Dvorak keyboard, anyone use it?

hoom

hoom

Veteran
Hey, I've been experimenting with using Dvorak for the last few months & am at the point where its feeling pretty natural.
No major problems yet, only the minor annoyance of remapping wasd to ,aoe & the slight problem that ctrl c/x/v are all over the board now (sooner or later I'm gonna get round to remapping windoze keys...)
I did wind up inking in the qwerty on the front of the keys for ease when dealing with programs that don't notice you're not using qwerty.

I'm wondering if anyone else has tried/uses Dvorak?
 
I gave it some serious thoght but I don't see myself switching anytime soon simply because I would have to change it several times a day on different computers at school because no one uses it. There's also the downfall of common shortcuts beeing all over the keyboard (mainly CTRL+C/V/X, CTRL+S,...). I will most probably switch when I leave school or get a work because I don't want my wrists core in a couple of years.

If only Windows would have something like MacOS X to change keyboard shortcuts globally... Will look if this can be done though some hack or something.
 
I thought about it, but as I couldn't find a Spanish version (we have an odd letter: ñ), I gave up. Truth is that was 6 years ago and in that time lots of things have happenned, so who knows, maybe there is something for me).
 
megateto said:
I thought about it, but as I couldn't find a Spanish version (we have an odd letter: ñ), I gave up. Truth is that was 6 years ago and in that time lots of things have happenned, so who knows, maybe there is something for me).
Click to expand...

If you're using Windows you can make your own keyboard layout or modify an existing one if you want to add those letters. Search for something called Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator or something like that.
 
Varg Vikernes said:
If you're using Windows you can make your own keyboard layout or modify an existing one if you want to add those letters. Search for something called Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator or something like that.
Click to expand...

It's not something like that, it's exactly that¡

Thanks/gracias¡¡¡¡
 
I considred dvorak, but considering I can type at 110 WPM or so right now, I don't think it's really necessary...
 
I tried it on my qwerty for a while. My goodness it was FRUSTRATING!! Especially not knowing where the keys are lol. I would press a whole bunch and try to guess the right one, lol! Still even from that it was easier to use and more natural, I just need to memorise the keys and I'm sure I could type like 30% faster at least.
 
I rearranged the keys.
Most keyboards are quite amenable to that.

So apparently I'm one of very few people who have tried & stuck with it?

Good old inertia huh :rolleyes:
 
arrrse said:
I rearranged the keys.
Most keyboards are quite amenable to that.

So apparently I'm one of very few people who have tried & stuck with it?

Good old inertia huh :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
bah.
so me real scientific proof that Dvorak is so much better?
Every study I've seen has either been not been rigourously scientific, or has just had blatant bias.

So, convince me.
 
You post a rave about nonscientific proof & then ask me to prove it to you? :rolleyes:
I'm doing a personal, non scientific exploration.
I can offer no proof other than a personal belief that I don't seem to have to move my fingers around as much as I had to with qwerty.
I'm definitely still slower than I was with qwerty but thats just because I haven't learnt the layout fully (eg q, I have to look for that)
 
I don't see the point in even attempting to change to dvorak for me, my hands are just soo tuned to the qwerty position that it would take me at least a decade to build up the same proficiency with dvorak.

I'm not joking. I've been using qwerty for what, about 25 years now? :oops:
 
Yeh I guess I'm still young enough for the payoff to potentially be worth it.
You might want to consider getting your kids onto it though (if you happen to believe in the advantages of dvorak).

Ugh I had to spend the afternoon typing on qwerty & it felt really uncomfortable :?
Definitely felt like more finger movement & (not sure how to put this properly) more 'extreme' combos.
 
Not that I care what anybody uses, but this is a good read for all those dvorak conspiracy theorists.

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/25/0019242&tid=126&tid=218

And now it's time for "fun & facts" :)

- the fastest typist in the world is Barbara Blackburn (212 words per minute - guiness record) - couldn't pass her typing class until she switched to Dvorak.

- QWERTY was invented in the 19th century with little or no research. It was designed so the most used letters would be apart from each other so the typewriter didn't get jamed if you typed fast enough.

