Dvorak Headcount

[averydonovan]

I had tried it a long time ago and unlike QWERTY I actually could touchtype reasonably comfortably with it. But the problem was that I used computers at work and that made using Dvorak at home a bit of a challenge. And I never gained the speed with Dvorak that I have with QWERTY. Even though I don't use the "proper" method of typing, I can mostly blindly hunt and peck just fine in QWERTY, to the tune of 50+ WPM. Using the proper method I can hit 60WPM but end up with wrist strain very quickly. I think sticking with my hunt and peck QWERTY is better in the long term since I'd really rather avoid carpal tunnel syndrome or other wrist injuries. Dvorak is a nice layout, just that there was and still is no benefit to me switching to it.

 

[nakedhand]

Sometimes VHS wins...

Too much of a hassle, QWERTY is just fine for my English and Danish writing needs. I am sticking with it.

 

[Arlekiin]

My dvorak is customised to support dotted letters we have in nordic countries. Also yes I totally agree with the steam engine topic. Should open a new one to discuss old technologies which deserve attention.

 

[DocHamm]

I've read up more on the Dvorak system and it's history. Very interesting. Maybe one day after I get my other projects completed I'll give it a try and maybe even build my own keyboard for it.

 

[Arlekiin]

Hehe cool dude,

But as said it is actually better not to have dvorak keys on your keyboard while you are typing dvorak. It makes you touch typist in no time. If you use dvorak layout you will peek and it will take alot more effort to master it. As said before I did it under one month.

 

[Presently42]

I use dvorak to touch-type and have done for a year or so now. Learning it didn't take me very long. It enabled me to finally learn to touch-type properly (in stead of the quasi touch-typing I'd been doing previous to the switch): when out with my telescope in the darkness and trying to type some thing on my lappy, touch-typing becomes a bit of a necessity.

Though I did rearrange the keys on my lappy, this was only for conversation-starting purposes ('Ooo, what's wrong with your keyboard?' 'Why, I use dvorak, the _better_ layout.').

 

[Aynjell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MCC /img/forum/go_quote.gif I use other computers very often in my field so it doesn't make sense for me to switch.

I've tried Dvorak, but my reasons for not using it after time weren't the same as some others, I'd imagine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif dvorak works very well for english, but not so well for some other languages. i have skipped it

For me, it was somewhat similar. Keyboard shortcuts are all based on the default key locations, if you're using Linux and want to do CTRL-C (ends a command line task), Dvorak shifts the C quite a bit away, and other keyboard shortcuts that I use often suffered a similar fate. I do a lot of crap on my PC and to not use shortcuts would make it unbearable.

 

[mark2410]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Presently42 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I use dvorak to touch-type and have done for a year or so now. Learning it didn't take me very long. It enabled me to finally learn to touch-type properly (in stead of the quasi touch-typing I'd been doing previous to the switch): when out with my telescope in the darkness and trying to type some thing on my lappy, touch-typing becomes a bit of a necessity. Though I did rearrange the keys on my lappy, this was only for conversation-starting purposes ('Ooo, what's wrong with your keyboard?' 'Why, I use dvorak, the _better_ layout.').

i did that for a while on my then only laptop but because i typed so little on it i never really got used to it and eventually had to change back. unfortunately i broke the c key when putting back and apple made it stupidly awkward to even tell me how much the keyboard would be. they demanded the serial number, 12 inch ibook wasnt good enough apparently but i figured i could live with it

 

[thread]

Dudes.

I believe it was this thread that I ran into one week ago exactly. I believe I'd half-heartedly tried the Dvorak layout a couple of times before. (Like giving up after a day or so style.) But this time... for some reason, the prospect of typing more comfortably intrigued me. (Even though I was typing 110-130 WPM on QWERTY and knew I wasn't keeping that for the foreseeable future.)

Oh, and I barely ever have to use anyone else's machine.

I immediately decided to try it again. On my Mac, I found the "Dvorak - Qwerty ⌘" layout to preserve my hotkeys that use the cmd key -- cool. I then basically switched cold turkey as soon as I busted out GNU Typist on my Gentoo Linux server and got to work.

The next day, I read a bit about how Dvorak users are the vast, vast minority because QWERTY is nearly universal now... And how it was going to take me some time to recoup my QWERTY speeds -- if I ever did.. and the 50 other reasons not to bother. But for some reason, I decided to continue bothering.

At first, I could still switch back and do QWERTY perfectly well. But after exactly one week of Dvorak, trying to use QWERTY is a bit difficult. I'm sure after an hour or so of using it I could get my chops back, but I'm really enjoying Dvorak too much to switch back right now.

I just did some full keyboard practice sets in gtypist and I'm already typing 50-60.

I do notice as I type it that my fingers really seem to do a nice amount of their work on the home row. I like it, and I don't think I'll stop. If I need to use someone's machine for a length of time, it's trivial to switch the layout in any modern OS.

So thanks for reminding me about the Dvorak layout, Head-Fi!