Semimak keyboard layout
Semimak is a 2021 layout optimised to minimise how fast fingers must move, cutting same-finger pairs and skips; its creator reached 200 words per minute on it.
- Created by
- semilin
- Year
- 2021
- 200 wpm reported by its creator
- Finger travel
- −42%
- vs QWERTY
- Home row
- 64%
- of letters, QWERTY 37%
The layout
Semimak, the 2021 original, with Q on the top row and the apostrophe and J on the bottom row.
Semimak is typed with standard touch-typing fingering; its creator also publishes an angle-mod build.
How Semimak measures
Semimak typed on 23,331 words of English and compared with QWERTY.
History
- Jul 2021semilin releases Semimak, made with genkey, his own analyser, which weights each finger by the dexterity he measured and penalises same-finger skips.
- 2022He reports reaching 200 words per minute on it. A variant, Semimak JQ, moves J, Q and the apostrophe.
Design goal: Minimise overall finger speed, penalising same-finger pairs and also same-finger skips, with letters placed by each finger’s measured dexterity.
Pros
- Very few same-finger pairs.
- Few same-finger skips, a measure it helped popularise.
- Proven at the top end, with 200 wpm and higher reported, and installers for Windows, macOS and Linux.
Cons
- Tuned to its creator’s own fingers, and by his account it will not suit many people.
- Loads the ring and pinky fingers heavily, and has a fair number of redirects.
- Punctuation under the vowels creates some awkward stretches.
Semimak compared
Against QWERTY and other modern optimised layouts, ranked by finger travel per 1,000 words.
| Layout | Finger travel | vs QWERTY | Home row | Same finger | Alternation | Left hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| APT | 71.7 m | −45% | 65% | 1.3% | 61% | 48% |
| Nerps | 71.8 m | −45% | 67% | 1.2% | 66% | 48% |
| Graphite | 72.0 m | −45% | 67% | 0.9% | 66% | 48% |
| Hands Down Neu | 75.3 m | −42% | 65% | 1.0% | 68% | 51% |
| SemimakTHIS PAGE | 75.3 m | −42% | 64% | 0.9% | 64% | 47% |
| Sturdy | 76.1 m | −41% | 63% | 1.0% | 61% | 44% |
| Engram | 77.8 m | −40% | 58% | 2.9% | 64% | 51% |
| QWERTY | 130.0 m | — | 37% | 6.5% | 55% | 57% |
Semimak was created by semilin and released in July 2021.
It moves your fingers less. On 23,331 words of English, finger travel was −42% against QWERTY, 64% of letters landed on the home row against QWERTY’s 37%, and same-finger pairs were 0.9% against 6.5%. Less movement does not guarantee more speed, and switching takes weeks of practice.
Semimak is typed with standard touch-typing fingering; its creator also publishes an angle-mod build.
Yes. Choose Semimak as your keyboard layout and the on-screen keyboard and hands show where every key is.