- - Ergonomic and comfortable – Your fingers on QWERTY move 2.2x more than on Colemak. QWERTY has 16x more same hand row jumping than Colemak. There are 35x more words you can type using only the home row on Colemak.
+ - Ergonomic and comfortable – Your fingers on QWERTY move 2.2× more than on Colemak. QWERTY has 16× more same hand row jumping than Colemak. There are 35× more words you can type using only the home row on Colemak.
- Easy to learn – Allows easy transition from QWERTY. Only 2 keys move between hands. Many common shortcuts (including Ctrl+Z/X/C/V) remain the same. Typing lessons available.
- Fast – Most of the typing is done on the strongest and fastest fingers. Low same-finger ratio.
- Multilingual – Allows to type in over 40 languages and to type various symbols, e.g. "pâté", "mañana", €, em-dash, non-breaking space.
@@ -46,9 +46,9 @@ Advantages
Resources
- Colemak isn't just a layout, it's also a creative force in the alt-layout landscape. This site is the community site. On its own, this page is somewhat bare-bones for now, but it acts as a hub for finding other Colemak users and resources of which there are plenty.
+ Colemak isn't just a layout, it's also a creative force in the alt-layout landscape. This site is the community site. On its own, this page is somewhat bare-bones for now, but it acts as a hub for finding other Colemak users and resources – of which there are plenty.
- The Colemak community have devised many mods and additions to Colemak, and there are transitional layouts (Tarmak) if you wish to learn it step by step instead of all at once. DreymaR from the Colemak forums has been working for more than a decade on bringing the word out and making implementations of DreymaR's Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks; that is, a collection of mods and tricks and knowledge centered around Colemak. If you want to know your options, rummage around in the Big Bag a little! You can select your platform such as Windows, Linux or programmable controllers to learn more about the different implementations.
+ The Colemak community have devised many mods and additions to Colemak. Colemak Forum user DreymaR has been working since 2007 on bringing the word out and making implementations of DreymaR's Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks; that is, a collection of mods and tricks and knowledge centered around Colemak. There are even transitional layouts (Tarmak) if you wish to learn it step by step instead of all at once. If you want to know your options, rummage around in the Big Bag a little! You can select your platform such as Windows, Linux or programmable controllers to learn more about the different implementations.
DreymaR also makes the EPKL program for Windows that gives you anything from simple Colemak to the whole Big Bag experience – with dynamic help images. As a Windows user, your main Colemak options are installing a system layout (using a MSKLC file like the one found at the main site), running an Autohotkey (AHK) script for simple remapping or using a keyboard layout program like EPKL. EPKL is actually a fancy compiled AHK script that's designed to be far more functional and work better at high speeds. It may not be compatible with all games though, so for those you may still need an installed layout.
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ Frequently Asked Questions
- Yes. Well, you asked. On a page dedicated to Colemak... ¯\(º_o)/¯
- If your only concern is speed then maybe not. You can get fast with most layouts, likely including the one you're on now.
- - "Your fingers will thank you" goes the slogan. Colemak is very comfortable and once you've learnt it properly you'll nearly certainly enjoy it a lot. We do!
+ - "Your fingers will thank you!" goes the slogan. Colemak is very comfortable and once you've learnt it properly you'll nearly certainly enjoy it a lot. We do!
- While learning though, it can be unpleasant at times. So be warned if you're an impatient type. There are different ways of learning, if you wish.
- If you're worried about having to use QWERTY on other computers, that's usually not a big problem. You will get by, and you can even maintain both.
- Consider that you'll probably type a lot in your lifetime. Learning a better way of doing that should easily be worth the while.
@@ -79,12 +79,12 @@ Frequently Asked Questions
- Any theoretical speed advantage of optimized layouts is hard to actually prove. And likely minor compared to other factors.
- Most of us who have switched became faster, eventually. But was it mostly because we trained a lot while learning Colemak? Who knows.
- There are stories about speed typists who, like Viper, were stuck on QWERTY and experienced a speed boost from switching. But these don't constitute proof.
- - Probably the world't fastest typist, Rocket, has done more than 230 WPM on Colemak. But he's even faster on QWERTY!
+ - Probably the world't fastest typist, Rocket, has typed more than 230 WPM on Colemak. But he's even faster on QWERTY!
- Rocket does not recommend switching for the speed gain. He even feels more comfortable typing on QWERTY since he's so good at it.
- It seems that the limit to typing speed is more of a mental/training barrier than a physical one. And also individual.
- See the Big Bag Training page for more info.
- - In sum, don't learn Colemak for speed alone. Learn it for comfort, and for fun. You may still get faster with it, of course.
+ - In sum: Don't learn Colemak for speed alone. Learn it for comfort, and for fun. You may still get faster with it, of course.