Colemak keyboard layout

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 19:23:48 +0000

Actually, that was my first guess :P

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 16:12:53 +0000

Hey, don't second-guess the judges… :)

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 04:57:34 +0000

Gratz on winning, it's a great layout in terms of the classic keyboard feel, nice work and happy new year!

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 02:00:23 +0000

I hadn't thought of the that. I suppose the E and U aren't very likely to precede each other, whereas L and E, K and E, H and E, and M and E are common combinations. You've got my vote

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 11:26:46 +0000

There are a lot of factors to consider when designing a keyboard layout, and placing E on the index finger won't be optimal. The index finger presses six keys, while the middle finger only hits three keys, e.g. in Colemak the right hand index finger hits J/L/H/N/K/M, and the right hand middle finger hits U/,/E. The typing load must be balanced among the fingers, taking into consideration the strength and dexterity of the fingers. The index fingers on Colemak already work the hardest (2-3 times more work than the little finger), and putting extra load on them by placing the E there would cause fatigue and strain. The other issue is that hitting keys with the same finger slows down typing and increases strain (e.g. try typing QZQZQZ). Since the index finger presses more keys, placing the E there would double the amount of same finger typing and thus slow down typing.

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:15:43 +0000

Hey, I gave your keyboard keyboard convert a try over at http://colemak.com/ I think that after a while I could get used to it. My question for you and Martink, Leizoor, and Qwertie is: if you're going to rearrange the letters on the keyboard, why wouldn't you place the E under an index finger? I like your choice of letters for home row, and other than the E, I like your choice for the other letters my index finger hits, but none of you has placed the most used letter in the English alphabet under the most easily used finger. If you transposed N and E or changed NEIO to EION, I think I might actually prefer your design to the qwerty.

Sorry to criticize. If there is a reason, tell me. I'm not much of a typist, so I might be missing something.

I wish there was time for me to enter a design of my own. Maybe next year?

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 15:38:03 +0000

It’s a shame not too many people know about this keyboard.

Good job making this keyboard, Shai! The way you present Colemak on your site is superb. Colemak definitely gets a plus from me.

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Sat, 18 Nov 2006 04:26:09 +0000

I have to agree—on this forum you haven't given any evidence that X-Fu potentially allows faster typing than Colemak. And Qwerty similarity has undeniable advantages (hotkey preservation, ease of learning.) Also, I don't think fdsa is harder to type than asdf, and what does that have to do with Colemak anyway?

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 11:30:16 +0000

I don't believe X-Fu is a viable alternative to Colemak. See my comments on the X-Fu submission.

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 05:21:41 +0000

Letter frequencies will impact the efficiency of a layout but more needs to be taken into account to achieve a comfortable keyboard. Keys need to be remapped to make typing of letter combinations comfortable. Given that asdf is much easier to type than fdsa, you would not want, for example, to have a home row that had asd replaced by the reverse of the most frequently appearing triplet (which is "the"). While keys on home row are by far easier to access than the boonies of the Z and Q, the exact mapping of characters to effort-equivalent keys needs to consider stroke path.

Take a look at my X-Fu submission which attempts to address this.

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 09:51:20 +0000

For all languages it works much better than QWERTY, although obviously not as good as English.

The version that is available for download allows typing non-English characters in all these languages through the use of the AltGr key without the need to switch layouts. This is great for occasional typing, but anyone who types often in those other language would want to trade some of the infrequently used punctuation keys with dedicated keys for those non-English characters.

For a very rough idea of how good Colemak is in other langauages, take a look at this unsourced research containing the letter frequencies for various languages, and count how many of the ten highest frequency appear in Colemak home row

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Sat, 14 Oct 2006 11:38:21 +0000

How does that work for other languages, like Spanish or French, Polish, or Scandinavian languages? I mean the most requently used letters, and frequent letter clusters?

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Sat, 07 Oct 2006 07:58:47 +0000

C'mon, actually try it out people, the keymap file is available at the Colemak website. Typing on it is very natural, the keys you need most are easy to hit,
but many of the keys are not changed so it is easy to learn. In just a few days on it I am gaining speed rapidly and can tell that my hands don't have to move nearly as much.
Unlike Dvorak, the ctrl-C, X and ctrl-V shortcuts are still in the right place. And backspace being hittable without moving the hands from the home row
(by putting it at capslock) makes for much easier typing.

