I switched to Dvorak about 9 years ago. It was my 3rd touch-typed layout, after ЙЦУКЕН and QWERTY, both of which I was using daily. Now, that I look back, I think choosing Dvorak wasn't ideal: while it's been a huge relief after QWERTY (this ubiquitous finger twister), Dvorak showed certain drawbacks I should have noticed from the very beginning. A good example would be the frequent "sl" combination (slow, sleep, slide, etc), which is a same-finger combination for the right pinkie. Recently, some extra research showed it must have always been Colemak.
Learning a new layout is akin to learning a musical instrument: the cognitive effort required for deliberate practice feels pleasingly mind stretching. So, I decided to switch again. Below this paragraph I'll be posting everything I have typed so far during my Colemak practice, including some report on the progress - for what it's worth. Minor editing here and there is possible for readability. Let's see how much typing it takes to get back to a reasonable speed (my current Dvorak record speed is around 95 words/min).
14:43 A little. A little. A little bit of practice makes things possible. Whatever steps are doesn't mean much to me. Being a child has its advantages. advantages advantages advantages advantages advantages advantages advantages merchant merchant merchant merchant merchant developer developer developer bluecode bluecode bluecode bluecode
simulation tion the the the tion ion ion tion ion tion tion tion tion motion tion tion motion motion motion motion motion motion motion motion cotton cotton arsenal arsenal simplicity accumulation developer destination revelation indication salvation mutation bottom bottom bottom bottom bottom line line line line line fine fine fine fine fine
one time there was a guy who took advantage of having a one month vacation to switch from Dvorak to Colemak
It's not hard to memorise what keys have what characters. However the cognitive overhead to recall those is enormous. My most frequent mistake is currently mixing "r" and "s". I try, however, do as few mistakes as possible, remembering that focused practice is most efficient.
By the time I mostly no longer look at the macos' keyboard viewer, with exception of double-checking "b" and "k".
(about 50 mins practice so far)
17:00 This time I'm thinking about taking an approach different to when I was switching from qwerty to dvorak. I'm going to see whether I can avoid the abysmal drop in my productivity as a developer. When I was switching last time, I followed the advice of diving fully into Dvorak for all my laptop activities, and man it was painful! That moment when you need to fix something in your app asap, but you no longer can, because qwerty is half-forgotten, and dvorak is still painfully slow. This time I wanna try to keep both: do my work in dvorak, but daily train Colemak.
By the way, typing the last paragraph took me 17 minutes - and no longer do I use the on-screen keyboard viewer.
So, I'm going to keep using Dvorak daily, a lot. Let's see how this works out.
this this this this this this this this this this this this this this this this this this this this
Somehow it feels good to learn typing a short word fast, by repeatedly typing it as an exercise :) Like a sneak-peak into how it will feel soon.
13:35 Today arrived to Kathmandu. Should I write a little story about it or just keep typing some nonsense?
nonsense nonsense nonsense nonsense nonsense nonsense - funny little word to type
Making more mistakes today, need to slow down and pay more attention. No rush, it's just a game.
Found a same-finger combination: "wr". Write, wrong, wrestle, wrist. But it's much better than "sl" on Dvorak.
Feels good to type "p", because it's on the same location as on Dvorak. It's 13:49 now.
Time for first speed measurement, I guess.
12 wpm and 94% accuracy on Ratatype. Enough training for today, now back to coding. Elixir and Elm are waiting!
(About 45 mins of practice today)
20:27 Took another test on Ratatype: 12.8 wpm, 95.2% accuracy
Feel a bit more confident already, certain letter combinations start coming almost naturally. Other than that, spent the whole day coding (using Dvorak, of course).
12:08 Server server server server server server quick quick quick quick quick quick quick quick
What is interesting is that one can practise a new layout without even touching the keyboard. It's beetween the brain and the fingers. As I'm walking on a Himalayan path and simply imagine typing, I'm strengthening my synapses. Today it feels yet a bit snappier. My main concern remains whether I'll stay as productive with Dvorak. (10 mins of practice)
16:09 We made about 12 km today and are spending the night at about 2800 meters. It doesn't feel too hard. I'm on a low-carb diet, so, at each place we stop for a bite, I'm asking for a reasonable portion of butter, in order to add it everywhere I can: clear soup, thick soup, omlette, steak, etc. It's funny to watch faces seeing me eating that.
Unfortunately, there's no cellular reception at this guest house, and the wifi is a bit expensive and not straight forward to set up, so I'm skipping my typing speed test today. Note to self: along with Colemak, also test my Dvorak speed daily. (15 mins)
20:13 My only practice today has been one test on Ratatype (about 10 mins): 15.8 WPM ACCURACY 95.7 %
No practice yesterday. Today did my test a bit late, feeling somewhat tired. The results: 15.4 WPM 92 % Will try this again tomorrow morning.
So, where are you now?