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Advocating Dvorak
zeroweb writes "A group of three faithful Dvorak promoters have launched new website at DvZine.org. The big thing here is a Comic (available in print, pdf and html) describing the history of QWERTY and Dvorak, how and why one should make the switch, and real-life stories of the converted.
If you are thinking about making the switch, this could push you over the edge. My favorite line: "It could be the difference between working in your garden at 70 or wearing wrist braces at 40." As someone who started wearing wrist braces at 23, I couldn't agree more - I read this comic, changed my keyboard layout and have been happier ever since."
By tell him, I mean tell him that the Qwerty being designed to slow down your typing is nothing more than a myth?. The layout is actually designed to between your two hands.
Dude, I use Dvorak full-time at home, and wherever else possible. Since I can touch-type, I can also quickly change the drivers. EVEN IF I must type with QWERTY, I have only lost a few WPM compared to when I used it all the time. Dvorak eclipses it in terms of speed by an exponential amount. Don't be so stubborn if you haven't tried it!
If you can touch type in dvorak you can just change the keyboard layout in the system settings while you use it. No need to change any hardware.
Just remember to change it back when you're done so you don't confuse the other users.
But it breaks vi! What's the point??????
First, allow me to admonish your hasty conclusion.
On this page http://www.koniaris.com/dvorak/ there is a discussion about distance of finger movement. The test document was the Unabomber's Mannifesto. The results:
* Typing the Unabomber Manifesto in QWERTY costs about 5.7km (XY).
* Typing the Unabomber Manifesto in Dvorak costs about 3.3km (XY).
In terms of planar movement Dvorak is more efficient. Then, for the pain standpoint, one must decide for themselves if moving up a row (above home row) is more comfortable, or would one rather move down a row. Personally I hate that bottom row - it compounds what rock climbing does to my wrists. I am much more pain-free on Dvoark, and I still have the ability to switch mid-sentance back to qwerty and not think about it, making other peoples' computers easy.
There are a ton of studies of varying levels of scientific valitidy. This was my first decent result of quick google search. The bottom line is it's thought out, and thus better, but people don't want to re-learn 'till QWERTY hurts them.
I haven't posted in so long, my sig is out of date.
Found some on this page http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak/national.html, as I was looking for a norwegian layout. There is a swedish layout there aswell.
The link to the norwegian dvorak layout is a bit wrong on the mwbrooks page the correct is http://www.stenling.no/dvorak/
Have a mirror.
You can get just such a thing at dvortyboards.com. There's a hardware switch in the corner, and both layouts are printed on the keys.
www.dvortyboards.com
You get geek points just for having one on your desk.
Hot Damn! It's the Soggy Bottom Boys!
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.
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.
Several international variants of Dvorak are quite common, such as Swedish variant. However, while these usually ship with X11, these are for some reason not readily available on Windows. So personally, I used Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator to modify the default Dvorak layout and add the swedish letters äöå using the right alt + aoe keys, respectively (which are positioned asd for you QWERTY diehards). I've found it works very well.
At work I use [...] a symmetric trackball (Kensington Orbital) centered _in front_ of the keyboard.
Turning up the speed on your mouse so you don't have to move your wrist, or moving at the elbow instead of the wrist works just as well as a trackball.
RSI problems for typists are caused by bad habits more than anything else, and if you have the will power and presence of mind you don't need any fancy gadgets to fix them. Career computer users aren't even close to being in a job that is at the top of the list for CTS risk.
I guess I'm one of the 'elitist' people you're talking about, except that I believe that RSI is real... I just think that people cause it themselves. I've been typing and playing piano for 18 years and have never gotten a RSI from them, probably because the only thing my piano teacher ever taught me was good posture. Working as a painter for 6 months though, that's another story.
The trick to not getting injured is fixing your habits, toys or no toys... Of course if you can afford the fancy keyboards and all that, then go for it. The people I've worked with that bitch about pain in their wrists all have obviously horrible working styles and posture. God forbid that anybody tells them that it's how they sit and move that causes the problem, and not the fact that their employer hasn't bought them a $1000 chair and a $300 keyboard that won't even help if they don't change their habits though...
Um, there wasn't a bug in Windows WRT the 286. The bug -- actually a design flaw -- was with the 286 itself. It was not designed to return to real mode from protected mode. The keyboard controller was used to reset the CPU. I believe that DOS's HIMEM.SYS actually did the grunt work once in protected mode.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
And now, 'The Fable of "The Fable of the Keys"': www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak/dissent.html+&hl=en&client =safari
(Original Article seems to be down, here is the google cache of it.)
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:ro7lk9oKNWkJ
and another response
http://www.dvorak-keyboard.com/dvorak2.html
And plus the fact that the writer of "The Fable of the Keys" DESTROYED all of his data so people would not be able to draw their own conclusions from it.
see the summary...
from the no-not-the-columnist-who-thinks-i'm-his-nemesis dept.
aptly named.
This is an interesting article showing some of the myths associated with Dvorak vs. QWERTY: http://reason.com/9606/Fe.QWERTY.shtml