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What is the best alternative to Maltron Letter Layout?
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Row Swap (QWDFGY)
All
5
Experiences
Pros
4
Cons
1
Top
Pro
As effortless as Dvorak
It scores 2.122 on the Carpalx effort model, vs 2.098 for Dvorak (QWERTY is 3.000).
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Con
Punctuation is not optimized
Punctuation is just as bad as Colemak.
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Pro
Very easy to learn from QWERTY
The swaps are strictly vertical. No letter changes fingers. Possibly even easier to learn than other minimal-change layouts like qwpr and Minimak-4.
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Pro
Common Ctrl-shortcuts don't move
Most letters are in their QWERTY position, including the important AZXCV. Those that moved are very close to their old positions.
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Pro
Good for Vim users
HJKL are still in order.
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14
0
Colemak Mod-DH
All
11
Experiences
Pros
4
Cons
6
Specs
Top
Pro
Much less lateral hand movement compared with regular Colemak
Some people find moving D and H to the bottom row much more comfortable (especially with flat keyboards). Curved keyboards like the Kinesis Advantage also help with lateral motion. Regular Colemak on these keyboards might be the ideal solution since then you help resolve some of the cons of regular Colemak without adding on the ones from Mod DH.
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Con
Regular Colemak is more standard
Mac and Linux have regular Colemak keyboard options. This isn't an issue if your keyboard is programmable through QMK, VIA, etc.
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Top
Pro
Easy to learn from Colemak
No keys change fingers from Colemak (with the possible exception of Z , which is rarely used, in one variant).
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Top
Con
H, M, V, B change from original QWERTY position
Regular Colemak has these in their original QWERTY position. The learning curve increases somewhat in Mod-DH.
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Top
Pro
'HE' easier to type compared with regular Colemak
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Con
Breaks up ZXCV slightly
Breaks up ZXCV (moves V over one space). Could cause copy paste confusion if also using other layouts like QWERTY. For ANSI layouts the Z is also moved to a new position.
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Pro
Letter G goes back to its original QWERTY position
This puts ING all on the middle row. Regular Colemak has G in the top row.
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Con
No Innate Layout Configuration In Keybr
Keybr supports Standard Colemak but in order to adjust to DH Mod you must use an extension like tampermonkey and run a Script like this one and adjust to fit whichever variant.
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Con
Index fingers jump rows more often
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Con
More optimized for ISO and ortholinear style keyboards, not ANSI
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Specs
Spacebar Row Key Freq.:
15.3%
Consecutive Same-Hand Keystrokes (L/R):
40.2%/59.8%
Left Ring Finger Travel:
5.1%
Top Row Key Freq.:
15.2%
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Experiences
FREE
32
1
Neo2 (Classic Neo)
All
7
Experiences
Pros
4
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Pro
Best for programming
Easily reachable programming relevant symbols, like {}'()|~"_[]<>, on the third layer.
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Con
Developed primarly for the German language
English is considered a major target, but the homepage and docs are mostly in German.
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Top
Pro
Type mathematical symbols natively
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Con
Harder to learn
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Pro
Many layers
You can type more symbols and letters, that do not even exist on other keyboard layouts.
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Top
Pro
Its possible to type letters from the International Phonetic Alphabet
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Specs
Home Row Key Freq.:
61.1%
Right Index Finger Usage:
18.3%
Consecutive Same-Hand Keystrokes (L/R):
76.7%/23.3%
Right Ring Finger Usage:
8.3%
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Experiences
FREE
25
1
Arensito
All
12
Experiences
Pros
7
Cons
4
Specs
Top
Pro
Reduces load on pinkies
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Top
Con
Pointing stick is no longer on the home row
Most keyboards don't have one, but if you use it a lot it becomes a bit of a stretch. On the plus side, a keyboard with a pointing stick will have mouse buttons you could remap to thumb keys instead.
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Top
Pro
Emphasizes adjacent finger bigrams
Common bigrams are a fast rolling motion, like Colemak.
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Con
Hard to orient in a new position by feel
Most keyboards have bumps on two of the keys to orient touch-typists. On QWERTY, this is usually F and J, but sometimes D and K. On some keyboards you can fix this by swapping keycaps. You could also try adding small stickers with enough thickness.
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Pro
Minimizes same-finger bigrams
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Con
Letter keys as modifiers may cause jamming or ghosting
Cheap keyboards designed for QWERTY might struggle with the use of Arensito's letter keys as modifiers. Gaming keyboards with n-key rollover don't have this problem. And any keyboard with proper thumb keys (Kinesis, Ergodox, Maltron) works properly. There is an older version of the layout that keeps QWERTY's home row that you can use on cheap keyboards, but it's not quite as nice.
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Pro
Puts your thumbs to good use
Your strongest fingers are your thumbs. In this layout (unless you have a keyboard with thumb keys) you shift your hands up one row, and you use your thumbs on the bottom row. (Put your index fingers on QWERTY's T and I keys, and rest your thumbs on VB and NM) The Ctrl and Shift modifier keys now use your strong thumbs instead of your weak pinkies. (Ctrl shortcuts are especially important for programmers.) The modifiers may contribute more to RSI than letters.
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Con
Copy-paste shortcuts are right-handed
XCV are on the right side. This makes it difficult to cut/copy-paste with the mouse in the right hand.
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Pro
Punctuation also optimized for programming
AltGr plane has accessible punctuation and numbers. The most used are directly under your fingers on the (new) home row, and all the bracket types are paired and in easy reach.
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Pro
Balances load between hands
Statistically, the left and right hand are used about the same amount.
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Pro
Easy access to common punctuation and numbers
Programmer punctuation and numbers are accessible without stretching on the AltGr plane. (AltGr is now on the spacebar).
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Specs
Left Middle Finger Travel:
0.2%
Spacebar Row Key Freq.:
0.0%
Right Ring Finger Usage:
12.9%
Right Middle Finger Travel:
13.7%
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Experiences
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6
0
Carpalx QGMLWY
All
6
Experiences
Pros
4
Cons
2
Top
Pro
Easier to learn than QGMLWB
Keeps the ZXCV key in the same place as the very common QWERTY keyboard layout. More familiar than even than QGMLWB.
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Con
Very unpopular
Even rich on keyboard layouts variety Linux distros like Deepin, offering most of existing layouts, doesn't have this one. The situation on Android is not better, moreover if somebody get used to Swift-like keyboards, that do not have this layout, that person will be forced to have a second (e.g. qwerty) layout in mind.
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Pro
The layout is basically good for most Latin languages
As vowels and consonants are mostly divided between 2 hands and most words in Latin languages are made of 2-letter (consonant+vowel) syllables, the layout keeps it efficiency not only in English, for which it was primarily created, but in other languages too.
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Con
Not always worth trying
The layout is great only if somebody uses it daily and a lot, like journalists, bloggers, writers do. In this case inconvenience to install the layout is worth use it. If you primarily use your phone/tablet to write some comments in Internet and other tiny writing tasks having such an unpopular layout on just your PC/laptop could be not justified.
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Pro
It takes much less effort to type than classical layout
The layout effectively combines not only changing hands methods, and rolling fingers as well, that makes typing a real pleasure.
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Pro
About the same score on the carplax test as the QGMLWB variant
See the source here.
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4
0
Colemak
All
15
Experiences
Pros
9
Cons
5
Specs
Top
Pro
Much more comfortable than QWERTY when touch typing
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Top
Con
Bad for Vim users
Vim was designed on QWERTY. The HJKL "arrow" keys still work in Dvorak, but their positions make less sense in Colemak.
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Top
Pro
Highly ergonomic
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Con
Overrated
People think Colemak is great because it is easier to learn, but in reality they are deluding themselves thinking that it is better than more advanced alternative layouts.
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Top
Pro
You can type faster
Because the home row contains more high used frequency characters.
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Con
Designed for English
Like Dvorak, this layout privileges English letter frequency, and lacks accented letters. Since the topic is about programming, the argument is weak as most code is written in English, yet you don't want to learn a layout to type code, and another to type in your native language... But the problem isn't specific to Colemak, it is tied to all "ergonomic" layouts, and might have no solution.
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Pro
AZXCV don't move compared to QWERTY
If you rely on the Control-A/X/C/V shortcuts (select all, cut, copy, paste), these keys don't move from their QWERTY locations.
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Con
The "HE" bigram is awkward
For all of Colemak's focus on optimizing English bigrams, the second-most used English bigram, "HE", is still kind of awkward due to same-hand lateral motion. This bigram is much easier in both QWERTY and Dvorak. If your concern is RSI, Colemak isn't good enough.
