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submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by zlatiah@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

I did not realize this was a thing until I just switched to AZERTY which... despite being marketed as being "similar" to QWERTY, is still tripping me up

Edit: since this came up twice: I'm switching since I'm relocating to the French-speaking part of the world & I just happened to want to learn the language/culture, so yeah

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[-] Kennystillalive@feddit.org 6 points 6 days ago

I use QWERTZ the Swiss version. (It's not optimal as it has to accomodate 3 languages)

[-] Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago

QWERTZ with Slovene/Croatian letters

[-] Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 6 days ago

Programmer dvorak

I also taught myself Colemak and Workman, but I prefer Dvorak

[-] Kissaki@feddit.org 4 points 6 days ago

How difficult was it to learn and switch?

When I considered I ultimately didn't commit to practice - because it's so different and seemed like not worth the effort.

How do see the impact it has? It is considerably more comfortable or efficient?

[-] bipedalsheep@programming.dev 3 points 6 days ago

I switched to Colemak-dh about 2 year ago when I bought a ZSA Moonlander after getting a terrible case of rsi in my left wrist. When I type on other keyboards (which I try to avoid whenever possible) I still use qwerty. Curious thing, I write at about 70 wpm with 99% accuracy with colemak-dh on my Moonlander but I can't pass 10 wps when using colemak-dh on other keyboards, and I have no hope in hell writing with qwerty on the Moonlander at all. The motor memory is completely decoupled between the split keyboard and the non-split keyboard. Which I guess is good, since then when using someone else's keyboard I won't have issues using their keyboard.

[-] DrownedRats@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

What you just described is pretty much exactly my experience with colemak and split keebs too.

When i was learning colemak i decided to take the time to teach myself proper touch typing at the same time. Now i can only touch type colemak on a split ortho. I cant type qwerty at all on it.

[-] 18107@aussie.zone 1 points 6 days ago

Plover. I'm still not any good at it.

[-] cassowary@lemm.ee 2 points 6 days ago

I know that feeling.

[-] PonyOfWar@pawb.social 40 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

QWERTZ, which is just the standard layout for Germany. It switches out Y and Z, adds Umlauts and changes the positions of various special characters.

I'm curious, what made you switch to AZERTY?

[-] zlatiah@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago

Moving to Belgium for a new job so...

[-] reallyzen@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Belgian AZERTY has the @ on a different key than the French one. No, don't ask.

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[-] Humanius@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

AZERTY is not really about being similar to QWERTY. It's the French standard keyboard layout.
Similarly QWERTZ is the German standard keyboard layout.

Most (European?) countries use some variation of QWERTY with the symbols and special characters moved around to fit their respective languages better. Over here in the Netherlands we are a bit of an outlier in the sense that we use the US layout of QWERTY, but with additional modifier keys to make special characters available (It's called US International)

There is also niche layouts like DVORAK (optimized layout for English) and BÉPO (optimized layout for French).

What is the reason you switched to AZERTY, if I may ask? I'm quite curious.

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[-] maxprime@lemmy.ml 18 points 1 week ago

I’ve always wanted to use DVORAK but just don’t have the time to learn something so large and new (to me) at this stage of life. Gotta pick your battles.

[-] Zarxrax@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

Yeah, I remember being really interested in DVORAK when I was younger. But when it comes down to it, my typing speed is not really something that is holding back my productivity, so there is little benefit to be gained from switching.

[-] transientpunk@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 week ago

Typing speed isn't the only benefit to switching. Reduced finger and wrist movement have been a life saver for me

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[-] transientpunk@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 week ago

I use Dvorak on a 36 key Corne.

I started developing Ulnar Tunnel due to having really bad typing form from never learning the correct way to type. I was never going to unlearn the horrible (but fast) typing form that I had been using for years, so I decided to completely relearn how to type from the ground up using a different key layout on a completely different keyboard layout. It was a long and arduous process, but now my wrist pain is completely gone, and my typing speed has recovered.

[-] mac@lemm.ee 14 points 1 week ago

This Heatmap is why I made the switch to colmak-dh.

[-] Kissaki@feddit.org 4 points 6 days ago

I think I will bind E to my spacebar.

[-] mac@lemm.ee 2 points 6 days ago

Lol yeah the spacebar is so much wasted real estate. Thats why ergo mech keyboards map it to a thumb cluster.

[-] BullishUtensil@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Swedish. Of course, these all lack three letters. And I don't think this tool counts special characters?

[-] Pirata@lemm.ee 8 points 1 week ago

I think this makes sense for people who type only in English. If you type in other languages, this becomes way less relevant.

