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Why is Everyone Still Stuck in QWERTY?
theWrkncacnter asks: "I was recently giving some instructions over IRC to a long time QWERTY keyboard user who wanted to switch to the Dvorak layout, mostly because a good majority of the people in channel had made the switch and were all talking it up, myself included, about how our speeds had increased and how its much more comfortable. This made me think, why don't more people use the Dvorak layout? Searching around I found an older topic on the subject, but that didn't answer too many questions, as most people in the comment section seemed to think that Dvorak vs. QWERTY was a hardware issue, when it is really a matter simply changing the layout on your particular OS. I took the time to pry off and remap my powerbook keyboard's keys but I have no problem typing in Dvorak on a physically QWERTY mapped keyboard, and I know many others who don't have a problem doing so either. So given all of this, why don't more people switch? Is it that most people just can't be bothered to make the change, even when its more efficient and more comfortable?" Is it mostly due to the fact that most people learn to type first on QWERTY due to its popularity, and hence don't bother to learn anything else?
I hunt and peck faster than I need. I can hit the keys with my index finger without looking and I'm not going to learn to touch type ever, although I type for a living.
Changing keyboard layouts would reduce my typing speed with no benefit. The fact is that most people can't think faster than they can type, and only a fractiion of the population need to type very fast and would benefit from a change to Dvorak.
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I used Dvorak for a while.. but there were a couple things that made me switch back to Qwerty:
/rant
1. public computers: internet cafes, computer labs, libraries, or even helping my girlfriend out with her computer required me to un-wire and switch back to qwerty for a while.
2. Vi: Vi was made for the qwerty layout, with the home row movement keys (hjkl). Remapping the keyboard is possible, but not without breaking all of the memnomics (sp?) that I had previously had. i.e., that row becomes "dhtn", 3 of which have other (non-movement) meanings (d = delete, t = to, n = next). What now becomes my delete/to/next keys? And what are the memnomics?
3. I was never taught to type correctly. My hands are not on the home row, my fingers are extended, and my form is a mess.. I basicly use like 3 fingers on each hand to type, moving my hands a lot. I get decent speed doing this (~60 wpm, I would guess), but it isn't accurate and doesn't translate to dvorak. When I learned dvorak, I realized it was designed for touch typists with the standard home row configuration. To this day, whenever I use dvorak, I change to the home-row stance. I am not as comfortable or as confident in this position and it makes my typing slow.
So, I found myself constantly switching back and forth between qwerty and dvorak.. my bad typing habits were created for qwerty.. and after months on dvorak, I still found qwety to be faster. That is why i reverted to qwerty. I wish I was better at dvorak, i really do, but damnit, i want Vim to work the way it should.
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I learned Dvorak a few years ago. At the time I learned it on a physically QWERTY keyboard, which helped enforce proper finger positioning. I ended up being about 15WPM faster in Dvorak (85WPM overall), which certainly wasn't bad - however, I was also typing "correctly", while my QWERTY was an ad-hoc mess that I'd learned as I went along. Spending less time just forcing myself to learn QWERTY properly would probably have resulted in much the same speed increase.
Nowadays my desktop machines have IBM keyboards with removable keycaps, so they're all physically Dvorak - on the other hand, my laptop is both physically and logically QWERTY because other people want to use it occasionally. Switching takes a few seconds, but isn't a major problem.
How hard is it to jump between QWERTY and Dvorak layouts? I've thought many times about switching to Dvorak, and I'm pretty certain that I could be back up to speed in only a few months, but there's no way that I can be restricted to using *only* the Dvorak layout, so the ability to remain moderately productive on a QWERTY keyboard is a prerequisite.
So, how hard is it to jump back and forth? Is it like having two separate modes, each equally capable, or do the two sets of muscle memories stomp on each other? I've known people who spend enough time on telephone and adding machine keypads to develop excellent "touch-typing" skills on both, and they could bounce between them flawlessly, never missing a single stroke even at high speed, in spite of the different layouts. OTOH, there are fewer keys and more "environmental" clues to distinguish between them.
I notice that (spoken) languages often seem to create the same sort of "modality", whereby a person fluent in two languages can trivially jump between the two with little risk of accidentally mixing them. OTOH, I find that I have a strong tendency to mix keywords and syntax across multiple programming languages, particularly if I'm not using different development environments (my theory is that the different IDEs provide some context that helps).
So, how does it work?
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I second that. If I'm going to learn something new, I'd rather learn to use a Twiddler, that way I can take it with me and use it wherever I go. I'm just waiting until I can afford both it and a PDA with a USB Host port (why doesn't the Zaurus include this?).
