Workman
Finger | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Usage | 6.55% (P56) | 8.20% (P50) | 10.41% (P30) | 15.45% (P75) | 13.37% (P73) | 12.64% (P40) | 9.12% (P44) | 7.03% (P33) |
Same Finger | Full Scissor | Half Scissor | Lat. Stretch | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bigram | 2.16% (P88) | 0.07% (P32) | 1.26% (P35) | 0.89% (P65) |
Skipgram | 5.42% (P73) | 0.29% (P54) | 2.48% (P47) | 1.32% (P68) |
No Thumbs | Left Space | Right Space | |
---|---|---|---|
Weak-ish Redirs. | 1.54% (P84) | 1.46% (P90) | 1.01% (P73) |
Weak Redirects | 0.86% (P80) | 0.41% (P84) | 0.41% (P84) |
Other Same Finger | 23.09% (P87) | 15.58% (P88) | 15.58% (P88) |
Rolls : Alts | 2.25 (P90) | 2.81 (P81) | 1.93 (P80) |
2-Roll In : Out | 1.10 (P50) | 0.91 (P33) | 1.28 (P68) |
3-Roll In : Out | 1.06 (P45) | 0.47 (P5) | 0.99 (P51) |
- Author
- OJ Bucao
- Year
- 2010
- Finger Map
- Traditional
Workman’s stated goal is to prevent repetitive strain injury. Its primary innovation was challenging the home row-centered design of its predecessors Dvorak and Colemak. OJ Bucao argues that the home row center column should not be given priority, but only the home keys—that is, the keys directly under the resting position of each finger.
Workman’s design philosophy teaches that up and down finger movements are preferable to left and right movements. This leads Workman to have low LSBs (for its era) in exchange for high SFNs, particularly 2u SFBs.
Like Colemak, Workman maintains its QWERTY heritage by keeping ZXCV
on the left hand bottom row and minimizing the amount of letters that switch hands compared to QWERTY.
Workman prioritizes balanced hand usage more so than any other layout, achieving a near-perfect 50%/50% ratio.
Install
Section titled “Install”There are two downloads available for macOS:
Method | Admin Required | Notes |
---|---|---|
Native | Optional | Does not require 3rd party key remapping software. Admin is required to install for all users and use on first login. |
Karabiner-Elements | Yes | Requires 3rd party key remapping software, including the installation of a Driver Extension. Allows for remapping of only specific keyboards. |
-
Download the keylayout file for Workman:
-
Extract the downloaded zip file.
-
Install the
.keylayout
file:Run one of the install scripts from the extracted folder:
- install-user.sh to install for a single user
- install-system.sh to install for all users
- workman_X.keylayout the layout to install
To install for a single user: Copy the
.keylayout
file from the extracted folder to~/Library/Keyboard Layouts
. Create the folder if it doesn’t exist.To install for all users: Copy the
.keylayout
file from the extracted folder to/Library/Keyboard Layouts
. -
Restart macOS.
-
Open System Settings.
-
Go to Keyboard → Text Input → Input Sources → Edit… and add your new Workman layout.
-
Press the “+” button at the bottom left.
-
Search for “Workman,” select your new layout, and press Add.
-
Install Karabiner-Elements:
-
Download the Karabiner rule file for Workman:
-
In Karabiner-Elements Settings, go to “Complex Modifications,” then press “Add predefined rule” at the top.
-
Make sure you know how to type your computer password using Workman.
-
Scroll down to the “Workman” section and enable the rule you want.
“All keyboards” remaps Workman onto all keyboards while connected to this computer. Select this reason unless you want to exclude some keyboards from remapping.
“Built-in keyboard only” remaps your device's built-in keyboard, as well as any other keyboard for which “Treat as built-in keyboard” (under the “Devices” section) is enabled. Select this option if you plan to map Workman onto an external keyboard using custom firmware.
-
To use Workman on the password entry screen before logging in, follow the official instructions: