I switched to a split keyboard about four months ago and decided to change layouts at the same time. Adapting to the split itself wasn’t particularly difficult, but switching layouts definitely takes some getting used to. After all this time I’m still only at around 30–40 WPM, so it’s not something I’d recommend to everyone.
That said, I do believe the change will add a few more good years to my career, so I’m committed to seeing it through. I went with a relatively inexpensive keyboard and a modified Engram 2 layout. The reduced finger travel and more natural arm positioning have already made a noticeable difference.
Give it another year and I expect to reach an acceptable speed as well. All in all, I’m happy with the switch.
If you don't already know about it, I recommend https://www.keybr.com/ for learning new keyboard layouts. It introduces letters one at a time and waits until you hit a threshold speed before introducing the next one. If you commit to doing 15-30 minutes a day consistently, you can get to an acceptable speed more quickly than if you try to learn in an ad hoc way.
I'm in the same boat as OP. I've used keybr and https://monkeytype.com/, and while doing the exercises, I get pretty close to the speed and accuracy I had using a standard keyboard and qwerty, but I get much worse on both fronts when typing in the real world.
Have you added back in capitals/punctuation symbols? keybr defaults to only lower case words, but there are some options worth enabling to bring speed up:
From the preferences:
- Unlock a next key only when the previous keys are also above the target speed. (This will force you to practice keys that are problematic in context, it's frustrating but very helpful for reinforcement learning. For example, I struggle with B, C, V on my split because I don't use the “correct” fingers for those keys on a standard keyboard.)
- Add capital letters
- Add punctuation characters
- Add words to lessons (move it to the max)
Regarding getting much worse in the real world; IMO this isn't discussed enough. When you're relearning muscle memory, it's a very different beast to copy what you see (focused only on where your fingers are) as opposed to focusing on your thought and your fingers just “go there”. I, too, have found my speed plummet at first; at some point I decided to just go cold turkey and suffer being rather slow – trading it for eventual mastery.
In my case, because I was such a phenomenally sloppy typist, sometimes what felt slow was likely just as quick as a result of making fewer mistakes on the new split layout where my behaviour was forced to be better.
Yep, I've adjusted the settings, and that has definitely helped. When it comes to real world typing, it feels like I'm using a ridiculous amount of brain power to get the word out of my head and onto the keys.
Well, I don't see these sites as a complete solution. They're a way to get you from zero to "I can actually manage to write something, even if it's a bit awkward and slow". Once you cross that threshold, you make the switch and you learn by doing until you improve to an acceptable level.
That said, I do believe the change will add a few more good years to my career, so I’m committed to seeing it through. I went with a relatively inexpensive keyboard and a modified Engram 2 layout. The reduced finger travel and more natural arm positioning have already made a noticeable difference.
Give it another year and I expect to reach an acceptable speed as well. All in all, I’m happy with the switch.