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>Learning a new layout takes months of training. This is completely false. If you go cold turkey and actually work at it you can actually memorize a keyboard l

by risho 6y ago

>Learning a new layout takes months of training. This is completely false. If you go cold turkey and actually work at it you can actually memorize a keyboard layout in a single afternoon, though you will be slow as hell. If you keep at it without switching back you can get up to like 30 wpm in a week. I did it with both colemak and beakl 15. The problem isn't that it takes months, the problem is that it is incredibly tedious and you have to really want to do it because you will hate your life for the first couple of days.

Okkef 6y ago
I'm not saying it's impossible or that you shouldn't do it. I'm saying it's not the first thing you should improve. If you compare switching to colemak the other improvements I listed, it's by far the most effort. I am practicing colemak which mentally exhausts me a few times a week and I'm only up to 18 wpm. Picking up a split keyboard will take maybe an hour before you are back up to speed and you will gain the benefits instantly. When you're "back up to 30wpm after a week of training" you're still typing at crippled speeds. It takes a significant amount of effort to learn a new keyboard layout.
- risho 6y ago
  I actually agreee. The conclusion I came to at the end of it was that learning a new keyboard layout was basically a waste of time for most people for a number of reasons. First of all there's no actual science that proves it's ergonomic efficacy and if it does actually accomplish anything it's negligible compared to other things you could do instead. On top of that it makes interfacing with other people's computers an absolute nightmare. It also has random bugs and quirks if you use software based implementations where it randomly won't work in vnc or a virtual machine or whatever. I actually did it just because I'm a technical masochist and it was fun, not because of some delusion of actually fixing anything. I wound up switching back to qwerty in the end. As for picking up a split keyboard being easy, that isn't necessarily the case depending on how messed up your typing is. You may need to relearn how to properly type to use them. That said I would agree that you would get MUCH more ergonomic benefits from switching to a split keyboard than you would from learning a new keyboard layout with a fraction of the work required. >When you're "back up to 30wpm after a week of training" you're still typing at crippled speeds. This definitely isn't true. You are actually just under the average typing speed. Also if you are doing stuff like programming or many other things your 70+ wmp typing isn't actually doing anything for you because your are already bottlenecked by thinking and other such things. Typing at 30wpm isn't nearly as bad as you think it is. Also you continue to improve from there.
  - Okkef 6y ago
    I totally agree!
- clarry 6y ago
  > I am practicing colemak which mentally exhausts me a few times a week and I'm only up to 18 wpm. And then what? You go back to your original layout? No wonder it's taking months. The best way to learn a new layout is to switch to it and never look back.
V-2 6y ago
I'm a quite fast typist, typing at around 120-130 WPM (on short distances obviously) when using QWERTY. This skill is lost if I switch to a new layout. I once tried switching to CarpalX. I was able to get to about 80-90 WPM - it had indeed taken a few weeks, if I recall - and I pretty much hit the ceiling around that level. "Memorizing a layout in a single afternoon", or achieving 30 WPM in a week are entirely plausible scenarios, but they are not what I'd consider success stories.

by risho 6y ago

Okkef 6y ago

I'm not saying it's impossible or that you shouldn't do it. I'm saying it's not the first thing you should improve. If you compare switching to colemak the other improvements I listed, it's by far the most effort. I am practicing colemak which mentally exhausts me a few times a week and I'm only up to 18 wpm. Picking up a split keyboard will take maybe an hour before you are back up to speed and you will gain the benefits instantly. When you're "back up to 30wpm after a week of training" you're still typing at crippled speeds. It takes a significant amount of effort to learn a new keyboard layout.

risho 6y ago
I actually agreee. The conclusion I came to at the end of it was that learning a new keyboard layout was basically a waste of time for most people for a number of reasons. First of all there's no actual science that proves it's ergonomic efficacy and if it does actually accomplish anything it's negligible compared to other things you could do instead. On top of that it makes interfacing with other people's computers an absolute nightmare. It also has random bugs and quirks if you use software based implementations where it randomly won't work in vnc or a virtual machine or whatever. I actually did it just because I'm a technical masochist and it was fun, not because of some delusion of actually fixing anything. I wound up switching back to qwerty in the end. As for picking up a split keyboard being easy, that isn't necessarily the case depending on how messed up your typing is. You may need to relearn how to properly type to use them. That said I would agree that you would get MUCH more ergonomic benefits from switching to a split keyboard than you would from learning a new keyboard layout with a fraction of the work required. >When you're "back up to 30wpm after a week of training" you're still typing at crippled speeds. This definitely isn't true. You are actually just under the average typing speed. Also if you are doing stuff like programming or many other things your 70+ wmp typing isn't actually doing anything for you because your are already bottlenecked by thinking and other such things. Typing at 30wpm isn't nearly as bad as you think it is. Also you continue to improve from there.
- Okkef 6y ago
  I totally agree!
clarry 6y ago
> I am practicing colemak which mentally exhausts me a few times a week and I'm only up to 18 wpm. And then what? You go back to your original layout? No wonder it's taking months. The best way to learn a new layout is to switch to it and never look back.

V-2 6y ago

I'm a quite fast typist, typing at around 120-130 WPM (on short distances obviously) when using QWERTY. This skill is lost if I switch to a new layout. I once tried switching to CarpalX. I was able to get to about 80-90 WPM - it had indeed taken a few weeks, if I recall - and I pretty much hit the ceiling around that level. "Memorizing a layout in a single afternoon", or achieving 30 WPM in a week are entirely plausible scenarios, but they are not what I'd consider success stories.