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Norman vs Colemak Mod-DH

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When comparing Norman 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 Norman is ranked 8th. 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.10.3%

Consecutive Same-Hand Keystrokes (L/R)54.3%/45.7%

Home Row Key Freq.53.7%

Left Index Finger Travel20.6%

Left Index Finger Usage13.1%

Left Little Finger Travel0.8%

Left Little Finger Usage6.4%

Left Middle Finger Travel19.6%

Left Middle Finger Usage18.2%

Left Ring Finger Travel4.6%

Left Ring Finger Usage7.1%

Right Index Finger Travel25.2%

Right Index Finger Usage14.8%

Right Little Finger Travel0.7%

Right Little Finger Usage3.0%

Right Middle Finger Travel17.2%

Right Middle Finger Usage11.8%

Right Ring Finger Travel11.2%

Right Ring Finger Usage10.4%

Spacebar Row Key Freq.15.3%

Thumb Usage15.3%

Top Row Key Freq.20.8%

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?

Norman

Colemak Mod-DH

Pros

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.

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.

Pro
Feels fast and comfy

Pro
Focuses on the keys easiest to reach for the human hand

Like Workman, Norman takes human anatomy into account.

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.

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.

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
Bad on SFBs

Lots of same finger bigrams (when 2 keys are hit simultaneously by one finger like the qwerty "ed".

Con
A very small user base and community

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.

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.

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.