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Pro
Relatively quick to learn
If coming from QWERTY, only a couple of keys move between hands.
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Con
AZXCV don't move compared to QWERTY
This will allow one to intuitively access popular shortcuts, but the truth is that the placement of these keys is a compromise in terms of actual typing ergonomics.
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Pro
Optimized for quick two-letter bigrams
Not only are the most common English letters on home row under your fingers, but many common two-letter combinations are placed next to each other as well allowing for a fluid "inward roll" motion of letter combos (a-r, r-s, s-t, n-e, e-i, and i-o combos). The inward roll motion is debatably speedier than optimizing finger alternation like Dvorak offers.
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Pro
Backspace is closer
While the uncommonly used caps lock is further away. May be problematic if you previously developed muscle memory of using caps lock as some other key.
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Pro
Possibly faster
Most people like the common home row and believes it improves speed in comparison to QWERTY.
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Pro
Multilingual support
Although it‘s optimized for English, the support for a wide range of special characters enables occasional use of other languages. Still, the Carpalx research shows that a significant improvement is also present in Dutch compared to Qwerty. http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/carpalx/?de_correspondent
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Specs
Right Index Finger Usage:
16.2%
Bottom Row Key Freq.:
8.8%
Left Middle Finger Travel:
14.6%
Right Ring Finger Travel:
5.4%
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Experiences
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163
12
Programmer Dvorak
All
23
Experiences
Pros
14
Cons
8
Specs
Top
Pro
Vim keybindings still make sense
J and K are where C and V are on QWERTY. H is still left of L.
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Top
Con
Other people can't use your computer unless you switch it to QWERTY for them
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Pro
Made for programming
This keyboard took a stand and optimized the Dvorak standard for programming.
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Con
Keyboard controls for video games and other applications are all made for QWERTY
If you want to game, the WASD keys are completely unusable. You either need to switch to QWERTY (and then switch to Dvorak every time you want to use in game chat) or spend time remaping every key, because games don't come with Dvorak keymaps. Sufficiently popular games might have Dvorak mods.
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Pro
Easy to learn if you're already used to Dvorak
The letter keys are the same, so it's not nearly the same mental jump as Qwerty to Dvorak.
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Con
It takes a couple weeks before you're back to a usable speed when switching from QWERTY
Achieving your old QWERTY speed can take a month or more.
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Pro
Keyboards are designed for human comfort
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Con
Dvorak users usually still use QWERTY on their smartphones
Dvorak is made for ten fingers. Its main ideas, such as maximizing the number of "finger rolls" and alternating hands, don't make much sense when you're typing with your thumbs.
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Pro
Programmer punctuation without shifting on the top row
The top row is hardest to reach, and shifting doesn't make this easier. Programmers uses punctuation far more than numerals, so it makes sense to shift for the numerals instead of the punctuation.
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Con
SHORTCUTS nightmare
Shortcuts, Shortcuts, Shortcuts, it is a total nightmare for users even used it for years.
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Pro
Preinstalled on Linux
You can enable it systemwide when you're installing Ubuntu.
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Con
Typing numbers is hard
Numbers are arranged for their characters, not in ascending order. You also have to shift.
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Pro
Open source
The keyboard layout is open source and available for edition.
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Con
It probably won't make you type much faster, if at all
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Pro
Typing feels more comfortable
Completely subjective of course.
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Con
Punctuation moved, not just letters
Punctuation moved in addition to letters, meaning that the learning curve is that much harder coming from QWERTY because nearly every key is in a different place.
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Pro
Easily switch between Standard Dvorak and Programmer's one
Dvorak Simplified Layout is more general and available on all OS, if we need to type on other's computer, we can still use the Dvorak Simplified Layout for typing.
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Pro
Better number arrangement
The smallest numerals are the most frequently used, so why should they be on the weak fingers of the left hand? The order still makes sense too. Odd numbers on the left, even numbers on the right, ascending from the inside out (with the least used numeral '9' in the middle).
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Pro
Don't need to buy another keyboard or move keycaps around
Having the original QWERTY labels is useful for other people using your computer or if you ever need QWERTY. Not having keycaps labeled in Dvorak forces you to learn to touch type. All QWERTY keyboards can be remapped to Dvorak in your operating system settings, so you don't need a physical Dvorak keyboards.