- Did you know you can type 'TYPEWRITER' with only accessing the upper most row of keys? That was a sales gimmick.

Basicly the short story is that any layout works good enough if you get used to it, but there are numerous reports of people having RSI which magicly disapeared for some (actually most) after they switched to a Dvorak layout.

One Slashdot reader put it best so I will just copy/paste what he said:

QWERTY won't kill your hand in ten minutes or ten days. More like ten years. For some people, maybe even never. But for others, much sooner. I for one would prefer to never get RSI, and I decided after I experienced what turned out to be a false alarm that I never wanted to experience the real thing. Unfortunately, no science has been done in this domain to my knowledge so we are on our own with anecdotes. I note, however, that while I have heard many "I switched from QWERTY to DVORAK and my pain got better" stories, I have never heard an "I switched to DVORAK and my pain got worse until I went back to QWERTY". (People with that story are invited to comment and tell it, please!)

DVORAK probably isn't an answer to all the problems, but it helps a lot. You really do move your hands a lot less. As a secondary result, you will also find yourself actually touchtyping; all my life my hands were always wandering with QWERTY, now they don't, because they don't have to; wandering hands always "wander" into sub-optimal positions, which if you think about it ought to be a characteristic of a properly designed keyboard layout.
Click to expand...

I, for one, do care about my hands as I type most of the day and although I didn't get RSI, I do get some minor pain every now and then - particulary if I type very fast. I've done a lot of reading on this subject lately and I must say I am convinced. All the posts/articles I read from Dvorak people, they all agree it makes typing easier and less strengthful (is this a word?) and surely they all can not be lying. There is no good reason to switch if you don't type a lot, but some people spend 8 to 9 hours a day programming. This is a major stress on your hands, fingers and wrists.

Note that I am not trying to force anyone. I couldn't care less what you do with your health. I am purely providing some info I gathered through the past days. But I will leave you with a final thought - try to write 4 pages of 12px text as fast as you can and tell me your hands don't hurt.

Typing those 4 pages - your fingers moved more than 13.000 times.
 
I use qwerty but I don't use the "proper" possition. i have learned, subconciously, where all of the keys are and I just use whatever finger happens to be closest to that key at the moment I want to hit it. it's a lot better that trying to type the "proper" way and i can type a lot fatster this way too. My hands mostly stay in the general area that they're supposed to be in but sometimes I will go as far as, say, hitting the Y/U/J keys with my left hand simply because my right hand would have to move further to hit it. It's also a lot more enjoyable to performa and watch than "proper" typing because my hands and fingers dance all accross the keyboard. I also never use my thunbs, not even for the spacebar- for that I almost always use my right indec finger.
 
Qwerty also has that universal edge, even if you learn/love Dvorak about 99.9% of the PCs you encounter won't be using it.
Click to expand...
But 100% will be capable of it with a few clicks.
Its just a different language setting.
You don't even need to change the physical keyboard/layout if you are touchtyping, you just need to set the OS keyboard input to Dvorak.
Takes me 2 clicks on my PC.
 
arrrse said:
You post a rave about nonscientific proof & then ask me to prove it to you? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
what?
I post a POST (not a rave) about how most studies I see on it are blatantly biased, and ask if you have any that are not.
you then return with gibberish. Have ancie day.
 
Point is I have no 'scientific proof' & I'm not going to attempt to provide any.

This thread was about me finding out what some other people thought of Dvorak after having tried it, so that I could compare their thoughts with my own experience.

So far I intend to keep with it unless I run into some insurmountable problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Cyan
Do you play using W,A,S,D, or do you use the arrow keys Up, Down, Left and Right?
2 3
Replies
53
Views
4K
hughJ
H
G
Corsair K60 gaming keyboard impressions
Replies
1
Views
3K
Vadi
V
G
Logitech G700 Mouse Review
2
Replies
20
Views
11K
Grall
G
A
Full transcript of John Carmack's QuakeCon 2005 Keynote
3 4 5
Replies
98
Views
33K
nemisis
N
Back
Top