Does anybody type using the Dvorak keyboard layout?

Off-topic
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Do you use the Dvorak keyboard layout? It is an alternative layout to QWERTY. The keys are in a different arrangement. August Dvorak (cousin of the composer) analyzed the English language in the 1930’s, I believe, and produced a more efficient, more logical layout.

Its design helps reduce the amount of finger travel, and thus may help reduce or eliminate Repetitive Strain Injury. There are three main design factors, if I recall, that contribute to the main objective of being FASTER.

[list=1]

  • Reduce the distance your fingers travel. This improves speed but may also help those suffering from RSI.
  • Load-balance the two hands. ALL the vowels are on home row of the left hand. In Dvorak, you have far fewer words like "access" -- which in QWERTY is typed all with one hand. Dvorak has more of an alternating hand rhythm, thus spreading out the load and improving speed.
  • Facilitate an inward finger progression while typing. If you curl your fingers and tap each one (excluding the thumb) on the table - da da da dum -- you will start with the pinky and end with the index finger. This natural movement of the fingers is encouraged by the layout of the keys in the Dvorak keyboard layout. [/list=1]

    Anyone with a Windows computer (and presumably Mac) can easily select the Dvorak layout.

    It’s different and fun. And more logical than QWERTY. And not many people do it.

    For more info, try Google.

    Here is a good site – Introducing the Dvorak Keyboard.

    LASTLY, if you are still with me (and you are), there are ONE-HANDED versions of the Dvorak layout (uni-typing?). Either left-handed or right-handed. You put your one hand in the center of the keyboard. The most frequently used letters radiate out from the center. There are surprisingly FEW long reaches, and you can type rather quickly, given a bit of practice. You can use the other hand, if you have one, for the mouse, drinking coffe, or whatever.

    uni57 (Dave), “two-handed Dvorak speed demon”

    P.S. - Remember the first days of typing class? jjjj kkkk jkjk kjkj
    We should have protested right then and there. Why aren’t the most commonly used letters on home row??? I mean, didn’t you people ever watch Wheel of Fortune?

    • 2

    I gave it a go ages ago. I didn’t try it for anywhere near long enough to get as fast as I am with a qwerty keyboard, but I could see it had the potential.

    The thing that put me off was that it was either one or the other… unless all the computers you use have dvorak keyboards, I found it horrible… on changing from one to the other my typing speed plummeted almost to the level of pecking for each key in turn. Unless I started carrying a keyboard round with me, it was destined to end up just confusing me even more than I am already…

    Phil

    3

    Re: Does anybody type using the Dvorak keyboard layout?

    I have not, but please, for God’s sake, please, tell us it doesn’t mean that you need your right hand to type the word “stewardesses” on it!

    http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23186

    Raphael Lasar
    Matawan, NJ

    4

    Re: Re: Does anybody type using the Dvorak keyboard layout?

    I can type stewardesses (using BOTH hands) in 0.00000001 seconds in Dvorak.

    If you need one hand free while thoughts of stewardesses dance through your head (assuming this is what you were referring to), then you should learn the ONE-HANDED Dvorak layout.

    uni57 (Dave)

    5

    Re: Re: Re: Does anybody type using the Dvorak keyboard layout?

    I don’t really think my synapses (or whatever it is that fires) fire that quickly.

    Actually it is not what I was referring to, but shame on you! This is supposed to be a family friendly forum. (I was referring to the claim that “stewardesses” is the longest word typed exclusively on a standard keyboard using only your left hand. (And I even provided the link back to the post wherein that claim is contained.) Not only do you have a filthy mind, but you really ruined my witty post! Hmmmpppphhhh!)

    Raphael Lasar
    Matawan, NJ

    6

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Does anybody type using the Dvorak keyboard layout?

    Sorry. Usually I’m quite G rated (and I max out at PG-13). I don’t know what came over me. And for the record, you have to read my post between the lines in order for it to be, as you called it, filthy. :slight_smile:

    I followed your link; I found the reference. I think I exercised due diligence before posting. I just misunderstood your meaning. :slight_smile:

    ACTUALLY, Rhysling posted under my name. :smiley:

    uni57 (Dave)
    P.S. - And I may have put the decimal point way in the wrong place.

    7

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Does anybody type using the Dvorak keyboard layout?

    Now that I believe. :stuck_out_tongue:

    Raphael Lasar
    Matawan, NJ

    8

    actually I’ve been using dvorak for about a month or 2 now. I took all the keys out of my laptop and rearanged it in DVORAK.

    Im pretty fast but still no speed demon! I also make lots of mistakes.

    9

    How do you find having to switch between the two, or do you try to avoid it?

    You’ve got me thinking about changing the keys on my laptop. However it’s a funny European layout already… if I typed by looking at the keys I’d get really confused… :slight_smile:

    Phil

    10

    When I was learning Dvorak, I had to quit QWERTY “cold-twurkey.” There was no room in my little brain for both layouts. If I tried QWERTY, I would end up typing half-Dvorak, half-QWERTY. And when I switched back to Dvorak, I would make all kinds of mistakes for a while.

    So I had to be 100% Dvorak out of necessity.

    That was two or three years ago. Now that Dvorak is an automatic motor skill – it’s hardwired into my brain – I may try to re-learn QWERTY.

    I can hunt-and-peck efficiently in QWERTY, when I have to. That doesn’t mess up my Dvorak brain. And if I hunt-and-peck in Dvorak, I find that I don’t really know where the keys are. Each finger knows about the keys it is responsible for. So if I hunt-and-peck with my index finger, for example, it only knows about its four keys – it doesn’t know about all the others. And my brain does not seem to get involved in the process.

