[MTGandP]

Hi, writer of The Keyboard Layout Project here. I'm well aware of the limitations of scoring a layout based on crude heuristics, and I'm trying to collect some good data. Right now I have some data from a few layouts that I've collected using [Amphetype](http://code.google.com/p/amphetype/), which records speed and accuracy for characters, trigraphs, and words. I'm curious, what program did you use to collect typing data?

If you or anyone else has typing data or is willing to collect some, please post a comment on my blog (preferably [here](http://mtgap.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/wanted-typing-data/)) and I will email you.

Ideally, we would have typing data not just from QWERTY and carefully-designed layouts, but randomized layouts. All the layouts people use (except QWERTY) share design patterns—putting the most common keys on the home row, etc. We can get more accurate data if we know how people type on random layouts.

I plan on using a little grant money from my school to pay some people to learn randomized keyboard layouts and then record typing data. If anyone's willing to do this for free, I'd love to have your help; again, you can contact me by leaving a comment on my [blog](https://mathematicalmulticore.wordpress.com/).

Data collection with a web app is also a good idea. I don't plan on writing such a thing any time soon, but if anyone does plan to, I think it would be very useful.

[mistercow]

I'll see if I can dig up my old app for collecting the data (it was an OS X app, but would be easy enough to port). It can actually be layout agnostic (although I may have just implemented it with Colemak in mind, since it was for my own use). For the user's sake, it asks you to type out symbols according to your own layout, but the way it stores the data is only interested in key positions.

One confounding factor in collecting data this way, though, is it's actually quite a lot more difficult to copy a random sequence of characters than it is to copy real words, and I don't think that's just because of the key positions. I think it just takes more brain power to process them when you can't leverage your brain's language hardware to divide it into chunks.

[MTGandP]

Thanks, that could be valuable. Is the data separated by keyboard layout?

[Evbn]

I wonder what the ethics review board would think about training someone on a nonstandard keyboard layout, as that would introduce a handicap to their life outside the study.

[MTGandP]

You can use a new keyboard layout and still remember QWERTY. It's just like learning a second language (only it takes a lot less time).

[mistercow]

You can, but if you don't regularly practice, your QWERTY proficiency will deteriorate startlingly quickly. It's easier to pick back up than learning a whole new layout, but still.

It was really unsettling to watch, in only two weeks, my QWERTY proficiency drop from "90 WPM burst speed" to "stare at the keyboard while I type".

[MTGandP]

Then I'll make sure my test subjects continue to practice QWERTY.