QWERTZ, i am a german dude.
this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2025
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Dvorak. I might get improvement with MTGAP, or might go for Colemac for easier learning curve, but I won't get a much benefit as I did going from QWERTY to Dvorak, and I've been using Dvorak for decades by now, it hardly seems worth it.
Also, I really like the alternating hands mor than rolling, so Colemac (or Halmac, or any of the others optimized for rolling) probably wouldn't be my first choice.
Same, 20-some years on Dvorak and it feels good enough and way more comfortable than when I switch back to qwerty on other computers.
Regular Colemak everywhere for me, even on the phone. I started last year and it's a real pleasure.
Is there any benefit on the phone? Ironically I thought that having to alternate hands was better for a phone
On the phone Colemak can be annoying because it was created with rolling fingers in mind and you cannot do this with two thumbs. I'll have to try the swipinpg mode though with one thumb only.
But when I used a different layout on the phone, like QWERTY, it really fucked with my brain and it was slowing me down on the computer.
I'm happy now even if typing on the phone is a bit slower but I don't really mind.
I see, thanks
Colemak DH.
Got proficient with Dvorak two decades ago but it didn't really give any tangible benefits over qwerty. It's nice in theory but doesn't really pan out in practice.
Since I already knew how to touchtype in qwerty, colemak-dh was really easy to learn (as far as new layouts go).
To prevent myself from looking down at my hands while learning, I made this legend, printed it out and hung it just under my display: https://codepen.io/spartanatreyu/pen/XWBeyRd
Just as with any layout, if you don't do explicit training you will hit a natural performance plateau.
I did some colemak dh training here: https://gnusenpai.net/colemakclub/
If you've never done type training before, you need to do more than 10 mins a day on a dedicated training app to see any results. I did 15 mins a night while I had dinner cooking. After 3 months I was back to my normal typing speed post-training qwerty typing speed.
Also, if you have the opportunity to get a split keyboard, you can do this neat thing where you can put the brackets along the inner columns of the keyboards, you can see me doing that here: https://configure.zsa.io/moonlander/layouts/Mvngb/latest/1
I like the brackets thing, might give that a go!
I used Colemak-dh for a couple years and really loved the rolling flow. I tried going back to Qwerty for the Vim key convenience but missed the flowy feeling too much.
Then I looked around for some more modern layouts and landed on Hands Down Promethium. It's got the flowy feel and its Vim keys are so much more convenient than Colemak-dh. I really like having 'r' on my thumb, also.
QWERTY
I tried Dvorak and Colemak, but I just couldn't get into them. My biggest issue is that my shortcuts change. It just broke my brain, and I hated it (even though I liked the idea of the other layouts).
Custom QWERTY with IJ on semicolon :p
Also with proper „low and high quotation marks” on R-Alt(+Shift) comma, K and L.
How much of a pain will it be to use Colemak at work at QWERTY on my personal laptop?