My Typing Setup

Most people in the world type on the QWERTY layout.

I type on this layout, which is adapted from the Colemak-dh Keyboard Layout, a variant of the colemak keyboard layout that is available on most platforms.

Pasted image 20220719105011.png The tabs in the image are layers that I can switch between. For example, my symbols layer. Pasted image 20220719105045.png

The keyboard itself is the “Moonlander” by ZSA looks like. Here is what it looks like Moonlander by ZSA

I bought this as it is customizable, both

  • physically: you can hotswap the switches and rearrange the keycaps
  • software wise: you don’t need to mess around with ‘software keyboard layouts’ for every computer you go. Instead you can flash this keyboard and it will handle everything once you plug it in.
    • also, you can have multiple layers of customization other features:
  • as a split keyboard, you can move the parts around and I actually love that for my working in bed setup
  • it also allows for tilting but I don’t like how that feels, so I just use it flat

Ben Vallack has an amazing youtube series that shows off the moonlander here.

This might look a bit intimidating when you consider having to learn a new keyboard layout (when you probably already intuitively touch type on QWERTY) and then the different layer mappings. I slowly added to my moonlander layout.

When People Switch

For most people, they really don’t need to switch.

I think the solution of alternative keyboard layouts usually comes up when people start experiencing pain (RSI or just general aches when doing a lot of typing). These layouts usually aim to reduce the strain on your hand and make it possible to type faster. They do this by:

  • putting heavily used keys in easier to reach positions
  • optimize for finger rolls,
  • reduce the rate of same finger bigrams

But at that point, you might already want to reduce your typing as much as possible, so that is already a bit late to start training yourself up on another layout.

How to Learn

Tarmak-dh is a progressive keyboard layout that takes you from QWERTY to Colemak-dh.

TODO

  • typing sites (keybr and monkeytype)
  • generating different word combis for the typing software on mac
    • type out your favourite books but first need to cleanup the files

Resources

Beyond switching keyboard layouts, there are even more optimizations you could do. Here are my favourite resources