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This table expands on the one in my my alt keyboards post, comparing English typing stats for various alternative keyboard layouts.

Lower is better for SFBs, DSFBs, LSBs, scissors, redirects, and off-home pinky use; higher is better for rolls. Images of these layouts and explanation of the metrics can be found in the Keyboard layouts doc. Metrics were computed for English with Cyanophage’s layout playground.

Layout SFBs DSFBs LSBs Scissor Rolls Redir Pinky off
QWERTY (1873) 4.39% 1.43% 4.55% 1.46% 40.76% 11.92% 2.47%
Dvorak (1936) 1.87% 0.45% 0.80% 0.08% 39.20% 2.57% 4.13%
Arensito (2001) 1.04% 0.74% 1.28% 0.45% 54.29% 7.62% 1.14%
Capewell (2005) 1.19% 0.29% 0.62% 0.19% 51.43% 10.75% 1.64%
Colemak (2006) 0.91% 0.46% 2.26% 0.26% 49.20% 9.22% 0.78%
Workman (2010) 1.97% 0.60% 1.11% 0.47% 47.40% 9.13% 0.78%
MTGAP (2010) 0.92% 0.26% 0.46% 0.15% 46.33% 2.54% 3.80%
Colemak-DH (2014) 0.91% 0.41% 1.27% 0.15% 49.20% 9.22% 0.78%
Hieamtsrn (2014) 0.79% 0.24% 0.56% 0.11% 44.63% 1.86% 3.37%
Halmak (2016) 1.97% 0.61% 0.40% 0.56% 40.10% 3.41% 5.48%
BEAKL19bis (2020) 0.95% 0.70% 1.52% 0.39% 43.74% 2.03% 2.26%
Handsdown Neu (2021) 0.76% 0.49% 1.26% 0.42% 44.04% 2.04% 2.89%
Boo (2021) 0.78% 0.21% 1.58% 0.08% 50.40% 8.22% 2.77%
Colemak Qi;x (2021) 0.74% 0.23% 1.50% 0.16% 48.47% 7.60% 1.53%
Engram (2021) 1.01% 0.40% 0.41% 0.36% 44.31% 3.08% 5.71%
ISRT (2021) 0.65% 0.40% 1.51% 0.28% 50.70% 7.64% 2.41%
Pine (2021) 0.90% 0.27% 2.44% 0.97% 49.15% 4.65% 3.57%
Semimak (2021) 0.59% 0.20% 1.65% 0.39% 44.70% 6.44% 3.76%
APTv3 (2021) 0.81% 0.31% 0.33% 0.11% 49.55% 5.57% 3.45%
Whorf (2021) 0.45% 0.18% 1.66% 0.77% 46.66% 6.23% 3.74%
Nerps (2022) 0.85% 0.40% 1.24% 1.11% 46.30% 2.49% 1.32%
CTGAP (2022) 0.74% 0.39% 1.01% 0.68% 45.45% 3.59% 1.23%
Canary (2022) 0.66% 0.15% 1.75% 0.42% 50.36% 6.95% 2.96%
Octa8 (2022) 0.88% 0.20% 0.64% 0.10% 48.79% 4.89% 3.46%
Seht Drai (2022) 1.67% 0.20% 0.54% 0.48% 55.61% 6.89% 3.74%
Sturdy (2022) 0.62% 0.20% 1.58% 0.42% 50.10% 5.01% 2.09%
Gallium (2023) 0.64% 0.21% 1.00% 0.95% 44.39% 1.87% 3.16%
Graphite (2023) 0.68% 0.24% 0.87% 0.41% 46.01% 2.59% 2.34%
Recurva (2023) 0.56% 0.21% 1.19% 0.44% 50.19% 4.43% 4.40%
Hanster-23 (2024) 0.86% 0.52% 1.99% 0.19% 43.58% 2.02% 2.75%
Vylet (2024) 0.92% 0.28% 0.75% 0.07% 49.23% 5.91% 3.44%
Focal (2024) 0.53% 0.30% 0.99% 0.46% 47.00% 4.22% 2.09%

Layouts that assign a letter to a thumb key:

Layout SFBs DSFBs LSBs Scissor Rolls Redir Pinky off
Maltron (1977) 0.66% 0.13% 0.70% 0.11% 49.06% 6.49% 4.86%
RSTHD (2016) 0.70% 0.29% 0.81% 0.09% 49.36% 5.95% 0.78%
Vibranium (2023) 0.57% 0.35% 0.36% 0.44% 46.42% 1.60% 4.11%
Promethium (2024) 0.58% 0.36% 0.24% 0.11% 45.22% 2.03% 4.08%
Caster (2024) 0.63% 0.40% 0.05% 0.54% 48.78% 3.12% 3.40%
Nordrassil (2024) 0.78% 0.48% 0.82% 0.33% 40.04% 1.29% 1.88%
Night (2024) 0.39% 0.09% 1.25% 0.62% 43.91% 4.25% 3.06%

Notes:

computed by summing the finger usage for columns 1 and 10 and subtracting the frequencies corresponding to the home pinky keys, which can be found in this table.

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