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Colemak Mod-DH vs Arensito

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When comparing Colemak Mod-DH vs Arensito, 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 Arensito is ranked 11th. 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.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%

Bottom Row Key Freq.15.4%

Consecutive Same-Hand Keystrokes (L/R)50.2%/49.8%

Home Row Key Freq.12.9%

Left Index Finger Travel20.5%

Left Index Finger Usage12.0%

Left Little Finger Travel1.1%

Left Little Finger Usage6.5%

Left Middle Finger Travel0.2%

Left Middle Finger Usage11.4%

Left Ring Finger Travel18.4%

Left Ring Finger Usage12.1%

Right Index Finger Travel23.7%

Right Index Finger Usage13.2%

Right Little Finger Travel2.6%

Right Little Finger Usage6.7%

Right Middle Finger Travel13.7%

Right Middle Finger Usage9.9%

Right Ring Finger Travel19.5%

Right Ring Finger Usage12.9%

Spacebar Row Key Freq.0.0%

Thumb Usage15.4%

Top Row Key Freq.56.6%

Number Row Key Freq.15.2%

Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking

Common Questions

What are the best keyboard layouts for programming?

Colemak Mod-DH

Arensito

Pros

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.

Pro
Reduces load on pinkies

Pro
Emphasizes adjacent finger bigrams

Common bigrams are a fast rolling motion, like Colemak.

Pro
Minimizes same-finger bigrams

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.

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.

Pro
Balances load between hands

Statistically, the left and right hand are used about the same amount.

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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Cons

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.

Con
Index fingers jump rows more often

Con
More optimized for ISO and ortholinear style keyboards, not ANSI

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.

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.

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.