SpeedSolving Puzzles Community

How long it takes you to catch up with your old times is hard to say, but unless you already type very fast, I would guess a few weeks. Let me know in June how you're doing.

I'm not the best to ask for Lniux advice, as I use Ubuntu for convenience, and don't really know what I'm doing.

And yes, the character limit is ludicrously low and very annoying.

Oh, I forgot to answer your actual question. If I were you, I would stick with QWERTY, to be honest. It's cool to know extra keyboard layouts and be non-mainstream and all, but as I said, I've used Dvorak for 15 years and it can be rather impractical sometimes.

Response to post 1: I love that analogy.
Response to post 2-5: Honestly, I know this, but it's nice to have a reminder. I'll try and follow the advice after I'm done setting up arch. (So forever)

Response to post 7: I'd like to ask: as you outlined in your original post, you advised again Dvorak, (and I'm assuming to an extent colemak) but that was if you learn it for speed, but you said that for ergonomics,

it was a little more useful, so for someone who spends time on their laptop for at least ~6 hours, (and thats at 12yrs) do you think that ergonomics boost is useful? (I also believe I might end up with a job as a programmer or something like that, so thats alot of typing)

I think that's hard to say. I like typing on Dvorak more than Qwerty; like I said, it just feels nice. What I can say, though, is that if you think this seems interesting, go for it! It's a fun experience and people will think you're a little bit crazy (which is not necessarily a bad thing).

You can also maintain the ability to type with more than one layout at the same time, so it's not like it's impossible to type on someone else's computer. I strongly suggest you only do Dvorak (or whatever new layout you choose) when you first learn it, though.

Your point about mainly using a laptop is valid, however. I use my own computer(s) 99.9% of the time, after all. Also, US Dvorak is standard on most operating systems, so you can switch to it without installing stuff on other people's computers. Not sure about other layouts, though!

I think I'm going to first try and learn how to type correctly, then possibly move onto keyboard layouts and what-not for ergonomics and comfortability.

Benchmark from MonkeyType in wpm: 70 +/- 5, on 100 accuracy ~80; Average Accuracy: low 90s.

Ok, that sounds good! I think that what you're already doing is good, i.e. focus on both accuracy and speed, but not necessarily at the same time. I haven't studied this carefully, but I think most people who type extremely fast stress the importance of building accuracy before speed. Let's see where you're at in a month!

Forgot to mention but the benchmark is from my messed up typing.

Yeah, that's good! Now just try to type correctly and let's see how long it takes you to beat your benchmark. It will of course depend on how you practise, but I'm going to guess 2-4 weeks.

Happy Pride month!

I've primarily got bad news, that being I mostly forgot, I rarely did normal typing.

But the fact it is June reminded me, so from now on I'm going to try to only type normally. (I wrote this painfully slow, and I also struggle with the p.)

Everything is a struggle in the beginning! Good luck! Let's see how you're doing when July comes around.

Also, my WPM using homerow using MonkeyType is ~20, and I don't see why use pinky for shift, so I'm using my left thumb instead.

Wait, what? Shift with your thumb? How do you even do that? Or did you mean something else? I mean, the shift key is 1 cm from the pinky, but unless you have opposable thumbs or something, the thumb is ten times further away! This is exactly the kind of behaviour that will slow you down in the long run.

I just find it weird to either press shift with your nail or rotate your hand, and pinky is used for pressing letters. Also when I press shift with my pinky (using the nail, since I don't want to rotate my hand) it feels loose.

and one last thing: is it natural to use right pointer for M then use left pointer for Y? (Eg while writing "my")

What I had to do was move you wrist back a tiny bit..

You decide how you want to type, but this sounds like something that could be a major hurdle further down the line. Since you're fixing your typing in general, I would just say relearn everything, Including this. It will feel awkward, but not for very long!