Keyboards - Dvorak or Qwerty?

A voice from the mass of Slashdot Anonymous Cowards asks: "A friend of mine has been using a dovark keyboard for about 3 months. He says that his that it has increased his speed almost double. From what I understand the qwerty keyboard was designed to slow people down when they used type writters. Now, since they are on computers, why is the world (US) not using them ? Do you think it is worth using it. I work as a computer tech. if I go to fix some guys computer, is he going to look at me strange becuase I can't type on a qwerty keyboard. I wanted to see everyones opinion on this one. " Um. Are you going to look at me funny because I can't type on a Dvorak keyboard? Do they even make Dvorak keyboards for computers? If so, where can I find such a beast?

Comments

Dvorak Keyboards

[Anonymous Coward]

In most cases you don't need to buy a new keyboard to use dvorak. There are many programs to remap your keyboard, check out Switch Your Computer to Dvorak. If you're using unix xmodmap can be used in an instant.

If you would like to buy a hardwired keyboard check out Hard-Wired Keyboards.

Recently I got a Kinesis ergonomic keyboard that it hot swappable between qwerty and dvorak. It's also an ergo keyboard and the best peripheral for my computer I've ever bought. I highly recommend their contoured keyboards.

Something that you may want to keep in mind is that a lot of unix command line commands are optimized for qwerty, like ls, as well as emacs and vi.

Debunking myths with references

[peterb]

First of all, the QWERTY keyboard was not designed to slow down typists. It was designed to reduce mechanical problems by intelligent arrangement of the letters (maximizing the separation of the most frequently used letters), and thus the angles at which the swingarms interacted. Those few of you who (like me) have ever USED a mechanical swingarm typewriter know what i'm talking about -- the swingarms that jam are the ones that tend to be close together. But the other story sounds better, and so it gets repeated in places like Newsweek -- and, of course, Slashdot. A nice article on this myth effect can be found at http://www.ddj.com/articles/1 998/9875/9875l/9875l.htm

Second, there have been no conclusive studies that Dvorak typists are any faster than QWERTY typists. The article at http://www.reasonmag.com/9606/Fe.QWERT Y.html gives a reasonably good summary of the non-evidence of Dvorak superiority.

Lastly, my personal experience is that a friend who has switched to Dvorak said "It's a nightmare of pain relearning a new layout for no benefit whatsoever. Go ahead and learn Dvorak if you don't know how to type, but don't go through the psychic trauma of rewiring your fingers if you already are using QWERTY. Its not worth it."

Anyway. Use whatever keyboard makes you happy.

Peter

Again?

[eldamitri]

QWERTY, Dvorak and More discussed just a few days ago

The Myth of QWERTY discussed in April

"there once was a big guy named lou

show some mercy, this horse is already dead

[ywwg]

There was an article very very recently on just this subject. Basically, the tests that proved that the Dvorak system was superior were performed by Mindcraft, or if not them, Dvorak himself. Also, it's been discovered that the alternate-hand version of typing is actually very speedy. While one finger is whacking one key, the other is moving into position. Conclusion: just stick with QWERTY. It works, everyone uses it, and it's a headache to learn a new system for a mere 4 WPM gain. The reason your friend showed such improvement is probably because he learned to type correctly on that system, instead of a bastardized typing scheme that many people learn on their own. For instance, I hit the y key with my left hand as opposed to my right, and I don't use my right pinky except to use the shift key. If I learned DVORAK, I would learn it correctly, and gain some speed.

Test drive a Dvorak keyboard

[ChrisDolan]

Here's how to set up your Unix machine to try out the Dvorak layout. You need X windows to do this.

First, print out a picture of the Dvorak layout. A GIF and a PDF version are on Marcus Brooks' page.

Now, follow these instructions IN ORDER (or you'll have trouble changing back to Qwerty). Download the following xmodmap scripts:
Qwerty and Dvorak

Then, make an alias to change back and forth easily:

% alias asdf 'xmodmap ~/dvorak.xmodmap'
% alias aoeu 'xmodmap ~/qwerty.xmodmap'

I chose the alias so the same four keys are typed in either Qwerty or Dvorak mode. So just type "asdf" to toggle between them. Then you can decide for yourself and avoid all the flame-ridden commotion. :)