Re: COLEMAK layout?

I've used Dvorak for almost 5 years and really like it, so take my bias 
with a grain of salt ;)  What I will say is that I type on a Kinesis 
contoured keyboard and that completely eliminates all of the possible 
"reach" problems and the location of the delete, control, alt and arrow 
keys that might come up in a Dvorak layout.  I can't say enough good 
things about the contoured keyboard - it literally saved me from chronic 
tendonitis when I was typing medical transcription for a living.  
Between the reduced repetitive stress from using Dvorak and the 80% less 
reach from using the Kinesis I was able to heal my wrists while still 
typing 5 hours a day, and that's just *not* going to happen with any 
other keyboard :)

http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/advantage.htm

So I guess what I'm saying is - don't just consider your layout, 
consider your hardware as well.  No matter how good your layout is, it's 
not going to have you reaching 80% less on every key :)

em



ericsc4 wrote:
> I was thinking of switching to DVORAK, but just recently I found out
> about COLEMAK. Now I might switch to COLEMAK instead. What is
> everyone's opinion on the COLEMAK layout? http://colemak.com/
>
> Also here is a link to a wiki with usage diagrams comparing QWERTY,
> DVORAK, and COLEMAK.
> http://tinyurl.com/64g9mz
>
> I'm especially interested in what experienced Dvorak users think of
> the layout. And maybe a counter argument from the pro-DVORAK side on
> what might be wrong with COLEMAK and why DVORAK is better.
>
> Below is some text taken from the Colemak website:
>
> What's wrong with the Dvorak layout?
>
>     * Placing 'L' on the QWERTY 'P' position causes excessive strain
> on the right pinky. Colemak doesn't place frequent letters where the
> pinkies stretch.
>     * 'F' is on the QWERTY 'Y' position which is a difficult stretch
> on normal keyboards.
>     * 'I' is very frequent but isn't on the home position.
>     * 'R' is very frequent but isn't on the home row.
>     * It is significantly lopsided so that the right hand does too
> much work.
>     * It's not comfortable to use Ctrl-Z/X/C/V shortcuts with the left
> hand while holding the mouse with the right hand. Colemak conserves
> those shortcuts in their QWERTY positions.
>     * Even though the design principles are sound, the implementation
> isn't optimal because it was designed without the aid of computers.
>     * 'L' and 'S' form a frequent same-finger digraph on the right
> pinky. Same-finger for the pinky is very rare in Colemak. In
> particular, Unix commands such as 'ls -l' are very uncomfortable to type.
>     * Some punctuation (in particular the curly/square brackets) is
> less comfortable to type on Dvorak. This affects mainly programmers
> and advanced Unix users. 
>
>
> Is it worth switching from Dvorak to Colemak?
>
> The Colemak keyboard layout fixes all the issues mentioned above, and
> wins in virtually every criterion, but the difference will be less
> noticeable than the difference between QWERTY and Dvorak. The switch
> won't be as easy for veteran Dvorak users. If you're generally happy
> with Dvorak, you should probably stick with it. 
>
>
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