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Thread ID: 117785	2011-05-05 01:07:00	Dvorak keyboard?	nerd (109)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1199459	2011-05-05 01:07:00	I have recently switched to a Dvorak layout on my keyboard and I was wondering how many people use it. The placement of the keys makes it easier to reach keys that get used more often, and you can do most typing on the home row! Read more here: en.wikipedia.org I am finding it is a lot more comfortable than qwerty and my left hand gets less tired because typing uses both hands more. Apparently it is also faster to type with, but I can only manage about 20 words per minute right now which is a pain because I can't talk to friends properly, but it's only been a week so I am hoping to improve soon! If you are interested in switching, its easy, just install Dvassist (www.clabs.org) which sets the default language to Dvorak so you don't need to switch everything individually. It also comes with a layout that stays on top of windows that you can toggle so its easier when learning. I would recommend you don't change your keyboard though, leaving it qwerty forces you to not look at the keys so you can touch type from the beginning! Go here for lessons: http://learn.dvorak.nl/ gigliwood.com	nerd (109)
1199460	2011-05-05 01:10:00	I've tried it before, but to be honest I ended up going back to a qwerty layout. I didn't find dvorak to be noticeably faster or more comfortable, although it was reasonably usable. A big downside is that most applications' hotkeys assume a qwerty layout.	Erayd (23)
1199461	2011-05-05 01:23:00	After ~20 years of using QWERTY there is no incentive to switch.	Cato (6936)
1199462	2011-05-05 01:53:00	I think that unless you spend most of your day typing and maybe your job requires really quick typing then there's just no point trying to learn something different because the learning curve probably isn't worth the effort.	--Wolf-- (128)
1199463	2011-05-05 02:21:00	I've tried it before, but to be honest I ended up going back to a qwerty layout. I didn't find dvorak to be noticeably faster or more comfortable, although it was reasonably usable. A big downside is that most applications' hotkeys assume a qwerty layout. You get used to the hotkeys you use pretty quickly. I can do ctrl + I, . , instinctively again. I think that unless you spend most of your day typing and maybe your job requires really quick typing then there's just no point trying to learn something different because the learning curve probably isn't worth the effort. It's not that hard to learn, I have been doing it for about a week now, but after the second or so day, you don't need to look at the layout anymore and unless you have some urgent typing to do, or are keen to improve quickly, you don't need to even practice and just use the computer normally. It just feels nice when typing. The only thing I didn't really like is that I have to change to qwerty to play games, but I have it set up so I can just hotkey it. It gets annoying when you want to chat in game and all that comes out is gibberish because it's not the same layout you thought it was. :P	nerd (109)
1199464	2011-05-05 03:03:00	You get used to the hotkeys you use pretty quickly. I can do ctrl + I, . , instinctively again.Getting used to the hotkeys was never the issue - I know dvorak well enough that my typing speeds with dvorak are about the same as with qwerty. My main gripe with it is how so many formerly one-handed shortcuts suddenly become two-handed shortcuts, formerly grouped shortcuts become illogically scattered, and formerly left-exclusive shortcuts become right-exclusive or multihanded - this is a significant annoyance, and noting the marked lack of benefits makes dvorak somewhat pointless in my opinion. Examples of keys I find particularly frustrating are: Vim movement keys Rosegarden note entry ^c, ^x, ^v ^z ^s	Erayd (23)
1199465	2011-05-05 04:05:00	Getting used to the hotkeys was never the issue - I know dvorak well enough that my typing speeds with dvorak are about the same as with qwerty. My main gripe with it is how so many formerly one-handed shortcuts suddenly become two-handed shortcuts, formerly grouped shortcuts become illogically scattered, and formerly left-exclusive shortcuts become right-exclusive or multihanded - this is a significant annoyance, and noting the marked lack of benefits makes dvorak somewhat pointless in my opinion. Examples of keys I find particularly frustrating are: Vim movement keys Rosegarden note entry ^c, ^x, ^v ^z ^s Yes, I did notice this. It was quite annoying that I couldn't browse with my left hand on the keyboard and right hand on the mouse because all the left handed shortcuts are right handed now. Using right click for copy/paste/undo/redo/etc. is pretty easy to get used to though.	nerd (109)
1199466	2011-05-05 04:43:00	Using right click for copy/paste/undo/redo/etc. is pretty easy to get used to though.It's also slow as hell. Thankfully I'm a Linux user, which means that I just use select / middle-click most of the time. Possibly my biggest issue with it is that 'd' moves to the centre - ^d is my most frequently-used shortcut, by a significant margin (^d sends an EOF to the active terminal).	Erayd (23)
1199467	2011-05-05 13:19:00	I've not used Dvorak, don't really think I need to. Qwerty works, even if perhaps it isn't the best. As Erayd points out I think it would cause more inconvenience with hotkeys than make me type faster or anything.	Agent_24 (57)
1199468	2011-05-05 21:12:00	Dvorak doesn't mess with my keyboard and in return, I don't mess with his. I prefer Logitech.	R2x1 (4628)
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