I bought an ErgoDox[0] keyboard and switched over to a modified Colemak layout with common programming symbols on and above the homerow, triggered with a thumb

I bought an ErgoDox[0] keyboard and switched over to a modified Colemak layout with common programming symbols on and above the homerow, triggered with a thumb layer key (think "fn" key on laptops). I think that the symbols are the biggest win for me, as they keep my right pinky away from the cluster at the top-right of a std QWERTY keyboard, and generally reduces finger travel. That, and having the thumb clusters for sp/enter/del/bs are great. I did it cold turkey and the first few weeks were a bit of a grind, but Colemak keeping QWAZXCVB in the same place helped with common shortcuts (quit, close tab, copy, paste, undo, etc). Now I don't think I'd ever switch back. I bring my keyboard around with me for any serious work. The nice thing about having your layout as a part of the keyboard is that there's no configuration of a different computer - just plug in your keybo and you're gold. I'd highly recommend the ErgoDox with a custom layout (you can program your own[1]). I don't know if I would recommend just using Colemak/Dvorak on a standard keyboard. Programmer Dvorak[2] seems like the best option out of all of them though. I wrote an article on my experiences: http://jjt.io/2013/11/25/why-any-developer-should-check-out-the-ergodox-keyboard/ http://jjt.io/2013/11/25/why-any-developer-should-check-out-... [0]: http://ergodox.org http://ergodox.org [1]: https://github.com/jjt/ergodox-firmware/blob/master/src/keyboard/ergodox/layout/colemak-symbol-mod.c https://github.com/jjt/ergodox-firmware/blob/master/src/keyb... [2]: http://www.kaufmann.no/roland/dvorak/ http://www.kaufmann.no/roland/dvorak/