Asetion: the ergonomic and easy to learn keyboard layout (QWERTY/Dvorak alternative)

Note: Colemak, the successor to Asetion is now available. Colemak improves upon many aspects of the Asetion layout.

66% lower same-finger ratio, this drastically improves typing speed, fluency and comfort.

20% lower finger distance

More words can be made from the home row alone

Reduces stretches of the weaker pinky finger (moves the 'P' key)

Reduces long stretches of the index finger (moves the 'Y' key)

Bottom row remains same as QWERTY (except for ; instead of N)

Better right/left hand balance

Reduces long sequences of same-hand typing, e.g. "sweaterdresses"

And only moves two extra keys from their QWERTY positions

Introducing the Asetion keyboard layout

The Asetion layout

What's wrong with QWERTY?

As a quick demonstration try typing on QWERTY "my minimum ceded bevel" a few times. Compare it with typing "as alfalfa salad flask". Asetion will change your typing experience to be similar to the latter example. On Asetion you can type for example "instantaneousness" without moving your fingers from the home position.

Comparison table for typing in English: Asetion/Dvorak/QWERTY

Feature	Asetion	Dvorak	QWERTY	Comments
Home row letter frequency	71.6%	65.0%	31.8%	Typing on the home row is easier and faster. On Dvorak the frequent [r] isn't on the home row.
Home and upper row letter frequency	91.2%	87.1%	78.3%	Typing on the bottom row is more error-prone because of the way the bottom row is aligned, and because it's harder to reach. Dvorak places the somewhat frequent [m] and [w] on the bottom row.
Average finger movement distance	0.405	0.513	0.827	The approximate distance in keylengths that it takes to type each key. On QWERTY your fingers need to work twice as hard. This is the most important factor for comfort.
Extra backspace / No Caps Lock	Yes			Caps Lock was once used for titles and formatting purposes and is now mostly obsolete. The Caps Lock key is sometimes hit accidently and induces errors, e.g. passwords don't work. The backspace key, one of the most often used keys, requires stretching and moving out of the home position. This causes a huge stress on the hand, interrupts the typing stream and causes mispositioning errors. In keyboards with a small backspace key it's even worse. Most of the statistical advantages of Asetion over Dvorak mentioned above result from this change alone. This comes handy while learning the layout.
Frequency of row jumping using the same hand	0.4%	0.6%	7.1%	Same hand row jumping is very slow and stressing on the hand, e.g. "minimum", "my" on QWERTY. QWERTY is horrendous in this aspect.
Frequency of typing using the same finger	3.0%	1.7%	4.3%	Same finger typing slows things down, e.g. "ceded" on QWERTY. Dvorak wins here but the 1.3% difference over Asetion is not very significant.
Vowels in the home row (home position)	5 (5)	5 (4)	1 (1)	On Dvorak the frequent [i] isn't in the home position. Dvorak places all vowels on the left.
Typing lesson - words available on home row (possible words)	791 words	564 words	51 words	Learning to type on a QWERTY layout is rather boring because there aren't many words you can type on the home row. Source: 3esl word list
Feature	Asetion	Dvorak	QWERTY	Comments
Year patented/released	2005	1936	1868	QWERTY has been around for a very long time, and it won't disappear anytime soon.
Multilingual layout available	Yes, integrated, over 30 languages supported, no dedicated keys used	Not preinstalled on Windows, not standardized	Yes, uses dedicated keys	A multilingual layout allows to write all the characters and accents in other languages without learning an additional keyboard layout for each language. Asetion is optimized for English but works reasonably well for most other supported languages.
Compatability with QWERTY common shortcuts	Very good	Very poor	N/A	The most common keyboard shortcuts on Windows, including Undo (^Z), Cut (^X), Copy (^C), Paste (^V), Redo (^Y), Select All (^A), Print (^P), Save (^S), Close Window (^W), Bold (^B) remain unchanged. Example: ^O (Open) on Dvorak and ^S (Save) on QWERTY are the same key, and might lead to accidentally saving over files for people that have to switch between layouts.
Keys changed from QWERTY	15	33	N/A	On Dvorak only [a], [m], [`], [\], [0]..[9] do not move. The only infrequently used keys that move on Asetion are [;], [j], [k]. Infrequently used keys take the longest to relearn because you practice them less often.
Keys that move from QWERTY to a different finger (different hand)	4 (0)	26 (22)	N/A	Only [d], [f], [n], [;] on Asetion are typed with a different finger, and even those are typed with the same hand. It means that people who already know the QWERTY layout can intuitively guess the new location of the keys. This is what makes Asetion so easy to learn.
Hand balance (left hand/right hand)	56.9%/43.1%	41.0%/59.0%	52.3%/47.7%	The Asetion/QWERTY layouts balance better between the hands. The right hand is frequently used for other tasks not included in this statistic, such as using the mouse, navigating with the arrow keys and hitting the space bar. Moreover, most of the keys that require stretching are on the right side. Dvorak proponents claim this to be a disadvantage because most people are right-handed.
Frequency of typing using the same hand	28.4%	17.8%	28.4%	On one hand it's hard to write long words with one hand, e.g. "opinion" on QWERTY, on the other hand, finger-drumming movement is easier and faster; e.g. try to type fast on QWERTY "sdfjkl" a few times, and compare it with typing "sjdkfl". In this specific example the former can usually be typed about twice as fast than the latter. Most modern alternative layouts (e.g. Capewell, Maltron, Arensito, Qwerak) do not try to maximize hand alteration.
Single handed typing	Fair	Poor	Fair	Many common shortcuts on Windows, such as Undo (^Z), Cut (^X), Copy (^C), Paste (^V), Select All (^A), Save (^S), Close Window (^W), Bold (^B), Find (^F), Reload (^R), New Tab (^T), Browser back (Backspace, Asetion only) on Asetion/QWERTY can be typed without moving the right hand back and forth from the mouse. On Dvorak as a result of the hand alteration frequency, it's slower to type with one hand, e.g. when you're on the phone.
Use for programming	Good	Fair	Good	The changes to the punctucation keys (especially the braces) make the Dvorak keyboard less comfortable for programming tasks. The multilingual layouts for QWERTY and Dvorak are less suitable for programming.
Estimated time to fully regain QWERTY typing speed	2-8 weeks	2-18 months	N/A

