Re: COLEMAK layout?

I'm a 27 year old software engineer, learned QWERTY when I was 13, and
switched to Dvorak when I was 24 (<-- background).

Dvorak appears to have been developed with tedious researche and the
application of statistical analysis.  One of the previous replies
mentioned that Dvorak wrote a book - now that I know that, I'd really
like to read it.

Anyway, after following the COLEMAK link in the original e-mail, there
were 2 things that basically told me this layout is missing the point:

1. It claimed ease of learning when coming from QWERTY.
This is not a good goal for designing a keyboard layout.  This means
that the layout may pass on good design in order to be easy to learn.
That is a trade-off that I am not interested in.

2. It claimed COLEMAK is better for ctrl+... keystrokes.
These keystrokes are OS-dependent.  A good layout should not be
influenced by the currently-popular operating systems, in my opinion.

Those who benefit the most from a good keyboard layout are those who
type written language a lot.  COLEMAK doesn't appear to bring anything
to this table that Dvorak doesn't already, to say the least.  I would
not consider learning COLEMAK given what I've learned about it.

For what it's worth!
Joey

On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 9:41 PM, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> been typing Dvorak 15+ years and have no problems, typed QWERTY for 20
> years before that,
>
> Dvorak is on all computers and is readily avaliable,
> and best of all,  it works for me
>
> Bob
>
>
>
> On Sun, 16 Nov 2008, 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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