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Nah, I was just making a joke. What I thought was funny about it was that we were learning on computers... and yet we still used these ancient hardback books that were bound at the top and were written at a time when DOS didn't necessarily imply MS. And it was up to the teacher to time our quizzes, etc.

Not that any software we would have used would have helped me, since I switched to the Dvorak layout a year ago. No books this time though: just a simple online tutorial, and a decent amount of time where I didn't have to type anything important.

I used http://gigliwood.com/abcd/ which worked fine for me. Note that it's pretty hardcore, and when you only type actual words you won't make nearly as many mistakes as when doing that course, because you know the typical keys that come in sequence.

("Slow down cowboy, it's been 36 minutes since you last posted." WTF don't they get about "slowing down"???)

• Java Demonstration of Dvorak and Qwerty Finger Movement Distances
• Letter Frequencies in the English Language - How many of the more frequent letters are on Dvorak's home row, and how many in Qwerty's? Did it ever seem completely stupid that "e" isn't on the home row in Qwerty? That's because it is, and Dvorak fixes that.
• Words Possible on Certain Rows - One snippet: in Dvorak, using the home row alone one can type 99 of the 1000 most common English words. Qwerty's home row allows for only 15.

Well, I am a wannabe nerd, but that's not the reason I switched. I switched about nine years ago because typing all day was hurting my wrists. If you want to learn Dvorak, this is a nice little site that I used: http://gigliwood.com/abcd/abcd.html It took me about a week before I could reliably touch type, and about a month before I could type as fast as I'd been able to type in QWERTY. I never got much faster in Dvorak than I'd been in QWERTY, but my wrists stopped hurting almost immediately. I'd never go back. But I suppose if, like timmarhy, you can fit two typos into a single sentence, keyboard layouts may not be your primary concern.

Buy an MS Natural 4000 keyboard and use Dvorak layout with it. This keyboard is great (ironically, it's even more configurable with OS X than with Windows). Start by going to http://gigliwood.com/abcd/abcd.html and work through that "course" once. Then, just try Dvorak for 3 weeks. You won't type faster, but your hands will be happier.

Shameless self-promotion: I blogged at length about this almost a year ago.

Free. Online. Best typing course in ANY language that I've ever had.

abcd = A Basic Course in Dvorak

http://gigliwood.com/abcd/abcd.html

here's your solution:
http://gigliwood.com/abcd/

just take your time and spend about 20 min a day for a couple weeks, and you'll be typing away in dvorak in no time. ;)

Any program worth its salt has keyboard equivalents; she should abandon the mouse if at all possible until the true cause of (and possible cure for) her pain is discovered.

If the user is able to make that transition (some folks don't adapt to change that well) I would also recommend her looking at the Dvorak keyboard layout, and possibly a different keyboard as well (Kinesis, TypeMatrix, etc.)

Also, as another poster mentioned, there are foot solutions (Kinesis makes one, for example, though I've never tried it).

Let's all remember that the standard (US English, i.e., worldwide) keyboard layout was invented some 130 years ago, and purposefully designed to slow down the typist so they wouldn't jam the individual dyes that made up a typewriter.

August Dvorak's solution came some 60 years after that, and may have caught on except for WWII, which caused most typewriter manufacturers to switch to guns. By the time the war was over, they'd had enough of re-tooling, and here we are another 60 years later, still with a dumb layout.

Here are a couple of other links on alternative keyboard layouts, courtesy of altkeyboards:

Dvorak Tutorial: http://www.gigliwood.com/abcd/

General Info: http://www.theworldofstuff.com/dvorak

Humorous History: http://dvzine.org/

Another Input Solution: http://www.datahand.com/

Best of luck to your employee. Losing the use of ones hands is like ... losing the use of ones hands. Awful!

About a month ago me and two other developers at work took a few days and learned to type dvorak. We learned the layout by working through the website tutorial at http://www.gigliwood.com/abcd/abcd.html/ and printing out the keyboard layout image at http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak/layout.html/ (It may also help to highlight the keys on the homerow on your printout). We only had to go through the tutorial once to learn the layout.

After a month, I still slip on some keys but all three of us are typing at about 40 wpm. I do find it more comfortable but it was a lot of work to learn it and I was useless as a developer for a week and a half. I still am pretty slow at vi and java is harder to code with the braces ({}) up where - and + are on QWERTY.

As far as switching back and forth, it isn't easy. Yesterday I used my wife's computer without switching it to DVORAK. I had to look at the keyboard a lot and I was definitely slower. It has also made typing in DVORAK harder today for the first ten minutes.

Overall, I would recommend the switch if you have the time. Good luck.

I tried the switch out last year when I was starting to get RSI. Despite what people say, you can mentally flip between Qwerty and Dvorak without much of a problem. I noticed my Qwerty speed slowed down some because I'd hit a wrong key occasionally, but nothing major. Just make sure you have a good two weeks when you don't need to type much else. I used this site to learn dvorak.

