Colemak DH
Colemak DH is a community modification of the Colemak keyboard layout that fixes two awkward key positions on the original design. It is the most widely adopted alternative keyboard layout in the enthusiast community and the recommended starting point for anyone switching away from QWERTY.
History
Colemak was created by Shai Coleman in 2006 as an evolution of QWERTY. Its design philosophy was conservative: only 17 keys move from their QWERTY positions, which makes the transition easier than layouts like Dvorak that rearrange nearly every key. Colemak optimised for home row usage, rolling (pressing consecutive keys with adjacent fingers on the same hand), and reduced pinky strain.
However, Colemak placed the letters D and H on the center column — the column between the two index fingers. Center column keys require a lateral stretch that many typists find uncomfortable, especially on columnar split keyboards like the ZSA Voyager where finger travel is more deliberate.
Colemak DH (also called Colemak-DHm on matrix/columnar boards) is a mod created by stevep99 (SteveP) that addresses this problem. The “DH” in the name literally refers to the two letters that move:
- D moves from the left-hand center column to the left-hand bottom row (under the left index finger)
- H moves from the right-hand center column to the right-hand bottom row (under the right index finger)
This eliminates the two most frequent lateral stretches in Colemak while preserving everything else about the layout.
Layout
q w f p b j l u y ;
a r s t g m n e i o
z x c d v k h , . /
The home row is ARST on the left hand and NEIO on the right hand. The letter G remains on the left-hand center column (it is far less frequent than D was), and M takes the right-hand center column (less frequent than H was).
Category
Colemak DH belongs to the Colemak-like family — layouts that retain most of Colemak’s column assignments and make targeted fixes rather than redesigning from scratch. Other members of this family include ColemaQ, Colemak Qi, and Arts.
Stats profile
All stats below use the Genkey analyzer with the MonkeyRacer corpus (a combination of MonkeyType and TypeRacer quotes), as reported in the Keyboard Layouts Doc (3rd Edition).
| Metric | Value | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| SFB (Same Finger Bigram — pressing two keys in a row with the same finger) | 1.177% | Mid high |
| SFS (Same Finger Skipgram — same-finger usage separated by one key) | 7.483% | High |
| Scissors (uncomfortable top-row-to-bottom-row bigrams on adjacent fingers) | 0.37% | Mid |
| Alternation (consecutive keystrokes alternating hands) | 29.6% | Low |
| Rolls (two keys on one hand, one on the other) | 46.0% | Mid high |
| Redirects (one-handed trigram where direction reverses, e.g. ring-middle-index then back to ring) | 12.1% | Very high |
| In:out-roll ratio | 1.0 | Very low |
| Pinky off home row | 1.2% | Min |
| Hand balance | 44-56 (right heavy) | Hard right |
The high redirect percentage is Colemak DH’s most notable weakness. This is a structural consequence of keeping the ARST home row with vowels on the right — trigrams like ION become redirects rather than clean rolls. Newer layouts in other families solve this by moving H to the vowel hand, but at the cost of departing further from QWERTY.
Strengths
- Familiarity: only 17 keys differ from QWERTY. Shortcuts like Ctrl+Z/X/C/V remain in their original positions.
- Largest community: more learning resources, typing tutors (Colemak Academy, Colemak Club, keybr.com), and forum discussions than any other alt layout.
- Excellent pinky comfort: the lowest pinky-off-home-row score in the document (1.2%), meaning your pinkies almost never leave their resting position.
- Solid rolling: mid-high roll percentage with minimal same-finger bigrams for a Colemak-family layout.
- ZSA support: the Oryx configurator (ZSA’s web-based layout editor) has Colemak DH as a built-in preset, so setup on the ZSA Voyager takes seconds.
- Battle-tested: in use since the mid-2010s, with thousands of users who have documented their learning curves, speed progressions, and tips.
Weaknesses
- High redirects (12.1%): the ION trigram and similar patterns create direction reversals on one hand. Layouts that move H to the vowel side (like Graphite or Sturdy) cut redirects dramatically.
- High SFS (7.483%): same-finger skipgrams are elevated because the original Colemak design predates the SFS concept. Newer layouts optimise this metric specifically.
- Right-hand heavy (44-56 split): the vowel hand does noticeably more work, which can cause fatigue on longer sessions.
- Not the best at any single metric: every stat has layouts that beat it. Colemak DH’s value is being good enough at everything, not best at anything.
Setting up on ZSA Voyager
- Open the Oryx configurator.
- Select your Voyager.
- Use the “Layout” dropdown and pick Colemak DH. Oryx maps it to the columnar version automatically.
- Customise your thumb cluster and layers as desired.
- Flash the firmware.
No manual key-by-key remapping is needed — Oryx treats Colemak DH as a first-class preset.
Recommended starting point
Colemak DH is the recommended first alternative layout for someone new to non-QWERTY typing. It has the largest community, the most learning resources, and solid all-around performance. You can always switch to a more optimised layout later, and the muscle memory for home row positions (ARST on the left, NEIO on the right) transfers well to other layouts in the Colemak-like family.
Source
Keyboard Layouts Doc (3rd Edition)
See also
- Layout Candidates Compared — side-by-side comparison of Colemak DH against Sturdy, Graphite, Canary, and Recurva
- Layout Design Philosophy — the five categories of layout design
- Keyboard Layout Metrics — what SFB, SFS, rolls, redirects, and scissors actually measure
- Keyboard Layouts MOC