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Dvorak Simplified Keyboard vs Colemak

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When comparing Dvorak Simplified Keyboard vs Colemak, the Slant community recommends Colemak for most people. In the question“What are the best keyboard layouts for programming?” Colemak is ranked 1st while Dvorak Simplified Keyboard is ranked 6th.

Specs

Bottom Row Key Freq.7.3%

Consecutive Same-Hand Keystrokes (L/R)36.7%/63.3%

Home Row Key Freq.56.0%

Left Index Finger Travel26.8%

Left Index Finger Usage12.8%

Left Little Finger Travel0.7%

Left Little Finger Usage6.4%

Left Middle Finger Travel0.4%

Left Middle Finger Usage11.5%

Left Ring Finger Travel0.3%

Left Ring Finger Usage6.1%

Right Index Finger Travel30.1%

Right Index Finger Usage13.8%

Right Little Finger Travel10.7%

Right Little Finger Usage9.9%

Right Middle Finger Travel12.1%

Right Middle Finger Usage11.2%

Right Ring Finger Travel18.8%

Right Ring Finger Usage13.0%

Spacebar Row Key Freq.15.3%

Thumb Usage15.3%

Top Row Key Freq.21.4%

Bottom Row Key Freq.8.8%

Consecutive Same-Hand Keystrokes (L/R)40.2%/59.8%

Home Row Key Freq.59.8%

Left Index Finger Travel34.4%

Left Index Finger Usage16.8%

Left Little Finger Travel0.9%

Left Little Finger Usage6.4%

Left Middle Finger Travel14.6%

Left Middle Finger Usage10.1%

Left Ring Finger Travel5.1%

Left Ring Finger Usage7.8%

Right Index Finger Travel31.0%

Right Index Finger Usage16.2%

Right Little Finger Travel0.7%

Right Little Finger Usage6.2%

Right Middle Finger Travel7.8%

Right Middle Finger Usage14.0%

Right Ring Finger Travel5.4%

Right Ring Finger Usage7.4%

Spacebar Row Key Freq.15.3%

Thumb Usage15.3%

Top Row Key Freq.16.1%

Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking

Common Questions

What are the best keyboard layouts for programming?

Dvorak Simplified Keyboard

Colemak

Pros

Pro
More ergonomic

Designed with comfort in mind.

Pro
Standard on all operating systems

You can find this layout on all operating systems.

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.

Pro
Useful keys in home row

70% of more useful keys are placed in the home row.

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.

Pro
Vowels all on one hand making it easy to teach to kids

Pro
Much more comfortable than QWERTY when touch typing

Pro
Highly ergonomic

Pro
You can type faster

Because the home row contains more high used frequency characters.

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.

Pro
Relatively quick to learn

If coming from QWERTY, only a couple of keys move between hands.

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.

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.

Pro
Possibly faster

Most people like the common home row and believes it improves speed in comparison to QWERTY.

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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Cons

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.

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?

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?

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?

Con
Not the standard keyboard layout

It will be difficult to frequently switch between computers.

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.

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.

Con
Not easy on the right pinky finger

Most useful symbols for programming are on the right pinky finger, which is not very comfortable.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.