If you are happy with 80+ WPM on QWERTY or comfortable on Colemak, The marginal ergonomic gain is not worth the weeks of frustration and broken muscle memory for shortcuts.
Unlike QWERTY (designed to prevent typewriter jams) or Colemak (optimized for row-stagger), Arun assumes you are using a keyboard where columns are straight. It minimizes vertical finger travel and avoids awkward "lateral" stretches common on row-stagger boards. lmg arun keyboard layout
Because vowels and consonants are interleaved, your hands will constantly be swapping. This is fast on a split keyboard because each hand can prepare for its next key while the other hand is pressing. Typing feels like a rhythmic, two-handed dance. If you are happy with 80+ WPM on
Note: The LMG Arun is a niche, keyboard-layout-optimization enthusiast layout. If you are unfamiliar with custom layouts (like Colemak, Workman, or Norman), this review provides the necessary context. The LMG Arun layout is a significant, albeit controversial, entry into the world of alternative keyboard layouts. Designed for modern, ergonomic keyboards (especially column-staggered splits like the Kyria, Corne, or Lily58), it attempts to solve a problem that even popular layouts like Colemak DH leave unresolved: same-finger bigrams (SFBs) . The Core Philosophy: Radical Same-Finger Bigram Reduction Most layouts prioritize keeping common letter pairs (like he , th , an ) on different hands or different fingers. LMG Arun takes this to an extreme. Its primary goal is to reduce SFBs to near-zero, even for pairs like ed , un , and my , which are notoriously difficult to eliminate. Because vowels and consonants are interleaved, your hands
If you have RSI or pain in your pinky fingers, Arun is a godsend. The pinky is relegated to rare consonants ( Q , J , Z , X ) and punctuation. Your primary typing fingers (index, middle, ring) do almost all the work. Weaknesses (The Trade-offs) 1. Steep Learning Curve Because it breaks the "vowels on one hand" heuristic, it feels profoundly alien. On QWERTY or Colemak, your brain knows "right hand = mostly consonants." On Arun, the pattern is more complex. Expect 2-4 weeks of dedicated practice (30 mins/day) before reaching 30 WPM, and 2-3 months for fluency.