DVORAK KEYBOARDS

[topslop1]

Does anyone know about this style of keyboard? Apparently there are claims all over the internet about this being a much faster form of typing for the english language. Apparently the QWERTY styled keyboards are much slower when put side by side.

Here's a wikipedia link.. check it out. Does anyone in the world even use this ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_keyboard

It's sad but I'm so sold on it already.. but why? It has a promise of increased speed, and although skeptical i tried imagining the actual keyboard layout and tried typing some words and it's definitley quicker, more letters that i use are on the homerow. Check that out and tell me what happens for you.

 

[Viper16]

from some previous posts on here, they changed it to QWERTY because the computers back in the day, could not keep up with the users. So they slowed it down with QWERTY. I dont ever see anyone going back to it though.

I wonder what those people that do transcripts in court use? maybe dvorak? they type way faster than anyone could on a standard QWERTY keyboard me thinks.

 

[jpmkm]

From what I've read, actual studies have shown that dvorak really doesn't have much of a speed advantage over qwerty. The main benefit of dvorak is reduced finger movement, which can help to reduce fatigue and RSI. I used dvorak for a while, but switched back to qwerty because I found dvorak to be a bit inconvenient for coding(some of the punctuation is moved farther away, particularly the braces and brackets).

 

[BarneyGumble]

It does work better! Look at our current standard, why is the [:;] key under the pinky? The period above the [E] makes more since too.

 

[jpmkm]

from some previous posts on here, they changed it to QWERTY because the computers back in the day, could not keep up with the users. So they slowed it down with QWERTY. I dont ever see anyone going back to it though.

The myth is qwerty was designed to slow down early mechanical typewriters. That's not true, though. It was designed to physically separate consecutive keystrokes as much as possible(by attempting to alternate between hands as much as possible). Thus, the keys would jam less. Computers are rarely slower than human hands.

I wonder what those people that do transcripts in court use? maybe dvorak? they type way faster than anyone could on a standard QWERTY keyboard me thinks.

Court recorders don't use standard keyboards. They use special chording transcription machines and some form of shorthand that allows them to record syllables and often entire words with a single stroke(which involves multiple keys). They can easily keep up with human speech, but the transcription must be translated into longhand before anyone else can even come close to understanding the transcription(often times court reporters and the like will develop their own shorthand method that works best for them, but nobody else can understand it). This chording/shorthand method could probably be pretty easily implemented for computer input, but it would be pretty useless.

 

[topslop1]

All I'm saying is that - for the standard user - Dovak makes more sense as far as fatigue and stress go. If it's not faster then it's still less movement involved. What's the standard for how long it took you to learn it? (coding guy)

 

[jpmkm]

All I'm saying is that - for the standard user - Dovak makes more sense as far as fatigue and stress go. If it's not faster then it's still less movement involved. What's the standard for how long it took you to learn it? (coding guy)

Yeah that's what I was trying to say above - it's more efficient but not necessarily faster.

It took probably a couple weeks to learn it(with a training program) well enough to use it, and probably another couple weeks to get up to a decent speed with it. Dvorak didn't really affect my qwerty typing, but for a while I'd randomly hit qwerty keys while typing with dvorak.

I definitely recommend trying it. In most cases it's not any worse than qwerty.

 

[topslop1]

My only real concern with going out and buying a keyboard for it is that everywhere else is going to be the standard QWERTY format. It's almost like learning hieroglyphics .. just for fun or something becuase no one else is going to be set up for it.

 

[jpmkm]

You don't need to buy a new keyboard. Just change your layout in your operation system. And you shouldn't be looking at your keys anyway.

The fact that a vast majority of computer users use qwerty is indeed an issue. If you find yourself working on several different systems, then you might have a problem. If, however, you spend most of your time using systems that you control and have set to dvorak, then you should be fine.

 

[MacDad]

I switched to it for a few days, and it was ten times easier to type with it. Your fingers barely leave the homekeys. It's not really any faster, it's just a lot more comfortable and logical. Ultimately, I had to go back to QWERTY because I use a computer at work for 8 hours a day and can't change the settings on that PC. Plus, other people use it when I'm not here.

 

[topslop1]

You don't need to buy a new keyboard. Just change your layout in your operation system. And you shouldn't be looking at your keys anyway.

I'd need to have the keyboard with the letters on it at first to learn it really.. then afterwards I wouldn't be looking, but at first, definitley a necessity.

 

[IanG]

You don't need to buy a new keyboard. Just change your layout in your operation system. And you shouldn't be looking at your keys anyway.

Or pop the keys off your current keyboard and move them around. Punctuation might be different though, but still cheaper!

Back to the qwerty/typewriter stuff, my impression was that it was designed to give the mechanical levers more room, but also slow the typists down a bit to help out too. The machine court reporters use is similar to what's used for closed captions/subtitles for news broadcasts. It's based on phonetics and obviously allows them to type faster than a regular keyboard would.

OT: Setting the keybard to dvorak is my favorite geek practical joke. Played it a lot of times with people forgetting to lock their workstation, then come back and think their PC has got a virus or something.