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Pro
Number arrangement is the same as the original Dvorak keyboards
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Pro
More use means more usage
If an individual uses this and tells other people or they try it, the layout will be more popular, and those people will tell people and the world will change.
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Pro
Other people can't use your computer unless you switch it to QWERTY for them
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Specs
Top Row Key Freq.:
21.2%
Right Index Finger Travel:
30.1%
Right Ring Finger Travel:
18.8%
Left Ring Finger Travel:
0.3%
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Experiences
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71
7
Workman
All
12
Experiences
Pros
9
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Pro
Less lateral motion than Colemak
Colemak's focus on the home row is flawed. Due to differing finger lengths and the natural range of human hand motion, the center columns (even on the home row) take more effort to reach than the top row with the longer middle fingers. Workman takes this into account.
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Con
Certain Keybindings don't work in certain applications
In certain apps (like kitty terminal emulator), keyboard shortcuts like Control+C do not work.
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Pro
Common English bigrams are optimized
This is an emphasis shared with Colemak, but Workman focuses on the easiest keys instead of the home row.
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Con
Designed to be used on a matrix style keyboard
This keyboard layout wan't designed to be used on a normal keyboard.
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Pro
Finger travel is very low overall
This is good for preventing RSI.
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Pro
Very comfortable for Vim
Works so well out of the box that I can only think the creator thought about it beforehand.
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Pro
Good for programming
Common characters {} [] <> () / ' " are easily accessible by the right hand on the right of the keyboard. Combinations ( { + } for example) are placed side by side on the keyboard which is useful as well.
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Pro
Works on any keyboard, but additional benefits from Matrix style keyboards
Someone mentioned a CON because it was designed for Matrix style keyboards, but it was designed on a standard keyboard. However, matrix style keyboards adds additional benefits on top of this key layout. For those who don't know matrix keyboards are those where the key rows are not offset, but are directly above one another.
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Pro
Ctrl- AZXCV shortcuts are still accessible with one hand
AZX are in the QWERTY positions, and CV have only shifted one key right. This lets you use the mouse with the right hand and the shortcuts with the left, unlike Dvorak.
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Pro
Mac version has Dead Keys version
The macOS version of Workman has the comma (,) key as a dead key, which allows you to access harder keys on a secondary layer.
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Pro
Most symbols and shortcuts are the same as QWERTY
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Specs
Left Ring Finger Usage:
9.3%
Right Index Finger Travel:
22.6%
Left Little Finger Travel:
0.7%
Right Middle Finger Travel:
7.1%
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Experiences
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34
4
Dvorak Simplified Keyboard
All
17
Experiences
Pros
6
Cons
10
Specs
Top
Pro
More ergonomic
Designed with comfort in mind.
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Con
Inconvenient for common key-shortcuts
Key bindings common to most applications, such as Ctrl+Z/C/V, can't be done on the left hand while mousing with the right. Shortcuts for other applications are out of the QWERTY positions they were designed for and aren't so convenient to access.
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Pro
Standard on all operating systems
You can find this layout on all operating systems.
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Con
The U is directly under your finger while the I is far away
I is used more--by about 2.5 times. In fact, U is the least used vowel after Y. The consonants TNSHRDLC all appear more often. So why is U directly under your finger? And why should you have to stretch for I?
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Pro
Opportunity to learn proper touch typing
Most people passively learn and use QWERTY-based layouts before switching to Dvorak. The switch gives them an opportunity to completely relearn 10-finger typing, which is where a significant portion of the speedup comes from. Coupled with more ergonomic key placement, this makes for a more enjoyable typing experience.
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Con
F is too hard to reach
F is not an especially common letter, but it's used much more than the rare letters JQZ. Why is it on one of the most difficult spots on the keyboard? It's also used in OF, one of the more common bigrams, ranked at #13. Maybe some other languages use Z more than English, but why is F harder to reach than Q?
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Pro
Useful keys in home row
70% of more useful keys are placed in the home row.
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Con
L is too hard to reach
L is not a rare letter. It's used even more than U is in English. Why put it in a difficult spot for use with the weak pinky finger?
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Pro
You can reuse qwerty layout
Since letters and symbols only change place, but not key, you can change the keys on your keyboard and get a full comfortable Dvorak layout, without having to buy a new keyboard.
