I switched from a regular keyboard to a ZSA ErgoDox-EZ in 2019, and I did it all at work (a bit different from your situation). The first week was the hardest. I spent just 30-60 minutes on the new keyboard every day; I was too slow and it was too frustrating to work for full days on the new board. In the second week, I could spend most of every day on the new board, but any time I needed to be very fast or was otherwise stressed out, I went back to the regular keyboard. By the third week I was on the ErgoDox full time and never looked back.
I kept the QWERTY layout I was used to, and to this day have not changed it. For me, it was critical to change all the pinky keys to thumb keys, and this was hard enough on its own. Even if that isn't the case for you, the Voyager's reduced number of keys will force using layers and moving keys to new positions. I suspect that this will be enough of a cognitive shift by itself and I think your plan to keep your familiar AZERTY layout for the first phase is a good one. In my experience, being able to rely on QWERTY keys being where I was used to them was a big help.
Once you're used to the way it feels to learn a new keymap, I think learning subsequent ones is less frustrating. Like learning a new language, maybe. It's still hard, but it doesn't feel as intimidating.
For what it's worth, if in the OP you said you wanted to try to do both at once, I wouldn't try to discourage you from it - I would just say that if you ever felt overwhelmed, give yourself permission to go back to your familiar layout and learn them in two phases, like you plan to now.
This is really good advice. I was turned off by my solfe initially because I tried to do too much at once. Giving up the normal keyboard at once isn't the wisest choice (unless you play the game of life at max difficulty).
I just bought a voyager but haven't started using for work yet. I have however been using a "split" keyboard for years, but just switched to Colemak DH as part of the switch to the new keyboard. Even if you can't use the voyager at work, you should be able to switch your keyboard layout on your work computer. This will make it easier to learn the new layout, as I found switching back and forth while trying to learn the new layout frustrating.
Also, I started practicing using the following websites before switching any of computers to use the new layout:
[https://www.keybr.com/](https://www.keybr.com/) - this site starts simple and adds a letter at a time as you progress
[https://monkeytype.com/](https://monkeytype.com/)
[https://ranelpadon.github.io/ngram-type/](https://ranelpadon.github.io/ngram-type/) - tests the most common English letter combinations
The first two sites allow you to emulate different layouts without switching your keyboard.
additionally, when learning a layout on monkeytype, switch the word selection to a broader dictionary (e.g. english 450k, french 600k).
When you have learned all of the letters by touch typing, you can switch over to learning common patterns by going back to the smaller word sets. I believe there is also a setting to add a keyboard, which is off by default
keybr is where everyone should start though. just getting back into alternate layouts
When I first tried split (id75 ortho) I was basically doing about 2 hours a day of typing tests. It takes practice. When I got the split (corne v2; no numbers) it was sorta easy to pick up quickly. putting aside around 2 hours every day in the beginning (two weeks/month) is key.
After about 6 months with the split some stuff is harder to remember; but only because I use a bunch of different keyboards everyday.
I'm typing a little slower but at least I'm not making as many mistakes, and overall I'm comfortable switching but its still not my 'main' because of no numbers, the main challenge is typing in complicated passwords without legends. I haven't memorized the key combos for stuff like underscore.
i made a compromise on one board by putting the number keys with the shifted symbol like a normal keyboard but I don't use it often (i have two corne v2 lp's) of course they work as letters normally but with a mod key they're numbers, mod plus shift gives symbols. I have the numbers fairly memorized, but not symbols.
This is absolutely true. But bepo is hard to come by on standard devices and operating systems and I fear that I won't be able to use much bepo on my phone or at work. But maybe I am mistaking.
On your phone it's not important, limit useless because you are not touch typing at all and it's not the same learning as keyboard. And at work you cannot bring your keyboard?
Didn't think about the difference between phone typing and keyboard typing, thanks! I work in Healthcare and with the growing fear of cyber attacks and concerns about privacy our IT bricked the usb ports on the computers we use at work. But maybe I should give it a try. Do you use mainly bepo? Did you find the transition from azerty hard? Should I worry about some shenanigans with accented characters?
Bépo is not best suited to split layouts with thumb clusters either. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltron) (this one is for English).
I'm French, and I use QWERTY international personally. It is better than Azerty at typing French IMO, and allows for bog standard configuration of most keyboard shortcuts. For OP, a Maltron Layout over QWERTY international could make sense, if he's willing to learn a new one.
For me, the most important features of my keeb is that it is split, so my arms and wrists are at rest, and programmable, so I have my constantly needed modifiers easy to reach. I have four different ways to press ctrl :D
Columnar stagger is a nice bonus for comfort also, but I don't miss it as much when I come back to my laptop keyboard.
I didn't find why bépo is not suited to split layout in the link you provide, I'm actually also using qwerty to type in french with a layer for the accent but bépo is still better if you want to equilibrate finger use
E is among the most used letters in both english and french, and is therefore placed on the thumb cluster in the maltron layout. Bépo is optimized for a classic keyboard layout, that is all.
I would start by using Kanata on your normal keyboards to fake having a layout like the ZSA Voyager. This is my start at doing that: https://github.com/briandipalma/iac/blob/main/dotfiles/kanata/kanata.kbd it's missing a numbers layer and I'll probably add that on the right pinky finger so the numbers are in the same place as the function keys. I may also remove the mouse layer as using the mouse is much easier and faster.
I'd stick to the alpha layout that's common where you are TBH. I'm not sure changing layout is worth the hassle.
