(a lil weekend distraction from comp lang!) in recent years, there came this Colemak layout. The guy who created it, Colemak, has a site, and aggressively market his layout. It's in linuxes distro by default, and has become somewhat popular.
I remember first discovering it perhaps in 2007. Me, being a Dvorak typist since 1994, am curious on what he has to say about comparison. I recall, i was offended seeing how he paints a bias in peddling his creation. So, here, let me repaint his bias. Here it is, and judge for yourself. 〈Keyboard Layout: Dvorak vs Colemak: is it Worthwhile to Improve the Dvorak Layout?〉 http://xahlee.org/kbd/dvorak_vs_colemak.html here's a interesting excerpt: -------------------------------------------- Just How Much Do You Type? Many programers all claim to type 8 or 10 hours a day. They may be sitting in front of the computer all day, but the time their fingers actually dance on keyboard is probably less than 1 hour per day. Contrast data-entry clerks. They are the real typists. Their fingers actually type, continuously, for perhaps 6 hours per day. It is important get a sense of how much you actually type. This you can do by logging you keystrokes using a software. Let's assume a pro typist sustain at 60 wpm. 60 wpm is 300 strokes per min, or 18k per hour. Suppose she works 8 hours a day, and assume just 3 hours actually typing. 18k × 3 = 54k chars per day. With this figure, you can get a sense of how many “hours” you actually type per day. I sit in front of computer on average 13 hours per day for the past several years. I program and write several blogs. My actual typing is probably double or triple of average day-job programers. From my emacs command frequency log for 6 months in 2008, it seems i only type 17k strokes per day. That's 31% of the data-entry clerk scenario above. Or, i only type ONE hour a day! I was quite surprised how low my own figure is. But thinking about it… it make sense. Even we sit in front of computer all day, but the actual typing is probably some miniscule percentage of that. Most of the time, you have to chat, lunch, run errands, browse web, read docs, run to the bathroom. Perhaps only half of your work time is active coding or writing (emails; docs). Of that duration, perhaps majority of time you are digesting the info on screen. Your whole day's typing probably can be done in less than 20 minutes if you just type continuously. If your typing doesn't come anywhere close to a data-entry clerk, then any layout “more efficient” than Dvorak is practically meaningless. Xah -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list