Keyboard Layout Analyzer
Input
Configuration
About
Instructions

  • Type or paste a sample of text in the text area to the right.
  • Press the button below the text area. You will be taken to a page with statistics and visualizations on how various keyboard layouts are suited for handling a user who types that text.
More cool stuff:
  • You can create your own layouts for testing on the "Configuration" tab to the left.
What is this? This app analyzes your keyboard layout. See the about tab for more info.
Click or Drag Keys
Number of Layouts to Compare:
Generate Personalized Layout
Keyboard Layouts 101

This application allows you to analyze and visualize the typing patterns you create when you use different keyboard layouts, such as the QWERTY, Dvorak, and Colemak layouts.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, the keyboard layout you're currently using isn't the only one that's out there, and not all keyboard layouts are created equal. Some are better for your wrists and allow you to type faster and with more comfort. Here are the three most popular keyboard layouts (which I also mentioned above):


QWERTY


Dvorak (Simplified)


Colemak

My interest in keyboard layouts came after I read a Discover magazine article entitled "The Curse of QWERTY". The article tells the story of the QWERTY and Dvorak keyboard layouts and makes a compelling case for switching from a QWERTY layout to a Dvorak layout. Here is a quick summary of its most important points:

  • The QWERTY layout was created in the early 1870's before touch typing and without speed or comfort in mind.
  • The Dvorak layout was created in the 1930's and is based on years of research. It takes speed and comfort into account.
  • On average, the left hand does 56% of the typing when a QWERTY layout is used. With a Dvorak layout, the right hand does 56% of the typing.
  • The Dvorak layout forces you to alternate hands more frequently when typing, this causes you to type faster.
  • Users type fastest on the home row. With a QWERTY layout, only 32% of your typing occurs on the home row. With a Dvorak layout, 70% of your typing occurs on the home row.
  • It's hypothesized that the Dvorak layout will make it less likely that you'll develop Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS).
  • Anecdotally, people who develop carpal tunnel syndrome seem to find relief when they switch from a QWERTY layout to Dvorak layout.

There are more reasons, but those were the ones that stuck with me. I was so convinced by what I read that I switched my work and home keyboard layouts to a Dvorak layout by configuring some Windows XP settings in the control panel (to see how click here). This lasted for about 6 days (3 of those were over the Labor Day weekend), and then I had to switch back since learning the Dvorak layout was slowing me down at work. I also discovered that the Dvorak layout made all the nice QWERTY keyboard shortcuts (Undo, Cut, Copy and Paste) virtually unusable. This was a big minus since I use those shortcuts constantly. The Dvorak layout also over worked my right pinky. I found myself having to take typing breaks, something I hadn't done since high school.

After talking to someone who had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (something I'm worried about getting), I learned about yet another improved keyboard layout that preserved QWERTY's bottom row short cuts and didn't put massive amounts of stress on the right pinky. This layout was known as the Colemak. Unlike the Dvorak, the Colemak layout is relatively new (developed within the last 5 years), doesn't have a lot of research behind it, and it doesn't have a very large following (online estimates put the number of users between 650 and 1,300). However, the layout looks pretty promising.

All of this research is what motivated me to create this application. I wanted to visually compare my typing patterns with the different layouts and get some stats on what hand and which fingers I was using the most.

Hopefully the user interface and output is straight forward enough. I had a lot of fun writing this application, hopefully some of you out there will find it useful.

Summary
Distance
Finger Usage
Row Usage
Heat Map
Miscellaneous
Personalized
For in-depth statistics and visualizations, see the tabs on the left!

The optimal keyboard layout for your input text is:

Colemak

Below you can see a table which ranks the input layouts and given them a score between 0 and 100.

The optimal layout score is based on a weighed calculation that factors in the distance your fingers moved (33%), how often you use particular fingers (33%), and how often you switch fingers and hands while typing (34%).







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Consecutive Finger Use - This metric tells you how often the same finger is used to type a key as was used to type the previous key. An example of this would be typing "fg" on QWERTY. When looking at "g", the program notes that the index finger was also previously used to type "f". The lower the number the better.

Instances of the same key being pressed twice in a row are not factored in (example: typing "ff").



Consecutive Hand and Thumb Use - This metric tells you how often the same hand was used to type a key as was used to type the previous key (thumbs are grouped as a separate entity). An example of this would be typing "af" on QWERTY. When looking at "f", the program notes that the left hand was also previously used to type "a". The lower the number the better.

Instances of the same key being pressed twice in a row are not factored in (example: typing "ff").



Modifier Key Use - This metric tells you how often the Shift, AltGr, and Shift+AltGr modifiers are used with characters in the text.

Personalized Layout

And now just for fun, here is what the optimal layout of your keyboard would be if it were tailored to fit the way you type. This personalized layout is based on a frequency analysis of what you typed. It places your most commonly typed characters in the most optimal spots and your least typed characters in the least optimal spots (however, for practical reasons, I have frozen certain keys). The more you type, the more accurate this layout will be. I should note that the generated design does not take into account how often you switch hands while typing or how close together common letter pairings are. Most modern layouts take into account ergonomic considerations as well as key usage.

initially I was going to leave out this feature for version 2.0 of my Analyzer, but I had some requests to put it back in so I did. Since a complete ergonomic analysis isn't taken into account, the generated layout should be taken with a grain of salt, but it can give you some ideas of good key placements.