Colemak keyboard layout
Shares rank 2 of 7 keyboard layouts by recommenders
Recommended for reducing wrist strain and improving ergonomics over QWERTY. Critics say the switch is often not worth it and some find awkward finger motions.
Recommended for reducing wrist strain and improving ergonomics over QWERTY. Critics say the switch is often not worth it and some find awkward finger motions.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 50%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Reduces wrist strain and improves ergonomics
“swapping to Colemak-DH provided much more ergonomic benefit for me”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “I Like Small Keyboards” “This helped reduce wrist strain at the hand level.”
Comment from 19 Feb 2026 in “A Beginner's Guide to Split Keyboards” Better than Workman and other layouts
“Colemak objectively better than workman for same finger bigrams”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Typing and Keyboards” “you might want to pick Colemak or Neo2 these days”
Comment from 20 Feb 2026 in “A Beginner's Guide to Split Keyboards” Objectively decent layout
“Colemak is objectively decent even if you never knew qwerty.”
Comment from 21 Mar 2026 in “Arno's Engram Keyboard Layouts” “Colemak is objectively decent”
Comment from 18 Mar 2026 in “Arno's Engram Keyboard Layouts”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Not worth switching or overrated
“Did not see much point to Colemak or its Mod DH variant”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “Typing and Keyboards” “I can't honestly recommend anyone the switch.”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “My Favorite Keyboards” “alternative layouts are way overrated”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “Typing and Keyboards” Awkward motions or strain for some
“had some awkward motions or finger strains that just didn't work for me”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “What's new in Emacs 31.1” “I couldn’t get in tune with it”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “What Not to Write on Your Security Clearance Form”
Other keyboard layouts people recommend
The four most recommended other keyboard layouts, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dvorak keyboard layout | 11 | 4 | 73% | 5 | 25 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Colemak keyboard layoutThis page | 7 | 7 | 50% | 6 | — | — |
| EurKEY keyboard layout | 7 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Clearflow keyboard layout | 6 | 1 | 86% | 1 | — | — |
| Engram keyboard layout | 5 | 2 | 71% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
17 of the 20 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“had some awkward motions or finger strains that just didn't work for me”
“swapping to Colemak-DH provided much more ergonomic benefit for me”
“The biggest advantage is that typing feels smoother with Colemak.”
“I can't honestly recommend anyone the switch.”
“I was already comfortable with Colemak on my computer.”
“everything is so close together that the accuracy is very low”
“using an alternative layout on a standard keyboard is a greater improvement that a split keyboard”
“Colemak objectively better than workman for same finger bigrams”
“alternative layouts are way overrated”
“Did not see much point to Colemak or its Mod DH variant”
“Colemak is objectively decent even if you never knew qwerty.”
“But not for those who has no qwerty experience.”
“Colemak is objectively decent”
“Colemak and Workman are weak layouts.”
“I couldn’t get in tune with it”
“you might want to pick Colemak or Neo2 these days”
“This helped reduce wrist strain at the hand level.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.