I’ve used QWERTY keyboards when I first got started with computers, then I switched to Dvorak for a good 2-3 years. And now I’ve been using Colemak for 9 months.

Dvorak and Colemak have both been great. But there is only one real question and issue I’m struggling to understand when it comes to being a better typist.

When typing, how beneficial is it to have each keystroke performed by alternating hands?

One online typing analyzer tool describes it as such

% keys typed with the same hand as the previous key (ex: in Qwerty sd or ss are included, but s s is not since you type the space with the other hand)

I’ve found sometimes that while Colemak has some real nice benefits to it, that the amount of time I’m typing sequences of letters all typed using the same hand is much higher than Dvorak. While the layout might use the homerow more often and have the least amount of total distance or effort measured, it sort of breaks the barrier between what the numbers show as more effective and what actually works best for people.

Remember sequences of letters for each hand for different words is a much more complex challenge rather than knowing the keyboard position of keys and knowing which ones to alternate between as you move back and forth from left-right-left-right.

I’m stil struggling to understand if this is a solo issue I’m having or if other people have asked the same questions before. Any insights on what actually works better would be appreciated!

PS. If you are still using QWERTY, then you are really doing yourself a disservice! Change your keyboard already!