Dvorak keyboard layout

[faulty_damper]

I have made the switch over to Dvorak layout.  I even moved the keys around and I now have a funky feel as the keys are not level with each other.  Perhaps I should have purchased some stickers with the letters of the keys and placed thew in Dvorak layout instead of moving the keys around.

And I have add, I am really frustrated with finding where the keys are!  It's taking me a very long time to compose this post.

So far, the common mistake I am making is with the letter 'W' as I seem to keep hitting the 'M' as they are right under my 2 and 3 finger of my right hand.  Aside from that, I am not confusing Dvorak with Qwerty much.  (And to think that I could have typed out "Qwerty" so much faster had I not switched.)

Sincerely struggling,
fD in SF

Post script: I'll get better, soon, I hope.  Until then, I suck.

[Saturn]

Excellent!

It is well worth it to switch to Dvorak.  I switched to it about 6 months ago, and for a while (when I was learning), my roommate wondered why I was typing so incredibly slow.  I explained the Dvorak layout to him, and he asked what the point of it was, and I said "supposedly it's easier and more comfortable to type with" and he responded "sure doesn't look like it."

Anyway, the most important point is to not get frustrated and not try to do too much at one time.  Just keep with it, and learn at your own pace.  I don't find it necessary to switch the keys around (since you shouldn't be looking at them anyway).

This page contains some good resources and tips for learning Dvorak:
https://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak/

One of the tips mentioned is to not use Qwerty at all while you are learning Dvorak.  However, I found myself switching to Qwerty sometimes, and I don't believe it hindered my learning any.  I took about two weeks to become familiar with the whole keyboard, and two more weeks to have my typing speed up to a pretty good level.  After that I had to spend another few days getting familiar with qwerty again (so I could type on normal keyboards).  Then it was smooth sailing.

When I was learning Dvorak, I trained for a short time every day (maybe 15-20 minutes) using this course:
https://www.gigliwood.com/abcd/abcd.html
You may find it helpful.

Good luck.

- Saturn

[squiggly_girl]

Sorry for reposting this, but I posted this over on another board before I realised there was a whole thread devoted to this topic.

I'm interested in this DVORAK keyboard layout thing, so, hope yous don't mind but I wanna camp there for a little. I don't have the patience to learn a whole other layout...but I did try changing my work keyboard over yesterday, to see what the key layout was like. Did I miss what DVORAK actually stands for?

What's a little confusing to me is this: to implement changes you have to restart the computer. Because I was using a work computer, this also means that I need to log on to the system to complete the whole restart process.  

So I changed over to DVORAK and logged off to implement changes. Then to log back in I typed my password as usual, using QWERTY. Subsequently when I'd had enough of typing gobbledegook, I changed the settings back to QWERTY. To implement these I, of course, had to log off again and relog in. And again, I typed my password in as I usually do, in the QWERTY system.  

But this is the thing. Shouldn't the computer at some point during that process NOT have recognised my password because of the different keyboard configuration? What's going on there?

Also another question: any known OOS/RSI issues with DVORAK vs QWERTY?

[Saturn]

Also another question: any known OOS/RSI issues with DVORAK vs QWERTY?

Not sure, I haven't looked into this really.  I would think that the cases of OOS/RSI are much lower with dvorak than with qwerty (assuming proper typing technique), because of the way that Dvorak works.

It requires a LOT less moving since most of the typing is done on the home row.  A lot less effort is required to get the same amount of typing done, which is always helpful.  Also, aside from the vowels, the letters the left hand types are the less common ones.  So the hand that is weaker (the left hand for most people) does less work.  There is also a lot more alternation between the left and right hand, which minimizes the chance of 'awkward positions'.

But I don't know for sure.  Check out the link in my other post in this thread, it probably has some info on RSI and such.

- Saturn

[thomas_williams]

I have never heard of the Dvorak keyboard layout before.  I just had a look at one of the above links.  

Anyway, I like the name of the layout
When I clicked on the thread I thought it was going to be music related!  I was quite puzzled by it!

[squiggly_girl]

Hey Saturn,

Thanks for the info you posted over at the other thread about the login issue. So basically, the keypad at the entry point, or login if you will, always uses the standard QWERTY layout. Makes sense and is somewhat reassuring. Except! To me what this still means potential disasdter for the Dvorak user and the QWERTY recognition system. Let's say I'm a Dvorak user, and have my keypad changed over to Dvorak. My password is pilot1. Now, to set my password I have to open up some secure browser to enter it. I type pilot1 for my password. What goes into the system is pilot1. However, when I logoff, my keyboard is back on QWERTY. SO when I log in again, and type pilot1 (in Dvorak), what the computer is going to detect is rgpsk1 instead. *Please check that Caps Lock is not on!* Does the dvorak user simply have to learn the password for both languages?

There was some interesting stuff on the dvorak website, not much devoted to RSI though. It would be worth doing research on I reckon.

[Saturn]

Hey Saturn,

Thanks for the info you posted over at the other thread about the login issue. So basically, the keypad at the entry point, or login if you will, always uses the standard QWERTY layout. Makes sense and is somewhat reassuring. Except! To me what this still means potential disasdter for the Dvorak user and the QWERTY recognition system. Let's say I'm a Dvorak user, and have my keypad changed over to Dvorak. My password is pilot1. Now, to set my password I have to open up some secure browser to enter it. I type pilot1 for my password. What goes into the system is pilot1. However, when I logoff, my keyboard is back on QWERTY. SO when I log in again, and type pilot1 (in Dvorak), what the computer is going to detect is rgpsk1 instead. *Please check that Caps Lock is not on!* Does the dvorak user simply have to learn the password for both languages?

Essentially, every Dvorak user will have to be well versed in Qwerty.  Simply because even though it's easy to switch computers over to Dvorak now, it's not always practical.  So why learn Dvorak?  Because when you get the chance to use it, it's much more comfortable!  But you still need to be able to type in qwerty, ESPECIALLY your passwords.

There was some interesting stuff on the dvorak website, not much devoted to RSI though. It would be worth doing research on I reckon.

If I get time to look into it, I will.  If you find anything, please post it here!

- Saturn

[squiggly_girl]

It seems learning Dvorak would "up my tech geek street cred", which would be kinda cool. The dilemma I'm in is that I also want to learn a keyboard layout tailored to maximum typing efficiency for the Maori language. Trying to learn 2 new things at once. Some may be able to do it but not me!

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