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Con
Not the standard keyboard layout
It will be difficult to frequently switch between computers.
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Pro
Vowels all on one hand making it easy to teach to kids
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Con
The "ls" command is uncomfortable to type
This is a very common command programmers have to type often when working with the shell. It's pretty awkward in Dvorak, especially when you add common options. Try typing "ls ‐latr", and see how that feels.
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Con
Difficult for occasional moments when you have only one hand free
Hand-alternation is good for touch-typing with both hands, but problematic (a lot of horizontal movement) when typing with one. Can be avoided by temporarily switching to another layout.
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Con
Not easy on the right pinky finger
Most useful symbols for programming are on the right pinky finger, which is not very comfortable.
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Con
Doesn't account for finger length
The keyboard layout doesn't account for E being easier to press than C for example on a QWERTY layout, this can be seen for example using the workman key cap scores done here.
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Con
Not actually faster than QWERTY
Maybe it's more ergonomic, but that's debatable. You'll certainly get more benefit from an ergonomic keyboard than a change in layout. Dvorak's reputation for speed is due to a typo in the initial press report, and a biased (and since discredited) study run by Dvorak himself. Dvorak is all hype and no substance.
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Specs
Right Little Finger Travel:
10.7%
Left Little Finger Travel:
0.7%
Thumb Usage:
15.3%
Right Ring Finger Usage:
13.0%
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Experiences
50
6
Norman
All
11
Experiences
Pros
6
Cons
4
Specs
Top
Pro
Uses the same fingers as QWERTY for most letters
Norman keeps 22/26 letters in their original QWERTY finger, making the transition easier, and, according to many tests, does so without much loss in ergonomics.
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Con
Bad on SFBs
Lots of same finger bigrams (when 2 keys are hit simultaneously by one finger like the qwerty "ed".
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Pro
Keeps many common QWERTY shortcuts intact
Common shortcuts, such as ctrl + z, ctrl + x, etc., are kept in their original positions without much loss in ergonomics, making the transition easier.
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Con
A very small user base and community
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Pro
Feels fast and comfy
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Con
Designed for right handed use
The Norman was designed with right handed use in mind, making it a less attractive choice for left handed users. However, tests done by some users (can be found in the comments) suggests that the Norman layout might be balanced.
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Pro
Focuses on the keys easiest to reach for the human hand
Like Workman, Norman takes human anatomy into account.
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Con
Scores worse in ergonomics using the Carpalx test
Norman, although scoring better in travel distance, generally scores worse in the Carpalx test than layouts such as Colemak. See the source here.
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Pro
Designed using normal keyboards in mind
Unlike keyboard layouts such as workman that are desgined to be used by matrix keyboards, norman is made to be used by a standard keyboard.
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Pro
Favours the right hand
Unlike other layouts, such as workman, norman favours the right hand due to it usually being stronger than the left.
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Specs
Home Row Key Freq.:
53.7%
Top Row Key Freq.:
20.8%
Left Index Finger Usage:
13.1%
Left Ring Finger Travel:
4.6%
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27
4
qwpr
All
7
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
2
Top
Con
Puts E on the pinky
'E' is the most used English letter by far, at almost 13%. That's almost as much as the spacebar. It needs to be on a strong finger. The pinky is the weakest finger and on the right side it is already overtaxed from Ctrl, Shift, and Enter.
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Pro
Good for vim users
Qwpr is pretty close to QWERTY, and even the HJKL keys are in the same left-to-right order (though on different rows). Alternatively, the AltGr plane also has arrow keys in a sensible position under the right hand.
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Con
P and E change fingers from QWERTY
Which makes it harder than necessary to learn from QWERTY. (And makes no sense. 'E' was arguably better in its QWERTY position on a strong finger.) This is due to using the flawed Carpalx effort model.
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Pro
Common shortcuts don't move
A, Z, X, C, and V are in the same positions as QWERTY and Colemak.
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Pro
As easy as Dvorak
It's 32% easier than QWERTY by the Carpalx metric, which is slightly better than Dvorak's 30%. This is probably within Carpalx's margin of error though.
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Pro
Alternate plane with CapsLock key
CapsLock is pretty useless for most people, but qwpr layout uses it to shift to another plane with easy access to punctuation and arrow keys. This is especially useful for programmers.
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Pro
Minimal retraining from QWERTY
11 keys move, but except for P and E, they don't change fingers.
