Philosophical Multicore

Sometimes controversial, sometimes fallacious, sometimes thought-provoking, and always fun.

Rate These Keyboard Layouts


I am looking for some user input on how good you think each of these keyboard layouts is. Please rate each layout based on the amount of effort you think it takes to type. If you want to know letter frequency, you can find it here. See here, here, here or here for some ideas on what makes a good keyboard layout.

You do not have to answer every question. Any answers are appreciated. Please do not answer any questions more than once. And, of course, feel free to leave comments.

EDIT 8/1/09: I added Phynnboi’s layout at the bottom.

First, take this preliminary poll:

The first layout is the Dvorak layout, which looks like this:

' , . P Y F G C R L
A O E U I D H T N S
; Q J K X B M W V Z

Next is Colemak:

Q W F P G J L U Y ;
A R S T D H N E I O
Z X C V B K M , . /

Capewell Layout:

. Y W D F J P L U Q
A E R S G B T N I O
X Z C V ; K W H , '

Arensito:

Q L , P F U D K
A R E N B G S I T O
Z W H J V C Y M X

There are some unfilled spaces; see here for details.

MTGAP’s Layout 2.0 a.k.a. Oantseri:

, F H D K J C U L .
O A N T G M S E R I
Q X B P Z Y W ' V ;

Klausler’s Evolved Layout:

K , U Y P W L M F C
O A E I D R N T H S
Q . ' ; Z X V G B J

Carpalx Layout:

Q Y L D G B M U W J
R I T O S H A E N ;
X K C V Z P F , . /

Phynnboi’s Layout:

Q Y . ; , J C L F X
H O E A U G T S N R
P / K I Z W D M V B

14 Responses to “Rate These Keyboard Layouts”

  1. phynnboi said

    I don’t really feel like taking that many polls, so here’s an ordering according to my program, from best to worst:

    (0.28) Klausler
    (0.29) Dvorak
    (0.38) Carpalx
    (0.41) Colemak
    (0.59) MTGAP
    (0.72) Arensito
    (0.74) Capewell
    (1.35) Qwerty

    The number is the overall evaluation of the layout. (My best layout scores 0.05.)

  2. phynnboi said

    Ah, alright.

  3. To me QWERTY is good enough, but please, no CAPS LOCK button!

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    Moderator’s Note: This is spam, but it’s the most entertaining spam I’ve seen in a while. I let it through, but I changed the web address of the link so that no one will be able to find the spammer’s website.

  5. Mean scores, as of March 22 ’10:

    Colemak : 14+16+18 / 6 = 8.0
    Dvorak : 5+18+21+18 / 9 = 6.9
    Klausler: 6+14 / 3 = 6.7
    Phynnboi: 4+9 / 2 = 6.5
    Capewell: 4+6+8 / 3 = 6.0
    Arensito: 4+6+14 / 4 = 6.0
    Carpalx : 5+6+7 / 3 = 6.0
    MTGAP : 0+5+6+9 / 4 = 5.0

  6. Michael Chambers said

    I’ve been using a modified arensito for 3-4 years now and am very comfortable with it. I use the Kinesis keyboard, and modified the layout to be more useful for my java web developer work. I have to type query and ; a lot. I use Alt-GR for special characters I use all the time in coding.

    qu;p,/fldk\
    arenbgsito’
    zw.hjvcymx=

    QU:PHJVCYMX+

    Alt-GR: – Mostly I just use the home row with :( ) and jsp tags, plus braces, brackets, and !-
    ¶†‡¦•°…
    ~@{}§/*!-#¾
    _:()$ ½
    «»[]¢Ø&|±÷¼

    • Michael Chambers said

      I’ve been using a modified arensito for 3-4 years now and am very comfortable with it. I use the Kinesis keyboard, and modified the layout to be more useful for my java web developer work. I have to type query and ; a lot. I use Alt-GR for special characters I use all the time in coding. I have angle brackets (removed in order to post) in the right hand home row, to make jsp scriplet syntax.

      qu;p,/fldk\
      arenbgsito’
      zw.hjvcymx=

      QU:P ?FLDK|
      ARENBGSITO”
      ZW HJVCYMX+

      Alt-GR: – Mostly I just use the home row with :( ) and jsp tags (removed), plus braces, brackets, and !-
      ¶†‡¦•°…
      ~@{}§/*!-#¾
      _:()$ %= ½
      «»[]¢Ø&|±÷¼

  7. I’ve been a Dvorak typist for several years but still think the basic human factors of the keyboard are obsolete, especially now that mobile is becoming so dominant. My human factors beef has been the way our bodies have to report to the economics of keyboard production rather than the other way around. I am launching into a project to make a wearable keyboard for use with a head mounted display. I could use some feedback on this, if anyone would care to pop over to http://solatido.com/ (this started as a musical keyboard instruction project). This is a conceptual design and will need further human factors work to add the contours necessary for proper ergonomics Regardless of layout (I hope to make it fully flexible and hackable) the objective is to make it possible to be simultaneously mobile and productive. The ability to allow the thumbs to do some more of the Alt-Shift-Ctrl-Mouse work instead of just the space bar may allow for more efficiency in coding, CAD, graphics, music, etc. Keyboard layouts may become user specific, not only for various languages, but for the most common tasks performed by the user, since writing a novel is very different from writing code. If you want to see a goofy picture of me wearing a pendant that I made out of Kinesis Advantage keyboard innards and a link of motorcycle chain, see http://cacm.acm.org/careers/115013-recruiters-outnumber-job-seekers-at-hacker-fair/fulltext . The reaction I’m getting is 10% love it, 10% hate it, and the rest think it will take a long time to catch on since it’s weird and makes them look like the Borg. I am always astounded, (especially in the events held by the hacker community in Silicon Valley) that so many people are unaware that there is any option to the QWERTY keyboard. Anyhow, beat this up all you want. I’m sure I have many iterations to build. Tom Sherlock

    • Hi Tom,

      That idea looks very promising. I like the idea of wearing a full keyboard around the neck, although the display looks very small so I’m not sure how that works.

      The major issue I see here is that a keyboard is heavy and bulky, even when worn around the neck, and there doesn’t seem to be much demand for mobile typing. I do most of my typing while stationary. The only time I type on my iPhone is for texting or Google searches. When I am blogging, programming, writing email, etc., I am sitting with my computer in one place. But having a full keyboard would certainly speed up the typing I do do on my iPhone, and would possibly allow for movement towards more typing-heavy mobile platforms.

      Thanks for sharing!

      P. S. The resemblance to the Borg is uncanny.

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