    At the office, I occasionally have to debug my stuff on someone else’s PC. I either hunt-and-peck (with my standard disclaimer as to why I apparently can’t type very well), or I re-map their keyboard. It puts a little icon in the system ashtray or whatever it’s called, so they can switch back to QWERTY if I “forget” to do it for them.

    Touch typing and unicycling are similar – they are both motor skills that must be practiced until they are completely automatic. That’s one of the reasons I found the process of learning Dvorak interesting.

    I like typing. And I’m fast, but not super-fast. Dvorak won’t make you really fast any more than a KH uni would help you ride a rail. But both are better tools for the job.

    I feel as if I could just ramble on and on about typing. Because ONLY the people interested in typing and Dvorak vs. QWERTY are still reading this thread. That would be Phil and Nick (and probably Raphael – just to make sure I don’t inadvertantly attempt to ruin his clean reputation again).

    Check out the links I gave earlier in this thread and take a look at the one-handed layouts. I’ve tried the left-handed Dvorak layout. It was fun. Putting ONE hand in the center of the keyboard makes the keyboard seem HUGE. It’s probably like your first ride on a Coker. (notice how I lively up an otherwise boring conversation with frequent references to unicycling?)

    I like to re-learn things. Do you remember what it’s like to learn to read? (probably not) Would you like to experience that magic and frustration again? (probably not) If so, then learn to read and write ROT13. I tried that once but didn’t stick with it. It’s very time consuming. Qb lbh xabj jung EBG13 vf?

    uni57 (Dave)

    11

    Mad… :slight_smile:

    Actually I have gone one step further. ROT-13 encoded words were just too easy, I needed a challenge. To this end, I practised DOUBLE-ENCODED ROT-13. I am now a MASTER at reading such highly-encrypted material.

    12

    Cuvy, lbh ner vafnar! Fvapr guvf vf bayl fvatyr EBG13 rapbqrq, V xabj lbh pna’g ernq vg. Lbh arrq na rira ahzore bs rapbqvatf.

    Qbhoyr-EBG13 rapbqvat! Cyrnfr qba’g fcernq fhpu vafnar vqrnf nebhaq. Cerggl fbba, crbcyr jvyy fgneg guvaxvat gurl pna ernq dhnqehcyr-EBG13-rapbqrq grkg.

    Lbh arrq uryc, zl sevraq!

    hav57 (Qnir)

    13

    Nick, good luck. You have joined another strange minority. And it seems you are learning fast. To go from “zero to typing fast” in two months is great!

    I looked at your profile. You are 19-ish, if my math is correct. So I’m wondering, did you touch-type (using all nine fingers, that is) in QWERTY prior to learning Dvorak? Or did you go from hunt-and-peck straight to Dvorak? It’s probably easier to learn Dvorak without it having to compete with an existing motor skill (QWERTY). Just curious which way you got started.

    Good luck and have fun!

    uni57 (Dave)

    14

    I’m sorry, everybody. I just did a reality check. I mean, I just posted a message entirely in ROT13. I am the Supreme Dork of the Universe. Forgive me.

    uni57 (Qnir)

    15

    I have to say that this is the WEIRDEST and STRANGEST and MOST UNEXPECTED forum topic that I have ever encountered here. Congradulations! You won the prize for MOST OUT OF THE ORDINARY forum topic! :astonished:

    16

    A coworker at my previous job used the Dvorak layout. He does software testing which means he gets to use lots of different computers. Quite inconvenient to go around switching them to Dvorak layout. Equally amusing is when he went around looking for old keyboards (ones without the split keyboard design) that he could pop the keys out and put in the Dvorak layout. He had to switch back and forth between QWERTY and Dvorak throught the day depneding on what computer he was working on. I still wonder why bother?

    17

    I was riding in a park today. A guy said something like

    “wouldn’t it be easier using the whole bike?”

    To which I responded

    “Maybe. But it wouldn’t be as much fun.”

    uni57 (Dave)

    18

    I could touch type pretty well with Owerty, im on my way there with Dvorak. As a college student, I do a lot of typing via AIM, assignments or various other computer related activities.

    Im looking into this ROT13 buissness.

    19

    ROT13 is a very simple mechanism to obscure text. If you ROT13 the text a second time, it reverts back to its original form.

    It is used so that you do not reveal the ending of a movie while talking about the movie, or some similar circumstance.

    I just saw The Sixth Sense. It was a great movie. At the end of the movie, qvq lbh xabj gung - url V’z abg tbvat gb tvir njnl gur raqvat bs gur zbivr. Guvf vf whfg na rknzcyr.

    If you have already seen the movie, then it is safe for you to read the ROT13 part of the message. You highlight it, and if you are using the best newsreader in the world, Agent or FreeAgent, you use the ROT13 menu item and poof! The text becomes readable.

    Nobody in their right mind would ever learn to actually READ AND WRITE ROT13. First of all, it’s a useless endeavor. Secondly, it totally defeats the purpose of ROT13. Nevertheless, I tried to learn to read and write it. I thought it would be an interesting mind-experiment. It closely parallels the original process of learning to read – an act that I cannot remember.

    By the way, to ROT13 something, you simply shift each letter 13 positions in the alphabet. A becomes N and B becomes O, etc. And since N becomes A and O becomes B (etc), the process, applied a second time, undoes the original ROT13ing.

    I think that’s more than any sane person needs to know about ROT13.
    V guvax gung’f zber guna nal fnar crefba arrqf gb xabj nobhg EBG13.

    and…
    naq…

    ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
    NOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLM

    uni57 (Dave) (Qnir)

    20

    Quadruple encoding? Hah! I wave my nostril hairs in your general direction! I am far too uber-l33t to be challenged by quadruple encoding.

    Phil