Even if you aren't willing to learn a whole new keyboard and want to stick with QWERTY, give at least the remapping of Capslock=backspace a try.
Just that change makes typing a lot easier and reduces hand motion a ton. That alone could save you getting RSI.

cut below and make into a .reg file: or get it rom the Colemak site (this will ONLY make capslock a second backspace)

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,0e,00,3a,00,00,00,00,00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=-

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 14:30:21 +0000

Backspace isn't a dangerous key. In the worst case you hit it accidently and you lose exactly one character, which you can easily retype. In case you don't notice pressing it, it will cause a typo, but that doesn't happen often.

Compare for example: in one case you accidently hit the Caps Lock in the miDDLE OF A SENTENCE, without noticing you have to erase everything you typed and type it all over again. On the other hand, if you press Backspace in the mddle of a sentence, you just have to retype that one character.

I've been mapping Caps Lock to Backspace for over two years (even before Colemak), and not even once did it cause data loss. In any case, there's nothing that Ctrl+Z (undo) won't fix.

Another advantage is that it makes one-handed typing (e.g. when you're talking on the phone) much easier. For example, you're talking on the phone, and you meant to type "S" but instead you typed "A". Now you have to type Backspace and then "S". Consider just the hand movements required to reach from "A" to the Backspace key and back. For extra credit, check how many times you can repeat that movement before your hand becomes tired.

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 13:51:44 +0000

Colemak isn't a hardware keyboard design, it's a keyboard layout. The image just shows the differences from QWERTY. All the other keys which don't appear in the image (Fkeys, arrow keys, Instert/Delete/Home/End, etc.) all remain in their normal place.

Colemak can work with all QWERTY-based keyboards, today and in the future. See The Top 10 weirdest keyboards ever. Colemak can be adapted to most of these keyboards.

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 19:58:13 +0000

Where is the "Delete" key? ))) Will the functionality of Ctl-Alt-Delete be replaced by something else, like Ctl-Alt-Backspace? Will you be abe to convince the software and hardware manufacturers to correct their documentation?

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 12:39:55 +0000

It's a crazy idea - replacing CapsLock with a much more dangerous key…

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 17:31:28 +0000

One of the biggest problems with QWERTY/Dvorak is that the Backspace key is very difficult to reach. Colemak solves this by replacing Caps Lock with Backspace. There's no need to also move the right Backspace, because it would be hardly used. I've kept the Backspace in its place also because it's a key with a very strong muscle memory. Making a mistake in the new layout, then trying to correct it hitting Backspace, then recorrect again because Backspace has moved would be extremely frustrating to anyone trying to convert to Colemak
On QWERTY the semicolon is on the home row, and it has been moved from there on Colemak. In case of the apostrophe, it's actually not a good idea to put something more frequent because the pinky is the weakest finger. If you move for example the comma there, you'll end up with a slightly illogical layout, because < and > won't be next to each other. Colemak has been designed to be easy to learn, so it tries to keep as many keys as possible in their QWERTY positions.

Re: Colemak keyboard layout

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 16:22:35 +0000

Colemak looks very nice, though I wonder if there are not more optimisations to make, e.g.:

Moving the Backspace down to above Enter
Moving ; and ` off the home row and putting more commonly-used punctuation there

Minor ideas. Colemak gets a +1 from me.

Colemak keyboard layout

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 18:59:10 +0000

URL(s) to keyboard layout image(s):
http://colemak.com/wiki/images/8/80/Colemak_layout_2.png
Single sentence description:
Colemak is a keyboard layout that allows to type faster, ergonomically and comfortably using your existing keyboard.
Full description:
Colemak is a modern alternative to the QWERTY and Dvorak layouts. It is designed for efficient and ergonomic touch typing in English.

Colemak gets rid of the Caps Lock, and replaces it with Backspace. You no longer need to move your hand off the home position just to correct errors. This alone saves about 15%-20% of total finger movement.
Colemak places the 10 most frequent letters of English on the home row.
Colemak has been designed to be easy to learn for existing QWERTY typists. Most of the keys remain in their QWERTY positions.
Colemak takes into account many ergonomic factors: finger distance, finger balance, finger strength, hand alternation, uncomfortable finger combos, etc.
It can work with all standard keyboards, including laptops. It is available for Windows/Linux/Mac and many more operating systems.

More information: http://colemak.com/