In the end, I really just stopped using Dvorak. I got over the beginning effects of RSI by not typing much and keeping my wrists straight when I did. Posture's important, too. But my typing speed in Dvorak never exceeded my Qwerty speed, so I just stopped using it. I can still type around 20 wpm with Dvorak, but I really don't have a use for it.

For linux users: "setxkbmap dvorak" and "setxkbmap en_US"

Never actually learning to touch type but using (QWERTY layout) keyboards for over 20 years, I found myself with good typing speed but very poor typing style. I really couldn't type without looking at the keyboard.

I decided to teach myself to touch type and figured that if I was going to devote time to it, I might as well learn DVORAK layout for the slightly improved comfort.

All modern OSes have the ability to quick switch between keyboard layouts. Without this, my typing on DVORAK would be problematic at best.

I first started by removing the keycaps from a QWERTY keyboard and rearranging it to DVORAK. I wouldn't recommend this route to anyone. By doing so, the F and J keycaps move around. Trying to find home row without them is not fun. It does give you a nice visual aid but nothing that printing off a keyboard layout could give you.

I then tried the typing excersises found here. These little excersises are really all that you need to learn the layout. Well, that and time.

Over the course of several months, I used DVORAK whenever possible. I do use several computers a day, some of which I have little control over and had to use QWERTY on. If you can stick to using DVORAK only, your learning time should be much shorter.

After 8 months, I find that I have a decent typing speed while using DVORAK layout. I still make mistakes but my typing speed is very acceptable. I found that my typing speed with QWERTY lowered while I was learning but it is back to what it was before. I did not lose anything, only gained a new layout and the ability to touch-type.

Not losing speed when switching back is fortunate. I still must use several non-DVORAK computers every day. I also find it annoying that World of Warcraft makes me switch back to the old layout. Oh well.

After learning how to touch-type, I was then able to do other things such as angling the front of the keyboard up and using split keyboards. These also help but YMMV.

IT's widely said that you can go between the two without difficulty.. it's not like learning one precludes using the other.

I learned using Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor. Excellent package, but the demo version ticked me off cos it doesn't explain before you start that you're only gonna learn 1/3 the alphabet for free. It's cheaper than Mavis (nice gal, but I think she only knows QWERTY, and she has an unseemly crush on Bill Gates), much easier than the free stuff (including dvorak7min with "nastiness", and the online Basic Course in Dvorak).

Other than having my fingers conditioned to find the home keys quickly, knowing QWERTY didn't help me learn Dvorak. It felt like I was learning typing over again, but I think I learned faster than were I a keyboard newb.

I found that if I didn't know where a key was, my finger gravitated toward the QWERTY location. However, once I'd hit the lesson for a particular key, the QWERTY reaching would stop even tho I didn't quite remember the Dvorak location. That was the full extent of the confusion for me.

Since all my typing is on computers, if I had to learn all over again, I'd just learn Dvorak.

Utilities
Dvorak Assistant - Lets you change the Windows keyboard layout without administrator access. Useful for school lab computers.

Free Dvorak Tutor Software
KP Typing Tutor (Windows)
GNU Typist (*nix)

Online Dvorak Tutorials
A Basic Course in Dvorak - No frills tutorial, just make sure you repeat the lessons until you're actually proficient. You won't learn anything drilling through them only once.
dvorak.nl tutorial - Very slick, remaps the keys for you if you want (convenient if you can't use Dvorak Assistant). Non-english languages available. Works better for experienced Dvorak typists.

I personally use Dvorak, and my typing speed has increased a lot in a very short amount of time. A good typing tutorial for Dvorak is: http://www.gigliwood.com/abcd/abcd.html it is very simple but effective. I have a friend who can type 165 wpm, and he just did Mavis Beacon for 3 years straight as a kid for 2 hours a day. I switched to Dvorak so that I wouldn't get some stress disorder when I got older, and if you have the time I'd recommend the switch. While it may or may not improve speed (mine improved) it does prevent injury when typing.

And while you're at it, why don't you learn Esperanto and the Dvorak keyboard layout? You sheep obviously have nothing else better to do.

Exactly, I never expected or even wanted to type faster, since sometimes I type faster than I think anyways. The main issue I looked at was the amount of "flailing" the fingers seemed to do on some tough words in Qwerty. I don't mean the cross-hand timing issues (ie. "teh"), but rather the word fragments that required lots of hopping around on one hand (like I said in a different post, try typing "excruciating"). Dvorak has much fewer instances of such worst-case words, in my experience (that "xp" wasn't very fun.. imagine that).

To the masses: Try learning it for a week if you happen to find a week where typing is not a crucial task. Don't touch qwerty at all during that week if possible. If you like it, keep learning, if not then switch back and never return. Worth a shot.