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
The best reference I have found on the subject is The Fable of the Keys.
This paper basically attempts to prove that QWERTY vs. Dvorak was not an example of market failure -- in other words, that the best keyboard really did win and it wasn't because QWERTY was an entrenched standard that nobody was brave enough to challenge (which is the typical argument that the losers in any such fight give).
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It's jsut like switching to the metric system...sure it's easier...but everyone is just too set in their ways and too lazy to switch.
One more time, based on my own research,
Dvorak - about 70% of all keys you will ever press are on the home row.
Qwerty - About 35% of all keys you will press are on the home row.
Conclusion,
You won't be moving as much. It is so much more comfortable for me to use Dvorak. The only way I can describe it, it feels like your fingers are flowing over the keys. It looks strange to watch someone with a Qwerty keyboard type because you see how much more movement and funny hand positions that they have to make.
It's not THAT much faster, but it is noticable.
Two disadvantage that I have to admit that I've found from my experience are:
1. On cold nights, your hands tend to stiffen more *because* of the lack of movement.
2. It's harder to type with one hand. Since the keys are placed so that the hands alternate for most keystrokes. Oh no!
I'll age myself here and point out that I first tried to learn to type on a manual typewriter.
Later, the computer keyboard was invented.
Now I 'touch type' but not in the historical sense. I can type very fast, but only because I can hit the backspace key quickly. Only my fingers know the location of the specific keys. I could not draw you a keyboard layout from memory, except for parts like 'QWERTY'.
Changing the keyboard layout would cause my fingers to rtow rgw qeibf arydd.
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Back in university, my roomates and I had a go at leaning dvorak. In our case, the most compelling reason was reduced risk of RSI, not typing speed. As an added bonus, it was also an opportunity for me to learn proper touch typing (which I never did with Qwerty... still haven't).
We never pulled it off.
We got all our X11 keyboards remapped. We changed the keycaps on my PS/2. We downloaded some tutor apps from the net. We even spent quite a bit of time actually practicing. Results were promising... But then reality kicked in.
At university labs, I was routinely using about 5 different keyboards a day, some X, some tty. Remapping all of them wasn't an option, so I was trying to learn Dvorak while still blasting out assignments in Qwerty. Then there's situations during the transition from Qwerty to Dvorak where there's no feedback... Trying to enter a password on a keyboard with Dvorak keycaps but a Qwerty layout is, uh, hard.
What killed the whole thing, however, is that I'm a vi user. vi at the best of times can be a disaster for bad typists. Just trying to navigate via ijkl in vi on Dvorak is futile, much less handling complex ingrained key patterns like df' or 'ay}. After years of vi use, I've got these patterns burned into my fingers. Learning a new keyboard without learning a new editor at the same time won't happen.
Yet another problem is that too much emphasis is placed on the letters. C/C++ programmers need a good symbol layout too and we make at least as much use of the symbols as the letters. Dvorak is, I found, a bit weaker in the symbol layout than Qwerty. {}[];()= are, I think, the most commonly used C symbols... This choice of symbols and the convenient placement on Qwerty is probably not accidental.
c.
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5% is quit a marginal increase, not minimal.
Consider as such:
Person A types 8 hours a day.
In these 8 hours, (s)he averages about 70wpm (while typing). 70wpm * 4 chars (4 chars/wd + 1 space) = 350 keystrokes/min.
In those 8 hours, assuming 1 hr break (30 min lunch, 15 min * 2 breaks, legal minimum, YMMV) this means 7hrs*60min/hr*350cpm = 147000 chars (/5cpw) = 29,400 words typed in a day.
This is, of course, theoretical.
In any case, a 5% increas in speed now puts you at 30,870 wpd. This is over 1000 words difference.
I can think a lot faster than 70wpm. the faster I can type, the faster I can get my code into the box before its forgetten.
If I get my code in faster, i have one of two choices:
a) more time for testing before production roll-out (assuming enough time)
b) actually making the deadline (if it is a really restrictive deadline)
Of course, you think 5% is minimal, so why bother?
It isn't an issue. I found only one program like that and then I found out how to switch that program also. I'm using a Windows and Linux setup at home, and a Solaris setup at school. Not a problem at all. Granted, I don't switch keys or any of that crap, I just load a new may logically so I don't have to worry about key contour. Having to look at the keys is a crutch for any typist, QWERTY or Dvorak.
C) Your own anecdotal stories are, I'm sorry to say, worthless.
Actually, no, they are not:
Before: I typed 80 WPM, I was about to quit because my hands hurt, and not anecdotally.
After: I still type 80 WPM, my hands no longer hurt.
I've been tyiping Dvorak for 6 years now. I'm not going back.