At a glance
| Factor | QWERTY | Colemak-DHk |
|---|---|---|
| Default familiarity | Highest. You already use it on most devices. | Moderate. It stays close to Colemak and Colemak-DH, but the legacy variant still changes important transitions. |
| Transition cost | None if you stay put, but gains come from practice quality rather than a layout change. | Moderate. The board is not alien, but the differences are frequent enough to require deliberate practice. |
| Who it fits | People who want immediate consistency across standard hardware and shortcuts. | Typists intentionally choosing the legacy DHk variant or comparing older and newer Colemak-DH boards. |
| Best SureTyping route | Use the main lessons roadmap and QWERTY layout hub. | Home-row foundations |
Why someone would stay with QWERTY
QWERTY is still the default for a reason: it is the keyboard you already touch all day. If your bottleneck is practice quality rather than layout choice, staying with QWERTY and training more deliberately is often the best move.
On SureTyping, that means using the roadmap, live lessons, and customized follow-up tests to improve the layout you already need in real life.
What each layout is actually useful for
A useful layout comparison is not just about how hard a switch feels. It is about what each layout is genuinely good for once you use it in real life.
That practical lens is usually more helpful than treating every layout as a generic speed experiment.
- QWERTY: QWERTY is most useful when compatibility, transferability, and uninterrupted output matter more than trying a new keyboard theory.
- Colemak-DHk: Colemak-DHk is most useful when you specifically want the older published DHk variant, where k stays on the home row and m stays on the bottom row, instead of the newer standard DH map.
Why someone would choose Colemak-DHk instead
Colemak-DHk is a narrower, more intentional choice than standard Colemak-DH. It makes the most sense when the legacy variant itself is the point, not when you just want something vaguely Colemak-like.
The point of Colemak-DHk is not magic speed. The point is choosing a different training system and then practicing it consistently enough to make the switch worthwhile.
What the decision comes down to in practice
Stay with standard Colemak or the newer Colemak-DH if you are starting fresh and do not specifically want the legacy k-home-row version. Move to Colemak-DHk only if that older pattern is the actual layout you want to test or keep.
If you are undecided, the best test is to inspect the layout hubs and early track pages side by side. That will show you the actual movements you need to train instead of relying on generic internet arguments.
How to evaluate both paths on SureTyping
Use the QWERTY hub if you want immediate practice on the layout you already use. Use the alternative layout hub if you are comparing whether the switch feels structured enough to commit to.
Then move into the first live lessons and compare how stable your accuracy feels. That signal is more useful than debating layouts in the abstract.
- 1. Open both layout hubs.
- 2. Compare the starting tracks.
- 3. Run a few live lessons on each path.
- 4. Choose the layout whose tradeoff matches your real work and training tolerance.
What people underestimate about the choice
What people underestimate about Colemak-DHk is that a small-looking swap like k and m still reaches into common real typing patterns. If you do not train it deliberately, it never feels distinct for the right reasons.
That is why the best decision is usually the one that matches your process tolerance, not the one that wins the most forum arguments.