Colemak typing test

How emulation works on this test

When emulation is on, the test looks at which physical key you pressed, not at the letter your computer thinks it typed. Press the key labelled E on a QWERTY board and the test reads F, because that's what that position types on Colemak. Nothing changes outside the typing area, so Ctrl+C still copies in your browser and your password manager still sees QWERTY.

Because emulation reads positions rather than the letters your system produces, it gives Colemak whether Windows, macOS or Linux is set to QWERTY or already to Colemak. Only a keyboard that remaps keys in its own firmware would be remapped twice.

The keymap under the text shows the Colemak legend for the next key you need, which is the quickest way to stop glancing down at keycaps that now lie to you.

What Colemak changes

Shai Coleman released Colemak on 1 January 2006 with one goal: put the most common English letters under your resting fingers while moving as little as possible from QWERTY. Only 17 keys change. The home row becomes A R S T D on the left and H N E I O on the right, which puts the ten most frequent English letters right under your fingers.

The bottom row keeps Z, X, C and V where they were, so undo, cut, copy and paste don't move. Almost all punctuation stays put; the only mark that moves is the semicolon, which gives up its prime home-row spot and goes to where P used to be. Only two letters change hands, E among them, which matters because a lot of QWERTY muscle memory is about which hand owns a letter.

The official layout also turns Caps Lock into a second Backspace. That's a system setting you'd make when you install Colemak, and Colemak's own FAQ recommends the remap even to people who stay on QWERTY.

A realistic learning plan

Colemak's own FAQ says the learning curve depends on the person, and most of the time goes into motor skill, not memorising positions. You'll know where the keys are within a day or two; your fingers take much longer to agree. A plan that respects that:

1. Days 1 to 3: learn the home row only. Run short tests with the keymap visible and accept single-digit speeds. Notice which letters stayed put (A and H among them) and which ones moved.
2. Week 1: add the top row. Choose Colemak under layout emulation in settings so the other test pages use it, then use 10-word tests so each run is short and you can stop before you tire.
3. Weeks 2 to 4: move to 1-minute tests, a few a day. Don't chase speed; aim for accuracy above 95%.
4. After that, hide the keymap and start tracking a median of three runs per day.

The results screen lists the keys you missed most. Practice builds drills around whichever keys those turn out to be.

Should you keep typing QWERTY at work while you learn? Many people do, and emulation makes that easy: practise here, change nothing system-wide, and switch only when your Colemak speed is usable.

Is Colemak faster than QWERTY?

It's more efficient on paper. Colemak's site claims your fingers travel far less than on QWERTY and that you use the home row much more than on QWERTY or Dvorak. Less movement is a comfort argument first. Whether it makes you faster depends mostly on how much you practise, and the honest version of that debate is in our post on QWERTY vs Colemak vs Dvorak.

If you're switching for comfort, track accuracy and how your hands feel after an hour, not just WPM.

Colemak or Colemak-DH?

Standard Colemak places D and H in the two centre columns of the home row, and common pairs like HE make your right index finger stretch sideways. The community built Colemak-DH to fix that: D and H move down to the bottom row and G and M come up to take their home-row spots, without changing any finger assignments. If you haven't learned either, start with DH. If you already type Colemak, the Colemak-DH typing test lets you try the change without losing your setup.