![]() They say there’s no evidence that DVORAK is better but it is absolute fact that we do much more typing on the dvorak keyboard in the home row than in the other rows. By switching to Dvorak, you are joining a movement that empowers typists and honors the legacy of a great man.ĭave, about that article… I read it and it seems like a lot of fluff. It has outlived the purpose for which it was designed, yet its weaknesses still remain. QWERTY has remained the default keyboard layout for over a century. “I’m tired of trying to do something worthwhile for the human race,” he said, realizing his failure to convince people to adopt his layout. Dvorak created something great, but he died in vain. You’ll also be in the company of some cool people, including Bram Cohen, inventor of BitTorrent Matt Mullenweg, lead developer of WordPress and Barbara Blackburn, world’s fastest typist. But aside from mere prestige, you can flaunt your productivity and the ease with which you attain it. Using Dvorak puts you in an exclusive club - like having a Mac instead of a PC. Dvorak is cool.Īside from getting friends and coworkers to type gibberish on your computer (a useful security measure, by the way) Dvorak has other cool benefits. You can also make it easy to switch between layouts, but trust me - you won’t want to. Most operating systems allow users to make Dvorak their default keyboard layout. There are online resources on learning Dvorak and a ton of typing games for practice.īut where do you get the keyboards? Today, keyboards with the Dvorak layout (or that can switch to Dvorak) are available if you wish to buy one. If you already touchtype with QWERTY, it’s even easier, because you already have the finger coordination needed for touchtyping. Studies have shown that Dvorak is easier to learn than QWERTY. Some RSI sufferers have reported some relief from taking breaks, doing stretches, improving posture, and of course, switching to Dvorak. But with the amount of typing we do today - plus the prevalence of QWERTY keyboards - it is not uncommon for the pain to progress to repetitive strain injury. This extra distance increases not only the likelihood of errors but the stress on your fingers. In Dvorak, the typists fingers traveled 1.5 km per day In QWERTY, 30 km per day. A study compared the distance traveled by the fingers of two typists in performing the same task. Dvorak is more comfortable and better for your health.Īlthough its only your fingers that do the extra reaching in QWERTY, the distance adds up. Reaching away from the home row, typing consecutively with the same finger - these happen more often in QWERTY. When you combine the two problems (using the same finger to type consecutive letters not on the home row) you make even more mistakes. Errors occur more when you type away from the home row, or consecutively with the same finger. Not only is Dvorak faster than QWERTY, it’s also more accurate. Alternating between fingers from either hand is faster - just imagine texting with one hand or drumming with one stick. This guarantees that most of your strokes alternate between a finger on your right hand (consonant) and a finger on your left (vowel). So not only does QWERTY do nothing for typists, it actually hinders them.ĭvorak further increases typing speed by placing all vowels on the left side of the home row, and the most commonly used consonants on the right side. Which means most of the time, typists’ fingers are either reaching up for the top row (52%) or down for the bottom row (16%). In QWERTY, only 32% of keystrokes are on the home row. Dvorak did in his layout - 70% of keystrokes are on the home row 22% on the top row 8% on the bottom. If you want to increase typing speed, the home row is where you place the most commonly typed keys. Typists base their fingers on the home row of the keyboard. But what about the typist? While QWERTY was designed so that the typewriter could work, Dvorak was designed so that the typist could work well. ![]() This did not solve the problem entirely, but it made the machine jam a lot less. He needed to replace the initial alphabetical layout with one that separated keys often struck successively. QWERTY was designed for the typewriter, not the typist.Ĭhristopher Sholes, who invented the typewriter, found that early prototypes of his invention had a mechanical flaw: When he struck neighboring keys in rapid succession, the typewriter jammed. Out of the hundreds of reasons you should switch to Dr. My friends usually humor me - this has happened several times - but I’ll spare you the sermon and make it short. What usually follows is a long lecture on how the Dvorak keyboard layout is better than QWERTY in every way. “It’s the layout on your keyboard that’s wrong!” “Nothing’s wrong with my keyboard,” I would reply with a grin. “When I type, all that comes out is gibberish!” “Something’s wrong with your keyboard,” a friend borrowing my laptop would say.
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