Shortly after WooThemes was acquired by Automattic, we went on “Grand Meetup”, the annual company-wide in-person meeting. There, I heard Matt talk about “Dvorak” for the first time: an alternative keyboard layout that was designed for both speed and comfort of writing.

Rubber keyboard layovers were up for grabs and I tested it for a few weeks, much to my frustration—I switched back to QWERTY. When I in autumn of 2022 (April in South Africa) started using the ZSA Moonlander, I thought this was the best time to test out alternative keyboards again. This time I approached it more intentional. I also opted for Colemak, a keyboard layout which is closer to QWERTY’s layout but still has the same benefits.

Why are we using QWERTY?

The QWERTY keyboard layout has been the standard for English typing since its creation in the 19th century. It was developed by Christopher Latham Sholes for use in the first commercial typewriter. One of the main reasons for its widespread adoption was its ability to reduce the likelihood of jamming in early mechanical typewriters. By placing commonly paired letters further apart, it minimized the chances of two type bars colliding, in doing so improving efficiency at the time.

Mind you that the way to improve efficiency was to put common letters further apart, not closer. So, QWERTY was developed for a different purpose that is no longer relevant on desktop. Hence, wanting to change it.

How did I approach it?

I was travelling during the first weeks of changing to Colemak, and I only used my Moonlander for practice sessions provided via keybr.com. I did about 10–20 minutes per day, as breaks during work hours. For my actual work, I just used the built-in MacBook keyboard.

I practised for about 8 weeks, and then I switched over entirely. This went a bit slower at first, in part because I was as well now fully getting used to the Moonlander, but all in all, it was a pretty painless process.

Did it help?

My main purpose was not to speed up. I’m an average typer at about 60 wpm and I didn’t notice a significant change. That’s okay for me. I didn’t want to slow down, but I’m also fine with not going faster.

The main thing I wanted to get out of it was to get more comfortable. I had switched to a Wacom about 15 years ago for my wrist, and both the Moonlander and Colemak fitted in this purpose as well. This was successful. I need to lift my fingers less often, and when I need to, the number of weird positions is very limited.

How’s it going?

Good, I now type full-time in Colemak. When I’m travelling with just my laptop that means I need to have Colemak as the layout even when the keys say different things. Mostly, this is not an issue at all, but there are two exceptions: for typing passwords and for keyboard shortcuts, I notice that I have muscle-memory, even after using Colemak for about 18 months.

While on keyboards you want less travel time for your fingers, the opposite happens for your phone: especially with swiping and predictive text, you want to have more space when typing words. So I decided to keep my phone on QWERTY. This hasn’t been an issue whatsoever. I can use both layouts for different purposes effortlessly.

Would I recommend it?

It depends. If like me, you’re spending the majority of your time behind your own computer, and you can keep your own settings—you’re not sharing a home or work computer, then I would consider it. The position and movement of my fingers feels more natural.

If that is not the case, I think sticking with QWERTY is probably the safest bet.

Another added benefit, which my colleague Hannah pointed out, is that there’s an added level of security that comes with using an alternative layout. When I’m typing on my laptop, which has the QWERTY keys, but the Colemak layout selected, you can’t easily try to look at my typing.