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Domain: shiar.org

Stories and comments across the archive that link to shiar.org.

Comments · 9

  1. Reposting an old comment of mine by mnemonic_ · · Score: 4, Informative · on Dvorak Layout Claimed Not Superior To QWERTY

    Dvorak is a more efficient layout, allowing a typist to type more words with less finger movement. The advantage has been quantified:

  2. riposte by mnemonic_ · · Score: 1 · on Is DVORAK Gaining Traction Among Coders?
    Learning 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.

    Performance:

    Dvorak is a more efficient layout. This comes not from the user's effort, but from the layout of the keys minimizing finger travel when typing english words. This has been proven repeatedly:
    Dvorak was designed sensibly, reducing finger movement distance and frequency. Typing feels like drumming your fingers, noticeable even at basic Dvorak proficiency.
  3. Re:"Forced" interfaces and alternatives by brian.glanz · · Score: 1 · on Must We Click To Interact?

    There are variations on Dvorak which target Spanish but Dvorak is English centric. In Spanish adaptations, yes the letter "ñ" is more accessible than otherwise, but is it in the best possible location based on its frequency? Or as Mischa Poslawsky, the shiar.org guy put it, "These modified layouts are nothing but experiments created by amateurs afaik, not based on as extensive research as the genuine dvorak. While no doubt still better than qwerty ...."

    The noticeable gain I have had through Dvorak is in reduced strain from doing less work. I have not had a huge increase in WPM typing personally, but from what I know of average typing speed (in the 40s? I've read), I was already fast. With Qwerty I'm still around 90 WPM and my last tests using Dvorak were in the 90s, too.

    Some people HAVE had real increases by switching to Dvorak, while some of them have also speculated their gains were a result of focusing on their typing for a couple weeks (what it took them to get back up to speed), because they had never before spent time actively trying to improve WPM. Based on what I know and have read of others' experiences, I'd bet most people who already type 60, if they either practiced specifically to improve their Qwerty or switched to Dvorak, could reasonably expect to hit 80-100.

  4. Choosing if you're willing to learn or not is easy by frealek · · Score: 1 · on New Keyboard Has Just 53 Keys

    Imagine you're a child learning how to type.

    You're learning on an alphabetic keyboard, and you're typing faster and faster. Now you're being told that to continue typing faster you have to change the keymap to qwerty, dvorak, whatever.

    Question is simple : NOW, are you willing to learn typing with a really stupid keymap (speed-wise, comfort-wise) ?
    Answer is no because it's just some kind of regression.

    So, don't even think on giving such keyboard to your children, because they'll just hate you afterwards for not having learnt on a correct (qwerty, dvorak...) keyboard.

    For your info, check the TABLES which help comparing QWERTY, DVORAK and ALPHABETIC keyboards on
    http://www.shiar.org/happy/txts/dvorak.php

    The tables just show how many words you can type with only some set of fingers.
    You can see that with main fingers and home-row only keys, you can type far less words with alphabetic keyboard than with dvorak (or even qwerty) keyboards...

    A bon entendeur...

  5. Yes by mnemonic_ · · Score: 2, Informative · on Advocating Dvorak
    You don't think so, eh? Thankfully, we have facts at hand rather than your silly hunches. Here they are:

    There's your proof. Dvorak was designed sensibly, reducing finger movement distance and frequency. Typing feels like drumming your fingers, and is incredibly rapid and comfortable.
  6. Re:Of course not! by Garabito · · Score: 1 · on Writing Software for Worldwide Distribution Proves Difficult
    There is no border! That is where the world ends! IIRC, there is a sign that says something like "Here there be monsters" and then a big drop off into the abyss because that is where one would fall off the turtle's back...

    Something like this?

  7. Re:Whoops there goes another rubber tree plant... by Pumpernickle · · Score: 2, Funny · on Trusted Computing Rollout Hits the Desktop

    Finally! I meet someone who agrees with my plan to make a beowulf cluster of TI-85s!

    How's the processing speed on it? :)

  8. Microsoft keyboard by gtog · · Score: 1, Funny · on Ctrl-Alt-Del Inventor To Retire From IBM

    Microsoft keyboard

  9. Typing Of The Dead by wraith0x29a · · Score: 1 · on Touch Typing for a Developer?

    This Sega game for the PC was what did it for me. Originally it was an arcade game called something like 'House Of The Dead' with plastic guns where to shot the zombies.

    In the PC touch-typing version you have to type strings before they get you. It's a great learning aid for those who get bored with normal tutorial software. Window$ only though :-(

    Having said that it only teaches you the conventional QWERTY keyboard layout. I have heard that the dvorak layout is better for coders as the puctuation characters are more sensibly placed for a coder.

    Official Sega Page (rubbish)
    Gamespot Page (Much Better)
    Dvorak Stuff