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Excuses

  • List all excuses for not learning a new layout and decide whether to do it or not. And then stick to the plan.
  • Age is no excuse to not learn another layout. I am 39 at the time of writing and I did it - so can you!

Timing

  • Pick an optimal time, e.g. when getting your first split keyboard. When learning a new layout, using it on a ortholinear splitkeyboard will allow your brain to connect the old staggered rows with qwerty, allowing you to still be able to use qwerty.
  • If you intend to learn both a new layout and vim motions, start out with the layout as you wont have to rebind all shortcuts in your muscle memory. In theory you could rebind all keys in vim but it will never be a good experience.

What layout to choose?

  • Choose the layout you like: try out workman, dvorak, colemak, etc. They all have their own feeling. Colemak focuses on rolls while dvorak focuses on switching hands as much as possible. I went with colemak as it is said to be easyer to learn for qwerty typers and ctrl+z,x,c,v,a are still (almost at the same spots) and I love the rolls!
  • Don't let a few difficult words affect what layout you pick. When I first started learning colemak, the words "you" and "public" were words I hated. Go into concentrated mode and just repeat typing those single words until the fingers start typing them automatically. Now I look forward to these words.
  • Prepare for initial frustrations. I use danish letters and needed to fit those on the keyboard. I ended up with having them on a different layer

Training

  • Start out by learning on a site with very few letters in the mix and keep training until you have at least 97% accuracy before continuing. The speed does really not matter at this stage.
  • Use blank keycaps to not let you look down. Some people suggest that one has a picture of the keys on scree. I never tried that so I cannot tell if it speeds things up or not.
  • use monkeytype to track your progress, but use keybr.com to actually train. Keybr.com has very nice stats per letter and they make sentences with a mix of real and non-real words focused on making you learn the rolls on typical english phrases.
  • Sometimes you go to your keyboard and do a typing test and the result is all of a sudden horrible and it feels like you forgot everything. Just walk away from the computer and come back in an hour. It is perfectly normal.
  • Being fast on monkeytype did not mean that I was fast when free typing. I have started practising using the "zen" mode on monkeytype which allows you to write whatever. And then I try to write the lyrics comming from spotify. I can reach 95 wpm on an average attempt on normal monkeytype (25 word, english) but on zen mode my average is below 55. And zen mode replicates real life. You never have the text in front of you that you are about to type.
  • Until you feel you do no longer need to practise, always focus on accuracy, not speed. Ironically, this will eventually improve your speed a lot more. Its like the wax-on, wax-off where karate kid learns the motions in slow motion and then is able to do them fast.

Shift - what a bitch

  • Touch typing theory tells us to use the shift placed on the opposite side of the letter we want to type in upper case. But when you want to write entire words in uppercase, you have to either:
    • awkwardly alternate between the two shift keys
    • use caps lock which just sucks if you type sql commands where you may want a mix of all-uppercase words and PascalCasing.
    • use one shift in one of the sides, say left, and then you have to move your hand to reach the keys that you pinky on the left side usually is in charge of. Instead I have placed the shift key on a thumb key. This way I can hold it down for whole sentences without worrying about any of the issues above.

Roundup

  • Hang in and don't give up. Keep doing it.
  • Don't compare your speed and progress to others. I have been learning colemak for 5 months and I was waaaaay slower in progressing than all the youtubers I was watching for advice.
  • Some people may encourage you on your journey, but my experience is that most people will mock you for wasting your time. Don't listen to them; you are the enlightened. Beat their mockery with results.

Feel free to write me, if you think I can be of any help on your journey. :)