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5
1
Carpalx QGMLWB
All
12
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
6
Specs
Top
Con
Effort model is speculative
The quantitative effort model central to the optimization is based on armchair speculation, rather than a scientific biomedical study. The chosen metrics and weighting for them are likely partially correct. But no-one is really sure how correct.
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Pro
Punctuation is in the same location as QWERTY
If you already know QWERTY you don't have to relearn the punctuation, with the single exception of the ;: key which is in QWERTY's P position, like Colemak.
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Con
Doesn't take finger length into account
Unlike layouts such as norman and workman, QGMLWB doesn't take the length of fingers into account, for example on a standard QWERTY layout, it's easier to reach E than C.
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Pro
ZXC don't move compared to QWERTY
Like Colemak, the common undo, cut and copy Ctrl-commands don't move from their QWERTY positions. The V (paste) key does though.
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Con
Punctuation is not optimized
Programmers have to use punctuation a lot, but (except for the ;: key, like Colemak) punctuation hasn't been moved from their positions on QWERTY. In fact, the non-letter characters , . - " _ ' ) ( ; 0 1 = 2 : are used more than the least-frequent letter z in a reasonable English corpus. Not optimizing punctuation at all, especially for programmers, is nonsense.
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Pro
Uses a colemak-like character layout
Uses the colemak character layout of moving P on a standard QWERTY keyboard layout one step down, extending the home row.
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Con
V key has moved compared to QWERTY
The common paste shortcut used in for example windows has been moved to the right hand, making the layout harder to learn. This however is fixed in the QGMLWY variant of the carpalx series.
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Pro
Has low consecutive finger use
See the source here.
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Con
A very small user base and community
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Pro
Letter positions optimized
Via a quantitative effort model.
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Con
Doesn't favor the right hand
For right handed users, this keyboard layout doesn't use the usually stronger right hand more than the left, infact it sometimes favors the left hand more.
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Specs
Right Middle Finger Travel:
6.9%
Right Index Finger Usage:
17.4%
Consecutive Same-Hand Keystrokes (L/R):
47.4%/52.6%
Right Ring Finger Usage:
7.0%
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9
2
AZERTY
All
4
Experiences
Pros
2
Cons
2
Top
Con
Bad for programming
But you get used to it... :-) Characters very common in programming languages, like [] {} ~#|`@ are reachable only via the infamous AltGr key on Windows computers (and perhaps Linux ones; not sure for Macs). With practice, you type them without thinking, but it is still a rather impractical gymnastics.
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Pro
Nearly unavoidable for French people
Most of us learned to type with this kind of keyboard, switching can be hard, and impractical to type French.
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Con
CTRL + / is only accessible by numpad
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Pro
HJKL intact for vim
Vim programmers are going to want their navigation keys to relate to each other in a sensible fashion. QWERTY and azerty seem to be the only games in town for this
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QWERTY
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9
Experiences
Pros
4
Cons
4
Specs
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Pro
Popular
You don't have to carry your own keyboard everywhere, QWERTY is pretty popular.
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Con
Not an easy to gain speed on QWERTY
Learning to touch type using traditional touch typing methods, you would not be as fast as others on Dvorak and you would be making quite a few mistakes. The reasons that most of record holders have placing in typing speeds is because they do not use traditional typing methods.
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Pro
Default keyboard shortcuts
The keyboard shortcuts for most applications were designed with QWERTY in mind.
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Con
Made for typewriters, not computers
It was created before computers got popular. This layout was created for typing machines, so as to prevent collision between character hammers from slowing down the typist.
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Pro
Good for Vim users
Vim is most natural in QWERTY, since this is the layout it was designed on. Learning a good editor will help with your programming a lot more than learning a new layout.
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Con
Very unintuitive
Why QWERTY?
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Pro
Easy access to important keys
Some of the most used keys in programming such as ; . / " | ' < > * are very easily accessible because they either have their own keys or are "shift options". People who grew up using alternative layouts, such as Belgian AZERTY, know from experience this shouldn't be taken for granted.
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Con
Correct typographic letters and symbols not easily reachable
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Specs
Right Little Finger Travel:
3.5%
Left Little Finger Travel:
0.4%
Left Middle Finger Travel:
22.0%
Right Middle Finger Usage:
6.2%
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Experiences
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