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I switched to Dvorak


SawQuart
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@Marsh:

> Is there a point other then increased typing speed over the long run? Like does it prevent arthritis or anything?

I don't even care about the typing speed, and stopped caring when I was up to 75-80wpm due to the fact that Dvorak is much more comfortable to type with than QWERTY, and yes, it can help so you don't get carpel tunnel, etc.

The problem comes from the fact that the QWERTY keyboard was designed to be awkward and slow, because the first-gen typewriters used gravity to pull the teeth back into place, and people were typing too fast.  It certainly was never meant to be used while "touch typing."  Even the inventor of the typewriter came forward at a later date, and urged everyone to stop using QWERTY, but the damage was already done.  That's when a huge study was done by Dvorak, and the invention of the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard came into being, but now I'm digressing :x

If you have some time, there's a very excellent article on Dvorak and Qwerty that goes over Dr. Dvorak's original study (and there's some _very_ interesting images with it) here:
http://infohost.nmt.edu/~shipman/ergo/parkinson.html
If anything, I'd recommend everyone to read this piece from 1972.

@Whack:

> It seems that the Dvorak keyboard is a more 21st century keyboard layout that organizes the keys we use most better.

Dvorak was created in the 1930s, actually.
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@Zonova:

> I tried this a while ago, but it interfered with my school. I'm starting it again this summer though, and hopefully in two months i'll be able to be somewhere near normal speed ^^ Anyways, best of luck with it

Do you mean, they wouldn't let you change the layout?  Because that was the case with Jungle's school too, so I got this portable thing that can go on a USB stick; just plug it in, run the .exe, and it switches to Dvorak via software; you won't have to worry about switching manually (esp if you're not allowed); you can get it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?mb3ws8mai358sof

If you mean your typing speed in Dvorak was too slow when you first started learning:
A) What's your QWERTY WPM
B) How long were you using Dvorak, and did you quit cold turkey, or mix qwerty/dvorak?

For the latter issue, your best bet would probably be waiting until summer.
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@Admiral:

> Do you mean, they wouldn't let you change the layout?  Because that was the case with Jungle's school too, so I got this portable thing that can go on a USB stick; just plug it in, run the .exe, and it switches to Dvorak via software; you won't have to worry about switching manually (esp if you're not allowed); you can get it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?mb3ws8mai358sof
>
> If you mean your typing speed in Dvorak was too slow when you first started learning:
> A) What's your QWERTY WPM
> B) How long were you using Dvorak, and did you quit cold turkey, or mix qwerty/dvorak?
>
> For the latter issue, your best bet would probably be waiting until summer.

The latter actually worries me a bit. I hope I don't get any essay assignments…
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  Yeah, i meant the latter. I have to type a few essays every month, and it was ridiculous trying to learn Dvorak while doing school work. I type 80-90wpm on qwerty. When i started Dvorak, i kept at it for around 2 weeks and got up to like 10-15wpm, but then school really started kicking my ass and i had to call it quits for the time being.

Oh, and actually, i think the keyboard layout switching would be a problem too, so i'll definitely be using that from now on :P

Still, i'll be starting it up again soon. qwerty makes my wrists and fingers hurt a lot, it's excessively annoying.
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My problem with Dvorak is the lack of internationalisation. I have to be able to write in different character sets from time to time, mostly European character sets. Dvorak doesn't really allow that.

Yours faithfully
  Stephan.
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@Zonova:

> Yeah, i meant the latter. I have to type a few essays every month, and it was ridiculous trying to learn Dvorak while doing school work. I type 80-90wpm on qwerty. When i started Dvorak, i kept at it for around 2 weeks and got up to like 10-15wpm, but then school really started kicking my ass and i had to call it quits for the time being.

I'm at 6 WPM atm. I just got assigned a 1500 word essay. I'm not really looking forward to this…
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