The site itself is layout independent, but the lessons are always designed with a certain layout in mind. Even if yours is not supported, you can follow the lessons by slightly adjusting the on-screen instructions to suit your specific layout. In such a case always press the keys defined in the exercise, even if you have to use different fingers. Search for the proper finger placement for your layout and use the fingers specified there.
QWERTY was designed to be used for the latin alphabet. The name comes from the first six keys of the top row of the keyboard. The layout was first designed for the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, then was sold to Remington in 1873. Slightly modified it became immensely popular with the Remington No. 2 typewriter of 1878, and is probably the most widespread layout in world with most other layouts based on it in some way or another.
Legend has it that the layout was designed to slow down the typist to prevent jams by assigning frequently used-together keys farther away to encourage the alternation of hands.
The Colemak layout is a popular alternative to the standard QWERTY keyboard layout, offering another option to those already accustomed to the standard. It was designed to be more efficient and ergonomic for touch typing in English.
Shai Coleman developed the Colemak keyboard layout in order to make typing easier by placing the most frequent letters under the strongest fingers. This is to prevent RSI syndrome that can be caused by repetitive and lasting movements such as pressing keys frequently in an unfavorable position, so a faster typing speed is achieved.
The QWERTZ layout is fairly widely used in Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland and other parts of Central Europe. The main difference between it and QWERTY is that Y and Z are swapped, and some special characters such as brackets are replaced by the diacritical characters of the specific language.
On this website, lessons are available for the Hungarian QWERTZ layout.
