Current Layout
Layout to Try Out
Layout to Try Out
Words to Convert
Converted Words to Type
Alternative keyboard layouts are generally better than qwerty, but there are a lot of them out there and it can be hard to know which one to learn. You may not even know yet which features of a layout matter most to you. (Would you like one with high rolls? Or more alternation? How do you feel about scissors, redirects, SFBs, SFSs, LSBs, or the distribution of work across different fingers and hands? Etc.) And once you have a layout in mind how do you gain confidence that you will like it? And that it will be worth the effort to learn it?
This tool lets you get a feel for new keyboard layouts without having to retrain your brain or muscle memory. It converts a set of words so that typing the converted words with your current keyboard layout feels just like typing the original (unconverted) words on the new layout. Your fingers will be making the same movements as if they were typing the original words on the new layout. This gives you a sense of what typing on the new layout feels like before doing the work of actually learning to type with it. Try more than one new layout to see if you like one better than the other.
The simplest way to use this tool is with a single layout to try out, which gives you a sense of what it's like to type with that layout. Another way is to add two or more layouts to try out, which lets you type each word as it is typed in each layout, giving you a word-by-word comparison. (The first time you type a word is how it is typed in the first layout to try out, the second time is how it is typed in the second layout, etc.)
To do this kind of word-by-word comparison between your current layout and one or more other layouts, simply add your current layout as one of the layouts to try out. Similarly if you would like to type each word more than once in a given layout, you can add that layout more than once as a layout to try out.
Use the "Omit words typed identically in current layout and layout(s) to try out" setting to focus on the differences between your current layout and the layout(s) you are trying out. If you want to compare two or more new layouts by focusing on their differences, use the "Omit words typed identically in layouts to try out" setting.
In many cases it can take some time typing with a new layout before you get a good sense of what you like and do not like about it. Some new patterns may not feel that good simply because they are unfamiliar, but may feel better with practice. Some things that are not that noticeable at slower speeds may become more apparent at higher speeds. Ideally any insight gained from using this tool will be one factor among others that help inform decisions about whether to learn a new layout and which one to learn.
Thanks to Keyboard Layout Battles for being the primary inspiration for this tool and for (almost all of) the layout data. Thanks to monkeytype for the top word lists (the top 200, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 lists). Thanks to clemenpine from the Alt Keyboard Layouts Discord server for creating the "more representative" 200 words list (a list that is more representative of typical typing patterns than the top 200 words).