Comments on: Dvorak – Week 1 http://roobasoft.com/blog/2006/10/19/dvorak-week-1/ Fri, 25 Nov 2011 01:36:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Jase http://roobasoft.com/blog/2006/10/19/dvorak-week-1/comment-page-1/#comment-36124 Jase Wed, 26 Dec 2007 06:11:30 +0000 http://roobasoft.com/blog/2006/10/19/dvorak-week-1/#comment-36124 <p>I switched to Dvorak about 14 months ago.</p> <p>On my personal Macs (G4 / iBook / 17" PB / 15" MBP) I physically rearranged the keys on the keyboard. On my work laptop (Dell) I left the keys in the qwerty layout but set Win XP to Dvorak. This has worked out well for me -- it REALLY forced me to learn Dvorak by touch type since looking down at a qwerty layout did me no good.</p> <p>For a while (six weeks) I would type both layouts but this is what I found: My qwerty skills dropped off significantly My Dvorak skills stagnated</p> <p>Obviously I'm not one of those typist that can be great at both. So I dropped qwerty altogether. I'm very happy with Dvorak; plus it was a nice challenge. My Dvorak typing speed is up to what my qwerty was for sure -- probably better (though I haven't officially checked).</p> I switched to Dvorak about 14 months ago.

On my personal Macs (G4 / iBook / 17″ PB / 15″ MBP) I physically rearranged the keys on the keyboard. On my work laptop (Dell) I left the keys in the qwerty layout but set Win XP to Dvorak. This has worked out well for me — it REALLY forced me to learn Dvorak by touch type since looking down at a qwerty layout did me no good.

For a while (six weeks) I would type both layouts but this is what I found: My qwerty skills dropped off significantly My Dvorak skills stagnated

Obviously I’m not one of those typist that can be great at both. So I dropped qwerty altogether. I’m very happy with Dvorak; plus it was a nice challenge. My Dvorak typing speed is up to what my qwerty was for sure — probably better (though I haven’t officially checked).

]]> By: Luis de la Rosa http://roobasoft.com/blog/2006/10/19/dvorak-week-1/comment-page-1/#comment-1091 Luis de la Rosa Fri, 20 Oct 2006 04:28:22 +0000 http://roobasoft.com/blog/2006/10/19/dvorak-week-1/#comment-1091 <p>Dvorak - yea I've tried this before, from a good friend I worked with for a few years. In the places where I've worked, I usually had to help out fellow programmers either as a team member or as a team lead. So that ruled it out pretty quick - you can switch to Dvorak manually but its a pain.</p> <p>Plus, I still have fond memories of blasting aliens in Typing Tutor using Qwerty. I've also gotten really fast on Qwerty. But when I get deeper into the Mac Indie lifestyle and work independently, I'll have to reconsider. :)</p> Dvorak – yea I’ve tried this before, from a good friend I worked with for a few years. In the places where I’ve worked, I usually had to help out fellow programmers either as a team member or as a team lead. So that ruled it out pretty quick – you can switch to Dvorak manually but its a pain.

Plus, I still have fond memories of blasting aliens in Typing Tutor using Qwerty. I’ve also gotten really fast on Qwerty. But when I get deeper into the Mac Indie lifestyle and work independently, I’ll have to reconsider. :)

]]> By: Daniel Jalkut http://roobasoft.com/blog/2006/10/19/dvorak-week-1/comment-page-1/#comment-1090 Daniel Jalkut Thu, 19 Oct 2006 16:37:56 +0000 http://roobasoft.com/blog/2006/10/19/dvorak-week-1/#comment-1090 <p>I was a Dvorak typist from around age 13-16. It was great for me because I had learned Qwerty as a sort of hunt & pecker, but when I taught myself Dvorak I was careful to do it all correctly. This layout worked great for me in 9th grade because the computers at school were Apple IIc, which had the little switch for going between Dvorak and Qwerty. Shocking really, in retrospect, that such a popular computer had such a switch. Wonder what the story is on that.</p> <p>I finally switched back to Qwerty when I was 16 and looking for temp jobs as a typist. It turns out that most of the offices I ended up in <em>did not</em> have accommodations for Dvorak typists :) So I retrained myself in Qwerty and have never gone back. The good news is by the time I went back to Qwerty, my old habits had died. So I was able to relearn with (mostly) standard home-row based touch typing.</p> <p>I occassionally think of switching back to Dvorak, now that I have a great deal more freedom over my computing environment. But the few times I've toyed with the idea, I got hung up on things ilke keyboard shortcuts and special characters. The first time I tried was back when I spent a lot of time in MacsBug, and it was impossible to remember all the alt-key combinations for characters like ¬ and …</p> <p>There are some different layouts for Mac OS X that try to compromise between Dvorak for typing, while retaining Qwerty for shortcuts. I have tried occasionally to get into these but never stuck to it. One thing I find interesting is that all these years later, if I "air type" something, it's liable to come out in Dvorak (with errors, I'm sure). But the muscle memory for words in strongly in Dvorak.</p> I was a Dvorak typist from around age 13-16. It was great for me because I had learned Qwerty as a sort of hunt & pecker, but when I taught myself Dvorak I was careful to do it all correctly. This layout worked great for me in 9th grade because the computers at school were Apple IIc, which had the little switch for going between Dvorak and Qwerty. Shocking really, in retrospect, that such a popular computer had such a switch. Wonder what the story is on that.

