Dvorak, what is it good for?

[homer]

Here's to a thread devoted to all things Dvorak (BTW, does anyone catch my reference in the subject line--"a shiny new Donkey to whomever" comes up with it--and to the reference that I just now made as well.

Anyway, any thoughts on this topic? Starting, maybe with this article:

http://www.jerrykindall.com/atlength/xdvorak.asp

Any thoughts on this, in particular the thing about the system passing key codes rather than character codes, and how much trouble this is. . . .

Homer

[simX]

I thought I might as well post my 3 informative posts. They are below.

As to your question, homer, yes, I am annoyed at that too. But I didn't find fault with any of the 3 applications he mentioned; maybe I just got versions that fixed the problem. I actually have had no problems in either OS 9 or OS X in regards to what that author has written, except in one particular place: games. Games seem to assume the QWERTY keyboard layout way too often, although it's not much of a problem. All you do is set up your keys the same way, understanding that the keys that are shown in the configuration panel aren't the ones that you actually typed. Sometimes, though, you want the keys hardwired, like in Oni. In that case, though, you just temporarily switch to the US keyboard layout and you're fine.

In general, I've had no problems with the dvorak keyboard layout.

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Originally posted by ksv
It's a more effecient keyboard layout than qwerty, where the first 5 letters are dvorak, not qwerty

I couldn't tell if ksv was trying to be funny here or not, but the dvorak keyboard is named for the creator, not the keyboard layout. I'm not sure of the creator's first name, but he did extensive research on typing, and came up with this very efficient layout.

Here's what it looks like (sort of):

First line: ',.pyfgcrl/ (this is the line right under the numbers)

Second line: aoeuidhtns- (this is the home row)

Third line: ;qjkxbmwvz (this is the line below the home row)

In addition, the [ and ] keys are in place of the = and - on the QWERTY keyboard, and the = key is in the place of ] on the QWERTY keyboard.

The guy who made the layout did some very effective studies. The dvorak keyboard layout offers these advantages:

1) It promotes alternating typing. That means that you generally type one letter of a word with one hand, the second letter with the other hand, the third with the first, and so on. Of course, not every word follows this pattern, but much more so than the QWERTY keyboard layout. The result? The longest word you type with one hand is papaya, a 6 letter word. Here are longer words that are all typed with one hand on the QWERTY keyboard layout:

devastated, exacerbate, exaggerated, desegregated, stargazers, stewardess, streetcars, sweetbread, aftertaste, reverberated, uphill, killjoy, million, minimum, opinion, pumpkin, lollipop, monopoly

There are many more than that.

2) To go along with number 1, all of the vowels are on the home row in your left hand. Since most words generally do not have vowels together, this furthers the alternating typing style. Also, 70% of all letters typed are on the home row of the Dvorak layout. This compares to 31% for QWERTY. Obviously this is a tremendous benefit.

3) On the dvorak keyboard layout, you generally type with a strumming motion. The letters are arranged so that a strumming pattern, similar to the way a person would strum their fingers on a table, is encouraged. This provides more comfort to the hands. It is an often overlooked advantage of Dvorak.

Basically this means that as you type, you generally type from the outside in and then repeat the process.

A little history -- when typewriters were first invented, the keyboard was basically alphabetical, and it was much faster than the QWERTY keyboard layout. Because typewriters were mechanical, fast typing would often cause them to jam. Because of this, the QWERTY keyboard layout was invented to make typing as difficult as possible. Of course, with computers, this is no longer a problem, so the dvorak keyboard layout is much more efficient.

I found a great dvorak keyboard typing tutor (that also includes QWERTY typing drills), called Master Key. It's native in OS X, too. I did a lot of typing drills in Master Key for about 3 weeks, and after that, I was already typing faster than I did on the QWERTY keyboard layout. I must say, though, that my hands are much more comfortable when typing in the dvorak keyboard layout -- I don't put as much strain on them.

Furthermore, since I have no other computer that uses the dvorak keyboard layout, I am forced to use the QWERTY keyboard layout in other places. Although I don't particularly care for the QWERTY keyboard layout that much, I have come to be able to switch layouts pretty quickly. So I don't have that much trouble when typing on QWERTY keyboards anymore.

It took about another 3 weeks to be able to type well on both layouts, so it takes about 6 weeks to get used to, overall.

(A lot of this information came from http://www.cse.ogi.edu/~dylan/dvorak/DvorakIntl.html )

I should mention one more benefit, though. It basically secures you as the only user of your computer. Whenever my relatives or friends sit down at my computer, they can't type at all, so my computer is basically unusable unless they bring their own keyboard.

