Dvorak keyboard layout

[roymond]

Anybody here use the Dvorak system? Seems superior to QWERTY but hasn't caught on. What will it take? Who has used it for any length of time?

[frankie big face]

Wow, that's pretty interesting. Are we too old, Roy? Or do we give this a go?

[roymond]

I figure the only way to try is to dive in and take some tutorial lessons. But since my keyboard is set up (the keys are printed) as qwerty, even though I can choose dvorak as a key assignment it would be entirely touch typing, which I'm not entirely proficient in to begin with. I'm thinking of giving it a go to see if there is an obvious perceived advantage

[Rabid Garfunkel]

Used it for a couple of years way back when and while it is a bit fasterer/more "natural" feeling, I wasn't schitzy enough to keep up with it (working in environments jumping between multiple shared computers and being under very short deadlines... the different locations of the command-key shortcuts between the layouts, super-ouch).

That said, the way to happiness is to dig out/pick up a spare keyboard as cheap as you're willing to go, and use a small screwdriver to gently pry off the keys so you can rearrange them in a Dvorak layout. Makes life & learning easier, that.

And don't start collecting manual typewriters, heh.

[Niveous]

Anybody here use the Dvorak system? Seems superior to QWERTY but hasn't caught on. What will it take? Who has used it for any length of time?

My housemate has been using this for years and swears by it. She has carpal tunnel and arthritis and the Dvorak helps.

[Lunkhead]

I've tried it, but ran into the same barriers: all my keyboards have QWERTY printed on them, plus I'd still have to type on keyboards belonging to other people fairly often. I've also got almost many years of QWERTY touch typing going. Still, it seems like it could work better eventually.

(These days my main typing pain comes from the fact that I'm constantly using the modifier keys while I program. I think I need to make Ctrl, Alt, and Shift foot pedals or something.)