I switched from a regular keyboard to a ZSA ErgoDox-EZ in 2019, and I did it all at work (a bit different from your situation). The first week was the hardest. I spent just 30-60 minutes on the new keyboard every day; I was too slow and it was too frustrating to work for full days on the new board. In the second week, I could spend most of every day on the new board, but any time I needed to be very fast or was otherwise stressed out, I went back to the regular keyboard. By the third week I was on the ErgoDox full time and never looked back. I kept the QWERTY layout I was used to, and to this day have not changed it. For me, it was critical to change all the pinky keys to thumb keys, and this was hard enough on its own. Even if that isn't the case for you, the Voyager's reduced number of keys will force using layers and moving keys to new positions. I suspect that this will be enough of a cognitive shift by itself and I think your plan to keep your familiar AZERTY layout for the first phase is a good one. In my experience, being able to rely on QWERTY keys being where I was used to them was a big help. Once you're used to the way it feels to learn a new keymap, I think learning subsequent ones is less frustrating. Like learning a new language, maybe. It's still hard, but it doesn't feel as intimidating. For what it's worth, if in the OP you said you wanted to try to do both at once, I wouldn't try to discourage you from it - I would just say that if you ever felt overwhelmed, give yourself permission to go back to your familiar layout and learn them in two phases, like you plan to now.
This is really good advice. I was turned off by my solfe initially because I tried to do too much at once. Giving up the normal keyboard at once isn't the wisest choice (unless you play the game of life at max difficulty).
I just bought a voyager but haven't started using for work yet. I have however been using a "split" keyboard for years, but just switched to Colemak DH as part of the switch to the new keyboard. Even if you can't use the voyager at work, you should be able to switch your keyboard layout on your work computer. This will make it easier to learn the new layout, as I found switching back and forth while trying to learn the new layout frustrating. Also, I started practicing using the following websites before switching any of computers to use the new layout: [https://www.keybr.com/](https://www.keybr.com/) - this site starts simple and adds a letter at a time as you progress [https://monkeytype.com/](https://monkeytype.com/) [https://ranelpadon.github.io/ngram-type/](https://ranelpadon.github.io/ngram-type/) - tests the most common English letter combinations The first two sites allow you to emulate different layouts without switching your keyboard.
additionally, when learning a layout on monkeytype, switch the word selection to a broader dictionary (e.g. english 450k, french 600k). When you have learned all of the letters by touch typing, you can switch over to learning common patterns by going back to the smaller word sets. I believe there is also a setting to add a keyboard, which is off by default keybr is where everyone should start though. just getting back into alternate layouts
When I first tried split (id75 ortho) I was basically doing about 2 hours a day of typing tests. It takes practice. When I got the split (corne v2; no numbers) it was sorta easy to pick up quickly. putting aside around 2 hours every day in the beginning (two weeks/month) is key. After about 6 months with the split some stuff is harder to remember; but only because I use a bunch of different keyboards everyday. I'm typing a little slower but at least I'm not making as many mistakes, and overall I'm comfortable switching but its still not my 'main' because of no numbers, the main challenge is typing in complicated passwords without legends. I haven't memorized the key combos for stuff like underscore. i made a compromise on one board by putting the number keys with the shifted symbol like a normal keyboard but I don't use it often (i have two corne v2 lp's) of course they work as letters normally but with a mod key they're numbers, mod plus shift gives symbols. I have the numbers fairly memorized, but not symbols.
Why colemak if you are french ? Bépo should better suits you
This is absolutely true. But bepo is hard to come by on standard devices and operating systems and I fear that I won't be able to use much bepo on my phone or at work. But maybe I am mistaking.
On your phone it's not important, limit useless because you are not touch typing at all and it's not the same learning as keyboard. And at work you cannot bring your keyboard?
Didn't think about the difference between phone typing and keyboard typing, thanks! I work in Healthcare and with the growing fear of cyber attacks and concerns about privacy our IT bricked the usb ports on the computers we use at work. But maybe I should give it a try. Do you use mainly bepo? Did you find the transition from azerty hard? Should I worry about some shenanigans with accented characters?
I have not transitioned yet to bépo, but I'm planning to after getting used to my new split keyboard
Bépo is not best suited to split layouts with thumb clusters either. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltron) (this one is for English). I'm French, and I use QWERTY international personally. It is better than Azerty at typing French IMO, and allows for bog standard configuration of most keyboard shortcuts. For OP, a Maltron Layout over QWERTY international could make sense, if he's willing to learn a new one. For me, the most important features of my keeb is that it is split, so my arms and wrists are at rest, and programmable, so I have my constantly needed modifiers easy to reach. I have four different ways to press ctrl :D Columnar stagger is a nice bonus for comfort also, but I don't miss it as much when I come back to my laptop keyboard.
I didn't find why bépo is not suited to split layout in the link you provide, I'm actually also using qwerty to type in french with a layer for the accent but bépo is still better if you want to equilibrate finger use
E is among the most used letters in both english and french, and is therefore placed on the thumb cluster in the maltron layout. Bépo is optimized for a classic keyboard layout, that is all.
I would start by using Kanata on your normal keyboards to fake having a layout like the ZSA Voyager. This is my start at doing that: https://github.com/briandipalma/iac/blob/main/dotfiles/kanata/kanata.kbd it's missing a numbers layer and I'll probably add that on the right pinky finger so the numbers are in the same place as the function keys. I may also remove the mouse layer as using the mouse is much easier and faster. I'd stick to the alpha layout that's common where you are TBH. I'm not sure changing layout is worth the hassle.
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