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I think you can have a per-login layout, but the one thing that is global is the login window (which obviously poses a problem).

http://www.versiontracker.com/redir....MasterKeyC.sit

That's the direct download URL for the latest Mac OS X native version of Master Key (I believe it's carbon so it should work in OS 9 too). Master Key is $15, but allows limited typing before you register – it allows you to do a couple drills of the home row, and then a drill for the whole keyboard (you'd basically have to teach yourself). I'd recommend getting it, though, because it's a really good typing program. The only decent one for a dvorak keyboard.

Here's an image of the dvorak keyboard layout (the keys on the right edge are a little shorter than most keyboards).



Note that on all Apple Pro Keyboards, you can just pop off the keys and rearrange them. That's what I did with mine -- it was originally a black QWERTY Apple Pro Keyboard. It's very easy to do (and it allows you to clean your keyboard). Just use something like a toothpick or something from your swiss army knife. Once you get one off, you can get all the rest off with your fingers. When you do take off the keys, though, watch out for keys like the space and the shift keys: longer keys usually have a metal bar that assists it to staying on the keyboard.

gplex: Like I said, it takes about 6 weeks to get used to both keyboards after learning the dvorak keyboard layout. But lemme tell you, it's a relief typing in the dvorak keyboard layout. I much prefer it.....

... although you'll probably end up hating Navigator 0.2 afterwards because it won't be able to keep up with your typing.


UPDATE: Oh, a couple of things I should mention when using the dvorak keyboard layout. You'll need to use TinkerTool if you want to change the layout that the login window uses. You'll also probably want to activate the keyboard menu so you can quickly switch between the QWERTY and dvorak keyboard layouts (for games that play weird with the dvorak layout -- like Oni for OS X).

One last thing: if you use the open firmware password, BEWARE. The QWERTY keyboard layout is HARD WIRED into the firmware, so anything you type will be in the QWERTY keyboard layout. As such, I tried to password protect my computer, and then ended up having to take out a RAM chip and zap the PRAM because I didn't realize I was typing in the QWERTY keyboard layout.

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homer: See my above post. You can easily change the keyboard mappings in OS X and OS 9 by going to the International preference pane (go to the "Keyboard Menu" tab) or the Keyboard control panel.

Furthermore, the physical keys of any Apple Pro Keyboard should be fairly easy to remove and switch around if you really wanted to. Just be careful and don't force the keys off.

[dricci]

I tried the Dvorak layout (didn't actually switch the keys, but just used that posted chart) and it was kinda cool. I could see how it would be more natural after a while. My question is, wouldn't the ABCDEFG layout, the original one, be the best solution? You said that it was originally too fast for the typewriters so they had to invent qwerty. I'm interested in knowing which would be faster, an ABCDEFG layout, or a Dvorak layout? Not just for pros, but for first time computer users who are learning to type.

I use the US QWERTY layout now, but I don't follow the "standard" typing rules. I have my own method that I've taught myself over the years which I think is faster than trying to remember which fingers go where. I figure it's easier for the closest finger at the time to hit the buttons. Back in my word processing classes, this method made me one of the fastest typers in the class. I still use it now, too. I figure, why mess with perfection?

[homer]

Well, it's good to know that you haven't had any problems with it (other than having to yank out RAM and zap the PRAM--that sounds not so fun). How long have you been using Dvorak?
I would start learning it now, but I've got a month this summer doing doctoral prelims where I'll be typing pretty much all day long. Maybe now is not the time to try rewiring my brain. . . .

dricci, have you actually calculated your WPM? I'd be surprised if your system is more efficient (but given the whole purpose of QWERTY, it certainly wouldn't be outlandish).

[simX]

The Dvorak keyboard layout is undoubtedly the fastest way to type. The creator was trying to make a keyboard layout that made typing the easiest and most efficient, as opposed to the creators of the QWERTY keyboard who were trying to achieve the opposite goal: making typing as difficult as possible.

The alphabetical layout lies somewhere in between, although I don't know how easy or hard it would be. You can see a remnant of the keyboard in the QWERTY layout... just look at the home row: FGHJKL

How long have I been using dvorak? Oh, probably half a year now, I would guess. I don't really know, because I've been doing it for quite a while too.

Try it out and use a typing program to help you. After 6 weeks, you'll thank yourself.

[dlookus]

"Absoultly nothin'"

Who sang that?

[homer]

Ah, well that comes from Xena, but I have to believe that Xena ripped it off--the question remains, from whom?

No bites on the "A shiny new donkey to. . . " quote?

[dlookus]

Sounds like Monty Burns to me.