I finally switched back to Qwerty when I was 16 and looking for temp jobs as a typist. It turns out that most of the offices I ended up in did not have accommodations for Dvorak typists :) So I retrained myself in Qwerty and have never gone back. The good news is by the time I went back to Qwerty, my old habits had died. So I was able to relearn with (mostly) standard home-row based touch typing.

I occassionally think of switching back to Dvorak, now that I have a great deal more freedom over my computing environment. But the few times I’ve toyed with the idea, I got hung up on things ilke keyboard shortcuts and special characters. The first time I tried was back when I spent a lot of time in MacsBug, and it was impossible to remember all the alt-key combinations for characters like ¬ and …

There are some different layouts for Mac OS X that try to compromise between Dvorak for typing, while retaining Qwerty for shortcuts. I have tried occasionally to get into these but never stuck to it. One thing I find interesting is that all these years later, if I “air type” something, it’s liable to come out in Dvorak (with errors, I’m sure). But the muscle memory for words in strongly in Dvorak.

]]> By: Steve Harris http://roobasoft.com/blog/2006/10/19/dvorak-week-1/comment-page-1/#comment-1088 Steve Harris Thu, 19 Oct 2006 14:16:18 +0000 http://roobasoft.com/blog/2006/10/19/dvorak-week-1/#comment-1088 <p>You're a braver man than me, I can barely type on qwerty.</p> You’re a braver man than me, I can barely type on qwerty.

]]> By: Alan Schmitt http://roobasoft.com/blog/2006/10/19/dvorak-week-1/comment-page-1/#comment-1087 Alan Schmitt Thu, 19 Oct 2006 11:44:13 +0000 http://roobasoft.com/blog/2006/10/19/dvorak-week-1/#comment-1087 <p>First of all, congratulations. Switching to Dvorak is indeed difficult, but I found that it also teaches quite a bit on how the brain works: at the beginning, one knows where the keys are but it takes a conscious decision to hit them. You'll find that things will become easier and easier, until you don't have to think about it.</p> <p>About typing speed, I don't know if mine has improved much compared to when I was using azerty (I'm French). The nice thing is that switching to Dvorak taught me to touch type, which is amazingly useful (and I discovered why the keys labeled 'f' and 'j' have little things on them ;-) ).</p> <p>About switching to other keyboards: I found that I still remember them, but I don't have the muscle memory so it requires conscious thought to type things. It's not a lot of fun, but it's doable for short periods of time. I have a friend who kept using qwerty and dvorak at the same time and he was able to retain both, but I guess it's even harder to get there.</p> <p>Good luck,</p> <p>Alan</p> First of all, congratulations. Switching to Dvorak is indeed difficult, but I found that it also teaches quite a bit on how the brain works: at the beginning, one knows where the keys are but it takes a conscious decision to hit them. You’ll find that things will become easier and easier, until you don’t have to think about it.

About typing speed, I don’t know if mine has improved much compared to when I was using azerty (I’m French). The nice thing is that switching to Dvorak taught me to touch type, which is amazingly useful (and I discovered why the keys labeled ‘f’ and ‘j’ have little things on them ;-) ).

About switching to other keyboards: I found that I still remember them, but I don’t have the muscle memory so it requires conscious thought to type things. It’s not a lot of fun, but it’s doable for short periods of time. I have a friend who kept using qwerty and dvorak at the same time and he was able to retain both, but I guess it’s even harder to get there.

Good luck,

Alan

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