Where dod you get the layout and the OSX switch tool?

I tried switching to Dvorak once before. I even relabelled the keys on my keyboard and got to a moderate speed with it. Unfortunately, my switch was timed toward the end of a college semester, and when it came time to write the several page essays I gave up and went back to Qwerty.

I’ve thought of giving Dvorak another shot, but there are still some areas (such as text editors) where application key-commands were arranged (after years of trial-and-error) to logically fit a Qwerty keyboard.

In Mac OS X, it’s in the International control panel.

In Windows, it’s in the Keyboard control panel.

I modified and printed this keyboard layout reference.

Yeah, dvorak!

Are you sure _why doesn’t use it? That would be just like him.

Welcome to the fold! I changed layouts a couple of years back for exactly the same reason.

I talked to him on IRC and he said he doesn’t use Dvorak.

He didn’t explicitly say that he uses Qwerty, so for all I know he may have assembled his own layout optimized for writing Ruby!

I take it you didn’t bother with a typing tutor, such as Tom Thumb, or Key Advantage?

Is this truly the case? This article intrigued me so I looked into it but the fact that QWERTY is cited as inefficient is actually more a myth (as several qualified researchers have pointed out).

Actually, I type in Japanese as well and I’m relearning “kana input” where each key represents a Japanese alphabet. Most Japanese alphabet characters take a combination of a vowel and a consonant (except the vowels) so theoretically you can double your speed. However, to do that you need to memorize twice the number of keys (since Japanese has more alphabet characters).

This has indeed been a journey. I might be making half the key strokes but it’s taking me five times as much to type—and there is no stream of consciousness flow. Now I can’t go back to the old method without unlearning the new so I’ve settled on retraining myself with intensive “kana input” drills.

I think the evidence for DVORAK is even more suspect. In this age of electronic keyboards, surely market forces for efficiency would have done away with the “lock-in” effect. Just as Apple is slowly making inroads into the hardcore geek community with its slick interface and unix underpinnings.

My question, and this is not meant to be sarcastic, is “will this investment ultimately pay off?” If you type at less the speed of what you can with QWERTY obviously your hands will hurt less, will this benefit hold when you approach the same speeds? More importantly how long will it take to approach that speed? As a programmer is it worth the investment to interrupt the productivity for an extended period of time in such an exciting moment in rails history? Is it worth putting a mental obstacle of clumsy fingers between your mind and code? From my own experience, relearning a keyboard layout feels akin to rehabilitation after a stroke.

Sorry for this long comment. I missed my chance to pullout in the middle and can’t bring myself to delete it. Feel free to do so though.

The QWERTY Myth

the fable of the keys

Wikipedia Dvorak article

“he is sitting on the road”

1 non-home-row character on colemac (“g”) 2 non-home-row characters on dvorak (“gr”) 13 non-home-row characters on qwerty (“eiittinontero”)

:)

I type on colemac (switched 3 days ago from qwerty), and I already have ~25 wpm. Many shortcuts stay the same:

Command+Z (Undo), Command+X (Cut), Command+C (Copy), Command+V (Paste), Command+B (Bold), Command+Q (Quit application), Command+M (Minimize), Command+H (Hide application)

Beats dvorak most times because it was designed for computers, and not for typing machines.

Whoops, it’s colemaK:

http://colemak.com/

I found a Dvorak and a Dvorak Querty layout in the mac Pref Pane.

Anyone knows what’s the difference between them? (The keyboard viewer shows the same layout)

Thanks.

Dvorak – Qwerty uses Dvorak for regular typing and Qwerty for the command keys (so copy, paste, quit, etc. match the letters painted on the keys).

ACTUALLY Richstyles I too went through the pain (in the royal arse) and switched to Dvorak after finding AN IMMENSE amount of research on the subject. One study that really convinced me was one in which the author used a computer to run tests on a number of keyboard layouts to determine their efficiency. The reason he was doing so was because he thought he’d designed an even more efficient layout than Dvorak. The results? His layout was statistically about as efficient as Dvorak-and BOTH were TONS more efficient then QWERTY. I can’t find the darn study now, but I was impressed that his findings supported what I’d read elsewhere, even though he set out to hopefully prove HIS OWN was the fastest. The thing that drove me to move to Dvorak was wrist pain, and just hand fatigue. My speed on QWERTY was outstanding (90-100 WPM) but I found that after extended periods of typing my hands weren’t happy. Also, I think it’s safe to say that most people find that their typing speed improves with Dvorak-maybe not a ton, but at least a little bit. But, most importantly for anyone who does a lot of typing (like me), is that now I have very little or no wrist/hand pain and fatigue. And that you can’t argue with. No one who’s ever successfully made the switch doubts it’s benefits. What do you have to say to that? Dvorak is a pain for experienced and skilled QWERTY typists to switch to, but the switch is worth it.

The following link provides a fairly straight-forward, logical discussion of the reason why one would choose the Dvorak method. You claim the studies showing the benefits of Dvorak are questionable, yet the links you provide are to studies which can not produce ANY evidence and thus, are valuable only as shere speculation.

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/8/28/21547/2069