be /optimal/ for other languages, I suspect that you could take Colemak or some other optimized layout, switch a key here and there and have a pretty good layout for another language.

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    • From: Viken, Norway
    • Registered: 13-Dec-2006
    • Posts: 5,364

    I suspect that in most cases there isn't enough to be gained from switching major key positions around to make it worth the while. Even a radically higher A frequency doesn't sound enough to me - after all, it's on the home position and not hidden away on some stretch! Here in Norway we use R a whole lot and its Colemak position works just fine for me. Pinkies and ring fingers aren't so bad, if they don't have to stretch anywhere.

    Qwertie, you have a good point about the latin roots. English even fits Germanic languages well enough, with plenty of common heritage in that department as well.

    Special signs is a different matter. But they're hardly ever in the very common category so in most cases they fit just fine on keys that the US layout uses for punctuation - such as [].

    Then, there's the fact that most of us type some English too. How much varies from person to person, so you'd have to optimize individually. Come to think of it, we even tend to talk about different things, at least some of us do. You might be able to optimize a layout for X-Box-fixing X-ray experts with exasperating ex-sexpartners I guess, by optimizing from a personal corpus. I think that's an exercise for the not easily vexed.  ;)

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

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    • From: Jakarta, Indonesia
    • Registered: 04-Jun-2007
    • Posts: 4

    Modifying an English-optimized keyboard to be an Indonesian-optimized keyboard should pose no special problems, as Indonesian use the exact same character set as English, i.e. no diacritics, no special characters, etc. Only the letters need to be shuffled around.

    Heck, even the monetary symbol uses 2 standard letters instead of special monetary symbols like the pound, the dollar, the won, the yen, etc.

    BTW, I'm an Indonesian. This is my first post. I type 70% Indonesian and 30% English. My Indonesian speed is 60 wpm, my English speed is between 66-70 wpm, once peaked at 75 wpm (tested using TypingMaster). All on QWERTY keyboard.

    I look forward to a higher speed with any alternative keyboard ;-)

    {p}

    Last edited by pepoluan (04-Jun-2007 06:57:04)
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    • From: Köln, Germany
    • Registered: 01-Apr-2007
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    Pepoluan, no advertisements please!

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    • From: Jakarta, Indonesia
    • Registered: 04-Jun-2007
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    @vilem: You mean my signature? Sorry. I'll remove the advertisement. Hope this next change is okay.

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    • Registered: 07-Dec-2006
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    Another comment for Colemak: For years I've been avoiding working using notebook because the cramped keys in QWERTY layout hurt my fingers. I always choose to work on desktop with an ergonomic keyboard and in my view, I can only use notebook with at least 13.3" wide screen since the width can accomodate fuller size keyboard. Now I'm happily type on a 12.1" normal width notebook since I'm using Colemak layout. Although I type mainly in Bahasa Indonesia, and perhaps only 30% in English, it's still better than QWERTY because the 'A' key which is very often used in Bahasa Indonesia is paired with 'Q', 'Z' and 'X' which is very rarely used, so the load on pinky finger is not to heavy.

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