Colemak is a keyboard layout for Latin-script alphabets, designed to make typing more efficient and comfortable than QWERTY by placing the most frequently used letters of the English language on the home row while keeping many common keyboard shortcuts the same as in QWERTY. [1] Released on 1 January 2006, it is named after its inventor, Shai Coleman. [2]
Most major modern operating systems such as macOS, Linux, Android, ChromeOS, and BSD support Colemak natively. Microsoft Windows supports Colemak as of Windows 11 update 24H2. [3] A program to install the layout on older versions of Windows is available. [4] On Android and iOS, the layout is offered by several virtual keyboard apps like GBoard and SwiftKey, [5] as well as by many apps which support physical keyboards directly. [6] [7]
The Colemak layout was designed with the QWERTY layout as a base, changing the positions of 17 keys while retaining the QWERTY positions of most non-alphabetic characters and many popular keyboard shortcuts, supposedly making it easier to learn than the Dvorak layout for people who already type in QWERTY without losing efficiency. It shares several design goals with the Dvorak layout, such as minimizing finger path distance and making heavy use of the home row. [8] 74% of typing is done on the home row compared to 70% for Dvorak and 32% for QWERTY. [9] The default Colemak layout lacks a Caps Lock key; an additional Backspace key occupies the typical position of Caps Lock on modern keyboards. [1]
Coleman states that he designed Colemak to be fun and easy to learn, explaining that Dvorak is hard for QWERTY typists to learn due to it being so different from the QWERTY layout. [10] The layout has attracted media attention as an alternative to Dvorak for improving typing speed and comfort with an alternate keyboard layout. [9] [11] [12] [13]
A series of intermediate layouts known as Tarmak have been created with the intention of making it easier for new users to adopt the layout. [12] The layouts change only 3–5 keys at a time in a series of 5 steps. [14]
Colemak has been criticised for placing too much emphasis on the middle-row center-column keys (D and H), leading to awkward lateral finger stretches for common English bigrams such as HE. To address these concerns, the Colemak user community developed a modified version of Colemak named Colemak-DH. [15]
The Colemak community has created several other modifications and variants; some of these are not directly related to Colemak but would work on other layouts as well. [16]
QWERTY is a keyboard layout for Latin-script alphabets. The name comes from the order of the first six keys on the top letter row of the keyboard: QWERTY. The QWERTY design is based on a layout included in the Sholes and Glidden typewriter sold via E. Remington and Sons from 1874. QWERTY became popular with the success of the Remington No. 2 of 1878 and remains in ubiquitous use.
The QWERTZ or QWERTZU, QWERTZUIOP keyboard is a typewriter and keyboard layout widely used in Central and Southeast Europe. The name comes from the first six letters at the top left of the keyboard:.
AZERTY is a specific layout for the characters of the Latin alphabet on typewriter keys and computer keyboards. The layout takes its name from the first six letters to appear on the first row of alphabetical keys; that is,. Similar to the QWERTZ layout, it is modelled on the English QWERTY layout. It is used in France and Belgium, although each of these countries has its own national variation on the layout. Luxembourg and Switzerland use the Swiss QWERTZ keyboard. Most residents of Quebec, the mainly French-speaking province of Canada, use a QWERTY keyboard that has been adapted to the French language such as the Multilingual Standard keyboard CAN/CSA Z243.200-92 which is stipulated by the government of Quebec and the Government of Canada.
Touch typing is a style of typing. Although the phrase refers to typing without using the sense of sight to find the keys—specifically, a touch typist will know their location on the keyboard through muscle memory—the term is often used to refer to a specific form of touch typing that involves placing the eight fingers in a horizontal row along the middle of the keyboard and having them reach for specific other keys. Both two-handed touch typing and one-handed touch typing are possible.
Typing is the process of writing or inputting text by pressing keys on a typewriter, computer keyboard, mobile phone, or calculator. It can be distinguished from other means of text input, such as handwriting and speech recognition. Text can be in the form of letters, numbers and other symbols. The world's first typist was Lillian Sholes from Wisconsin in the United States, the daughter of Christopher Sholes, who invented the first practical typewriter.
The PLUM keyboard is a keyboard layout which differs from the traditional QWERTY keyboard in both physical key layout and letter arrangement. Unlike most keyboards, the PLUM keyboard organizes keys in a square grid, as opposed to the staggered rows of a typewriter. Though the Plum Keyboard is currently off-line, it is still being promoted.
A Hebrew keyboard comes in two different keyboard layouts. Most Hebrew keyboards are bilingual, with Latin characters, usually in a US Qwerty layout. Trilingual keyboard options also exist, with the third script being Arabic or Russian, due to the sizable Arabic- and Russian-speaking populations in Israel.
FITALY is a keyboard layout specifically optimized for stylus or touch-based input. The design places the most common letters closest to the centre to minimize distance travelled while entering a word. The name, FITALY, is derived from the letters occupying the second row in the layout.
Dvorak is a keyboard layout for English patented in 1936 by August Dvorak and his brother-in-law, William Dealey, as a faster and more ergonomic alternative to the QWERTY layout. Dvorak proponents claim that it requires less finger motion and as a result reduces errors, increases typing speed, reduces repetitive strain injuries, or is simply more comfortable than QWERTY.
A keyboard layout is any specific physical, visual, or functional arrangement of the keys, legends, or key-meaning associations (respectively) of a computer keyboard, mobile phone, or other computer-controlled typographic keyboard.
The Georgian keyboard includes several keyboard layouts for Georgian script.
The Neo layout is an optimized German keyboard layout developed in 2004 by the Neo Users Group, supporting nearly all Latin-based alphabets, including the International Phonetic Alphabet, the Vietnamese language, and some Cyrillic alphabets.
Microsoft SwiftKey is a virtual keyboard app originally developed by TouchType for Android and iOS devices. It was first released for Android in July 2010, followed by an iOS release in September 2014 after Apple's implementation of third-party keyboard support.
The current Romanian National Standard SR 13392:2004 establishes two layouts for Romanian keyboards: a "primary" one and a "secondary" one.
Fleksy is a third-party, proprietary virtual keyboard app for Android and iOS devices. It attempts to improve traditional typing speed and accuracy through enhanced auto-correction and gesture controls. Fleksy uses error-correcting algorithms that analyze the region where the user touches the keyboard and feeds this through a language model, which calculates and identifies the intended word. Swiping gestures are used to control common functions, such as space, delete, and word correction.
A keysmash is internet slang for the typing out of a random sequence of letters on a computer keyboard or touchscreen, often to express intense emotion. Gaining popularity since 2019, the term is often used to convey intense or indescribable emotions, and it can also be used as an expression of laughter.
EurKEY is a multilingual keyboard layout which is intended for Europeans, programmers and translators and was developed by Steffen Brüntjen and published under the GPL free software license. It is available for common desktop operating systems such as Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
There are a number of methods to input Esperanto letters and text on a computer, e.g. when using a word processor or email. Input methods depend on a computer's operating system. Specifically the characters ĵ, ĝ, ĉ, ĥ, ŭ, ŝ can be problematic.
Added the Colemak keyboard layout.
ergonomic, fast and easy to learn QWERTY/Dvorak alternative
Supported layouts include [...] Colemak
Adds a few choices to the list of layouts to use when a physical keyboard is connected e.g. via OTG or Bluetooth.
Colemak Mod-DH layouts for a physical keyboard connected to an Android device via USB or Bluetooth