Colemak keyboard

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Example - Colemak keyboard

Installer package: KbdEditInstallerColemak.exe

Layout file: Colemak.zip

You can use the installer package to deploy this keyboard layout without any restrictions. Free Demo version can be used to make changes and test them. To deploy a modified version, a Premium, Personal or Lite edition is needed.

Standard QWERTY keyboard draws its origins from the 19^th century, when first typewriters have appeared. Its main design goal was to avoid mechanical imperfections of early typewriters, without any concern for ergonomics and typing speed (actually, one of the goals was to limit the typing speed to prevent typebars from sticking). More than 100 years later, we are still stuck with this ancient layout even though the original limitations are long gone.

Over time, various authors have come up with more ergonomic alternative layouts. Colemak keyboard layout, created by Shai Coleman, is one of them. You can learn more about Colemak on its web site - according to the author, it is currently the third most popular layout for typing in English, right after QWERTY and Dvorak.

Under Windows, Colemak keyboard cannot be used without third-party solutions - unlike Dvorak, it is not supported out of the box. This example is one of the possible solutions - you can use it directly, without any modifications, by simply importing its KBE file. It contains a full implementation of Colemak, and even supports the swapped positions of Caps Lock and Backspace without the need for additional registry tweaks.

Colemak layout in base state

Colemak layout in Shift state

Colemak layout in AltGr state - plenty of special and dead characters

KbdEdit example Colemak Shift + AltGR state

Colemak layout in AltGr+Shift state

KbdEdit example Colemak Swapped Caps Lock and Backspace virtual key scan code

Caps Lock and Backspace are swapped, as mandated by the Colemak layout specification

KbdEdit example Colemak dead key diacritic mappings

Large number of dead keys makes it possible to enter accentuated letters and special characters from over 40 languages

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