Feature

Asetion

Dvorak

QWERTY

Comments

Home row letter frequency

71.6%

65.0%

31.8%

Typing on the home row is easier and faster. On Dvorak the frequent [r] isn't on the home row.

Home and upper row letter frequency

91.2%

87.1%

78.3%

Typing on the bottom row is more error-prone because of the way the bottom row is aligned, and because it's harder to reach. Dvorak places the somewhat frequent [m] and [w] on the bottom row.

Average finger movement distance

0.405

0.513

0.827

The approximate distance in keylengths that it takes to type each key. On QWERTY your fingers need to work twice as hard. This is the most important factor for comfort.

Extra backspace / No Caps Lock

Yes

Caps Lock was once used for titles and formatting purposes and is now mostly obsolete. The Caps Lock key is sometimes hit accidently and induces errors, e.g. passwords don't work. The backspace key, one of the most often used keys, requires stretching and moving out of the home position. This causes a huge stress on the hand, interrupts the typing stream and causes mispositioning errors. In keyboards with a small backspace key it's even worse. Most of the statistical advantages of Asetion over Dvorak mentioned above result from this change alone. This comes handy while learning the layout.

Frequency of row jumping using the same hand

0.4%

0.6%

7.1%

Same hand row jumping is very slow and stressing on the hand, e.g. "minimum", "my" on QWERTY. QWERTY is horrendous in this aspect.

Frequency of typing using the same finger

3.0%

1.7%

4.3%

Same finger typing slows things down, e.g. "ceded" on QWERTY. Dvorak wins here but the 1.3% difference over Asetion is not very significant.

Vowels in the home row (home position)

5 (5)

5 (4)

1 (1)

On Dvorak the frequent [i] isn't in the home position. Dvorak places all vowels on the left.

Typing lesson - words available on home row (possible words)

791 words

564 words

51 words

Learning to type on a QWERTY layout is rather boring because there aren't many words you can type on the home row.
Source: 3esl word list

Feature

Asetion

Dvorak

QWERTY

Comments

Year patented/released

2005

1936

1868

QWERTY has been around for a very long time, and it won't disappear anytime soon.

Multilingual layout available

Yes, integrated, over 30 languages supported, no dedicated keys used

Not preinstalled on Windows, not standardized

Yes, uses dedicated keys

A multilingual layout allows to write all the characters and accents in other languages without learning an additional keyboard layout for each language. Asetion is optimized for English but works reasonably well for most other supported languages.

