Here’s the Deal

Carpalx QGMLWB vs Colemak Mod-DH

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When comparing Carpalx QGMLWB vs Colemak Mod-DH, the Slant community recommends Colemak Mod-DH for most people. In the question“What are the best keyboard layouts for programming?” Colemak Mod-DH is ranked 3rd while Carpalx QGMLWB is ranked 10th. The most important reason people chose Colemak Mod-DH is:

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.

Specs

Bottom Row Key Freq.7.9%

Consecutive Same-Hand Keystrokes (L/R)47.4%/52.6%

Home Row Key Freq.59.8%

Left Index Finger Travel35.6%

Left Index Finger Usage19.5%

Left Little Finger Travel0.6%

Left Little Finger Usage3.9%

Left Middle Finger Travel15.6%

Left Middle Finger Usage12.2%

Left Ring Finger Travel6.0%

Left Ring Finger Usage7.7%

Right Index Finger Travel31.5%

Right Index Finger Usage17.4%

Right Little Finger Travel0.9%

Right Little Finger Usage3.0%

Right Middle Finger Travel6.9%

Right Middle Finger Usage14.0%

Right Ring Finger Travel2.9%

Right Ring Finger Usage7.0%

Spacebar Row Key Freq.15.3%

Thumb Usage15.3%

Top Row Key Freq.17.0%

Bottom Row Key Freq.13.5%

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

Home Row Key Freq.56.0%

Left Index Finger Travel34.3%

Left Index Finger Usage16.8%

Left Little Finger Travel0.9%

Left Little Finger Usage6.4%

Left Middle Finger Travel14.5%

Left Middle Finger Usage10.1%

Left Ring Finger Travel5.1%

Left Ring Finger Usage7.8%

Right Index Finger Travel31.4%

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.15.2%

Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking

Common Questions

What are the best keyboard layouts for programming?

Carpalx QGMLWB

Colemak Mod-DH

Pros

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.

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.

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.

Pro
Has low consecutive finger use

See the source here.

Pro
Letter positions optimized

Via a quantitative effort model.

Pro
Much less lateral hand movement compared with regular Colemak

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).

Pro
'HE' easier to type compared with regular Colemak

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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Cons

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.

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.

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.

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.

Con
A very small user base and community

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.