The Dvorak Keyboard

[progbuddy]

Anyone used one before? Typing on one right now :) The layout is hard to get used to, but seems to make sense.

[Spawn-Inc]

to me that would be like learning to write with my left hand instead of my right. i could do it slowly but hands down qwerty for me.

[killergamer]

I had to write a two page long report on it I like how its set up for speed so if you memorize it you can get like 200 words a min.

[progbuddy]

I had to write a two page long report on it I like how its set up for speed so if you memorize it you can get like 200 words a min.

Yeah. I'm already getting used to it, although I still find that the placement of the F key is awkward.

[Zephik]

http://www.maltron.com/images/keyboards/maltron-usb-dual-l90-uk-mac-dvorak-1-large.jpg

:eek:

[xmastree]

http://www.maltron.com/images/keyboards/maltron-usb-dual-l90-uk-mac-dvorak-1-large.jpg

:eek:

Now that's just weird.

[Luke122]

I've used one of those curved ergo keyboards before, but not a dvorak one.. that would be unbelievable to get used to.

But yeah, standard QWERTY keyboards were modeled after typewriters, which had the keys arranged to spread out the most common letters and prevent the type heads from getting jammed. Dvorak is designed to group the most commonly used letters together on the home row, to increase typing speed.

They say that if you use a dvorak keyboard exclusively for a few weeks, you'll be upwards of 100wpm, and after a bit longer (months? years maybe?) you'll be around 200wpm ( as mentioned previously).

[progbuddy]

I've used one of those curved ergo keyboards before, but not a dvorak one.. that would be unbelievable to get used to.

But yeah, standard QWERTY keyboards were modeled after typewriters, which had the keys arranged to spread out the most common letters and prevent the type heads from getting jammed. Dvorak is designed to group the most commonly used letters together on the home row, to increase typing speed.

They say that if you use a dvorak keyboard exclusively for a few weeks, you'll be upwards of 100wpm, and after a bit longer (months? years maybe?) you'll be around 200wpm ( as mentioned previously).

Well, I peak out at around 130 on a standard QWERTY keyboard. I was looking for something that would allow me to go faster in the long run, so I was looking at this and the Colemak layout, but it's not very widely supported (Link (http://colemak.com/)). The Dvorak keyboard looked pretty neat because it made more sense than to have so much finger travel and moving across the keyboard more than three times ("minimum", "stewardesses", etc.).

[Luke122]

Hmm.. I wonder if you could switch the key caps on a qwerty keyboard to be used as a dvorak layout? Might be a quick/cheap way to try it out.

[progbuddy]

Hmm.. I wonder if you could switch the key caps on a qwerty keyboard to be used as a dvorak layout? Might be a quick/cheap way to try it out.

Already did so. :P

[Spawn-Inc]

well it can be done on a mac...

http://www.applemacbook.com/mods/macbooks-qwerty-keyboard-converted-to-dvorak

http://www.applemacbook.com/mods/images/white-macbook-dvorak-keyboard-3.jpg

[Datech]

Hmm.. I wonder if you could switch the key caps on a qwerty keyboard to be used as a dvorak layout? Might be a quick/cheap way to try it out.

Yea, all modern Windows releases support Dvorak's layout (I can vouch for 2000-7, dunno about 98). I don't remember the exact path in all of the versions, but in Vista it's Control Panel-> Regional and Language Options-> Keyboards and Languages-> Change Keyboards-> Then add the Dvorak keyboard, it is under the English menu.

I'd recommend printing out the Dvorak keyboard layout beforehand, and arranging the keys after you set it.

I read a lengthy report advocating switching to Dvorak. The author and his test subjects were recorded at 100-200 wpm after about a week or two with the Dvorak keyboard and no prior training. At every checkpoint of his study himself and his subjects were typing faster than they thought they would in a similar learning stage on a QWERTY, and by the end they were all typing noticeably faster on the Dvorak. He said that after about 2 months he could switch back and forth between a QWERTY and a Dvorak seamlessly.