I’m a keyboard guy, we all know this about me. During my time as a “keyboard guy” I’ve tried out several different layouts. Everyone uses qwerty, but there are benefits to some of the other, less popular layouts. I’ve tried Colmak (dh and regular) and Dvorak. I’ve always failed at this transition. I can write about 100WPM on qwerty, depending on how bad my dyslexia is handling the day, but that drops to the low 20s on other layouts. Now, as with anything, the way to improve is to practice. But I’m not good at sticking with things when it impacts using my computer. And switching layouts does that because all of my keybindings for my text editor, my window manager, and many other things are all done with the expectation that I’m using qwerty.

When my layout changes, those keybindings are all over the place, and that makes everything slower, not just typing. I can’t seem to get around that hurdle, so I always fail whenever I change to a new layout. I last a few days, get frustrated, and revert back to faithful qwerty.

I’ve had the itch to try again lately. I really like Dvorak. All of the keys you use most are on or very close the home row, and when I’ve tried Dvorak in the past, I’ve found that it is very comfy to type on. I’ve never taken the time to actually redo my keybindings, though, so I’ve never really stuck around long enough to get good at Dvorak. And, despite my interest in doing so, I’m not sure if this time would be any different.

Why am I even considering it? I’ve developed some really bad habits with qwerty, like not capitalizing the letter ‘i’ or adding in double spaces, and I can’t seem to train myself out of those habits. I do not know if switching and training on Dvorak or Colemak would fix those habits or not, but it feels like it would. When you learn a new layout, you start from scratch. It also better teaches you to touch type if you don’t already. I do my own variation on touch typing on qwerty. I use eight fingers instead of 10, but it’s mostly how it should be. I would probably end up doing something similar on Dvorak as my pinkies aren’t usually something that I’m comfortable typing with. Pansy ass pinkies.

The question is, can I do this and actually be successful? If I’m going to do it, I’m going to have to change bindings in Emacs and Hyprland for sure and probably in many other places as well. That will be a pain in the ass, for true, but it would be worse if I end up failing and have to switch everything back.

I’m still thinking about this. For those of you who use alt. layouts, what are your thoughts?