Not to mention the limitations in hardware.

[-] Ziggurat@jlai.lu 3 points 6 days ago

French has the bépo layout which applies the Dvorak methodology to French

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[-] heavydust@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 week ago

I'm French but I'm a programmer. I fully switched to standard Colemak in 6 months. There was no difference between QWERTY and AZERTY to me and I had pain in my wrists. Colemak removed that pain in a few weeks and I still get to keep the standard shortcuts (Ctrl+C/V...) because some keys stay in the same place. It's annoying sometimes when you're learning but it's definitely worth it.

[-] dandelion 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Dvorak

I actually can't type in QWERTY anymore.

[-] RichieRich@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

QWERTZ like any German. 🤷

[-] Kissaki@feddit.org 1 points 6 days ago

I thought German would be QUARZ. /s

[-] panathea 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Norman Layout

Settled on it after 2 years of Dvorak, 1 year of Colemak, and 1 month of Workman.

Though, I mainly use Plover stenography when I'm working, Norman for gaming, and Qwerty on mobile or as-needed (e.g. other people's computers or while taking notes on my iPad for D&D)

[-] rem26_art@fedia.io 9 points 1 week ago

I've been using Dvorak for maybe like 5 years now. There's like a 2 or 3 day period whenever you're learning a new keyboard layout in which you can't type at all lmao. QWERTY or Dvorak or whatever. Just takes a bit for your brain to adjust.

The interesting thing is tho, if I sit down at a computer I don't use every day and start typing, I can type QWERTY no problem, but if I ever have to type QWERTY on my personal computer (lookin at you RDP), its really hard.

I've been meaning to try out a Colemak layout, since it tries to keep a lot of the common computer shortcuts in the same place. (Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V on Dvorak are in kind of an odd place and its a pain if you ever need to use them 1 handed, like if you're holding a tablet pen)

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[-] nostradamnit@infosec.pub 9 points 1 week ago

Dvorak for more than 30 years, because at the time, it was the only reasonable alternative.

[-] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Standard US Dvorak, but with the modification of using Caps Lock as Compose key so that I can type øæåØÆÅ when I need to.

I made the switch in 2011, but I never bought into the typing-speed claim. Typing speed be damned, it's just so much more comfortable this way.

Background:
I grew up with scandinavian keyboard layout in the 90s, but then two things happened almost at the same time:

  • I fucked up my msdos config, resulting in me having to use the default US layout
  • I became interested in coding.
    It didn't take long to notice how much better US layout is once you need access to {, }, and @, so I became familiar with it. For a long time I swapped bac and forth depending on what I was doing. Then one day around the time when Walter White blew up Gustavo Fring it dawned on me out of the blue that qwerty was somewhat cumbersome, and I would most likely be using a keyboard recreationally and professionally for the rest of my life, so I might as well try to see if I could get used to something more comfortable.

Downside: Took me a while to get used to it. 6 months or so. A little more than that and my typing speed was up to what it used to be.
Upsides: More comfortable, Nobody wants to borrow my computer, and shoulder surfers have NFI what my password is based on what I'm typing.

[-] 404@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 week ago

Colemak-DH on a Corne (42, chocs).

Hello !ergomechkeyboards@lemmy.world :)

Been eyeing graphite though. Might make the switch over the summer when there is less workload.

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[-] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago
[-] technomad@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 week ago

I retrained myself in Dvorak many years back, and really enjoyed using it much better than QWERTY. I had to revert back to qwerty because of commercial standardizations/limitations at different workplaces, unfortunately.

All that to say that workman layout seems even better after reading that article. I don't really see myself making the effort to switch again, but I enjoyed reading about it. Thanks for sharing.

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[-] Nibodhika@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

I use Colemak, but just learned about Colemak-DH in this thread, I might give that a try, as the hjkl keys seem to be better positioned and have been trying to get back to vim.

[-] Photuris@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago

Dvorak for over 25 years.

[-] Schlemmy@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 week ago

AZERTY Belgian, Flemish style

[-] Walk_blesseD 4 points 1 week ago
[-] Kissaki@feddit.org 1 points 6 days ago

What do all these interesting pictogram keys do?

[-] Walk_blesseD 2 points 6 days ago

The ringed planet is escape, the crescent is tab, the five-pointed stars are ctrl, the eye is super, and the sparkles are backspace.

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[-] ninjaturtle@lemmy.today 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Colemak. Fingers move around less than QWERTY.

[-] lambdabeta@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago

Dvorak with caps lock as a dead key here. No programmer's Dvorak despite being a programmer... Never quite made the leap

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this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2025
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