Soul keyboard layout
Soul is a Colemak-like layout from the Symmetric Typing Project, built for typing the left hand’s bottom row one finger over so both hands move as mirror images.
- Created by
- kennetchaz
- Symmetric Typing Project
- Year
- 2015
- As Solemak; Soul since 2020
- Finger travel
- −44%
- vs QWERTY
- Home row
- 67%
- of letters, QWERTY 37%
The layout
Soul, typed with symmetric fingering: the left hand’s bottom row one finger over, mirroring the right.
Soul is typed with symmetric fingering: the left hand strikes the bottom row one finger over, as with the angle mod, so the ring finger takes the key left of X.
How Soul measures
Soul typed on 23,331 words of English and compared with QWERTY.
History
- 2015The Symmetric Typing Project publishes Solemak, for typing the left hand’s bottom row one finger over.
- 2020Soul replaces Solemak. It keeps S in its QWERTY place and moves H, D and B to better keys.
Design goal: A Colemak-like layout made specifically for symmetric fingering on a standard staggered keyboard.
Pros
- S stays where it is on QWERTY, and fewer letters change finger than with Colemak.
- Few awkward same-finger pairs, and less centre-column use than Colemak.
- Works on any standard keyboard, with downloads for Windows, macOS and Linux.
Cons
- You relearn finger assignments as well as letter positions.
- One more letter moves than with Colemak.
- A small single-maintainer project with less documentation than Colemak.
Soul compared
Against QWERTY and other research and ergonomic layouts, ranked by finger travel per 1,000 words.
| Layout | Finger travel | vs QWERTY | Home row | Same finger | Alternation | Left hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halmak | 69.2 m | −47% | 65% | 3.3% | 66% | 51% |
| MTGAP | 70.6 m | −46% | 65% | 1.3% | 63% | 49% |
| Capewell | 72.0 m | −45% | 67% | 1.8% | 50% | 49% |
| Arensito | 72.4 m | −44% | 67% | 1.6% | 52% | 52% |
| SoulTHIS PAGE | 73.2 m | −44% | 67% | 1.6% | 56% | 48% |
| RSTHD | 73.2 m | −44% | 70% | 1.2% | 57% | 45% |
| BEAKL 15 | 87.4 m | −33% | 59% | 3.4% | 68% | 49% |
| QWERTY | 130.0 m | — | 37% | 6.5% | 55% | 57% |
Soul was made by kennetchaz of the Symmetric Typing Project. It first appeared as Solemak in 2015 and was renamed Soul in 2020.
It moves your fingers less. On 23,331 words of English, finger travel was −44% against QWERTY, 67% of letters landed on the home row against QWERTY’s 37%, and same-finger pairs were 1.6% against 6.5%. Less movement does not guarantee more speed, and switching takes weeks of practice.
Soul is typed with symmetric fingering: the left hand strikes the bottom row one finger over, as with the angle mod, so the ring finger takes the key left of X.
Yes. Choose Soul as your keyboard layout and the on-screen keyboard and hands show where every key is.