Compatability with QWERTY common shortcuts

Very good

Very poor

N/A

The most common keyboard shortcuts on Windows, including Undo (^Z), Cut (^X), Copy (^C), Paste (^V), Redo (^Y), Select All (^A), Print (^P), Save (^S), Close Window (^W), Bold (^B) remain unchanged. Example: ^O (Open) on Dvorak and ^S (Save) on QWERTY are the same key, and might lead to accidentally saving over files for people that have to switch between layouts.

Keys changed from QWERTY

N/A

On Dvorak only [a], [m], [`], [\], [0]..[9] do not move. The only infrequently used keys that move on Asetion are [;], [j], [k]. Infrequently used keys take the longest to relearn because you practice them less often.

Keys that move from QWERTY to a different finger
(different hand)

4 (0)

26 (22)

N/A

Only [d], [f], [n], [;] on Asetion are typed with a different finger, and even those are typed with the same hand. It means that people who already know the QWERTY layout can intuitively guess the new location of the keys. This is what makes Asetion so easy to learn.

Hand balance
(left hand/right hand)

56.9%/43.1%

41.0%/59.0%

52.3%/47.7%

The Asetion/QWERTY layouts balance better between the hands. The right hand is frequently used for other tasks not included in this statistic, such as using the mouse, navigating with the arrow keys and hitting the space bar. Moreover, most of the keys that require stretching are on the right side. Dvorak proponents claim this to be a disadvantage because most people are right-handed.

Frequency of typing using the same hand

28.4%

17.8%

28.4%

On one hand it's hard to write long words with one hand, e.g. "opinion" on QWERTY, on the other hand, finger-drumming movement is easier and faster; e.g. try to type fast on QWERTY "sdfjkl" a few times, and compare it with typing "sjdkfl". In this specific example the former can usually be typed about twice as fast than the latter. Most modern alternative layouts (e.g. Capewell, Maltron, Arensito, Qwerak) do not try to maximize hand alteration.

Single handed typing

Fair

Poor

Fair

Many common shortcuts on Windows, such as Undo (^Z), Cut (^X), Copy (^C), Paste (^V), Select All (^A), Save (^S), Close Window (^W), Bold (^B), Find (^F), Reload (^R), New Tab (^T), Browser back (Backspace, Asetion only) on Asetion/QWERTY can be typed without moving the right hand back and forth from the mouse. On Dvorak as a result of the hand alteration frequency, it's slower to type with one hand, e.g. when you're on the phone.

Use for programming

Good

Fair

Good

The changes to the punctucation keys (especially the braces) make the Dvorak keyboard less comfortable for programming tasks. The multilingual layouts for QWERTY and Dvorak are less suitable for programming.

Estimated time to fully regain QWERTY typing speed

2-8 weeks

2-18 months

N/A

Download layouts

Warning: If you have any passwords in your computer, either change them (e.g. with a password of numbers only), or learn them in the new layout!

Typing tutorial software

I highly recommend spending 2-3 hours to complete the typing lessons below after installing the layout. It will save you a lot of time in the long run.
Accuracy is more important than speed. Do not advance to the next lesson unless you've achieved at least 96% accuracy.

Technique for memorizing the differences from QWERTY

Moved to the home row: IN ROUTE. [t] and [r] are transposed horizontally. [n] moves to the right pinky. (alternative: IOU RENT).

Moved to the upper row: FiG'D MiLK. [f] and [d] are typed with fingers displaced. (alternative: MadDoG FLaK).

Moved to the lower row: semi-J, [;] and [j] move to the bottom row. Both are typed with the right index finger.

Other tips: no keys move from hand to hand, all vowels are in the home position, the left hand bottom row remains unchanged.

Relabeling the keys will help reduce the initial frustration during the first few days, but you'll learn faster if you don't relabel them and learn the layout without looking at the keyboard. Moreover, while touchtyping many key labels will be hidden by your fingers. I don't recommend physically moving the key caps because it will move the bumps on the "F" and "J" keys (QWERTY).

Note: Colemak, the successor to Asetion is now available. Colemak improves the home row frequency, significantly improves upon the finger distance, and drastically reduces same-finger ratio, and moves only 2 more keys from their QWERTY positions.