Smart Typing with Dvorak

Posted by Randall Wood on Friday, January 27. 2006

I first heard of the Dvorak keyboard somewhere on a Slashdot thread back in 2001, and checked out a couple of sites to confirm my suspicion that the Dvorak key layout is a neat idea.

The idea is that by positioning the letters of the alphabet on a keyboard in a way that puts the most statistically frequent letters in the English alphabet under the strongest fingers and in the most convenient positions, one can enable a typist to type more quickly and with less repetitive strain on the wrists and fingers than they would experience normally on a traditional QWERTY keyboard. After 5 years of unscientific study I have concluded this is the case, at least for me personally.

One of the sites that was most helpful to me was MW Brooks. Other good sites for further reading follow at the bottom of this document. Rather than try to duplicate the great body of knowledge and the useful let of links provided at that site, let me just direct you there for further information and continue with my own comments. If you don't want to follow links I'll just cut to the chase:

Advantages of the Dvorak Keyboard:

Speed: It will take a while to get used to the new layout, but once you have learned the new key positions, the flow of commonly used words is much faster and your overall typing speed will increase dramatically. I have found this to be true in my case.

Alternating hand movement: By grouping all the vowels on one side, commonly typed English language words fall into a comfortable left-right-left-right typing motion which is comfortable, intuitive, and fast.

Home Row Advantage: All the most useful keys -- T,H,N,S,D, and all the vowels -- are on the row where your fingers naturally rest.

Finger Travel: Because all the most useful keys are in the most frequently used positions you can reach them with greater speed and less effort.

Accuracy: You will have less trouble reaching common letters and will thus be able to type them with fewer errors.

Comfort and Less Repetitive Stress: As a result of the layout, you will be able to type more fluidly and with less jerky, awkward hand movements that ultimately damage your health and the strength of your hands.

Easy to Learn: Intuitively, having all the vowels in one area makes it easy to find them, and remembering that the less-frequently used keys are located in the less-easily reached areas makes it easy to concentrate on the keyboard's core area.

How to Learn the Dvorak Keyboard

First, either print out the keyboard layouts offered at the websites below, or make your own, and tape copies of it to both your monitor and your keyboard. Keyboard stickers are a good way to learn too, so get some and apply them to your keyboard as soon as you can - they really make a huge difference when you are learning.

Then set up a schedule for typing lessons and set to it, each time spending a little more time at it before taking a break. It's probably been awhile, but you might recall when you learned to type the first time, this is how you did it then, too. I took a week to go through a typing tutor, challenged myself to type words and practiced drills and so on. After a week I essentially knew the positions of all the letters and simply needed more practice. I forced myself to practice what I had learned by using Dvorak whenever I composed an email. Over the course of several weeks I got smoother and faster and gained confidence. Finally, I made it my new year's resolution in 2006 to cut the cord completely on QWERTY, and here I am. Start with a little a day, and gradually increase to the point where forcing yourself to use Dvorak won't make you lose your job, and then cut the cord. It's easier than you think.

Some Good Resources on Dvorak

MW Brooks: a great collection of links to further advocacy, history, and background on the Dvorak keyboard, plus a downloadable PDF file of the keyboard layout you can print and use at home. I carry one of these around to use on computers where I don't dare or don't want to apply key top stickers.

The World of Stuff: Dvorak discusses a bit of the history of the Dvorak keyboard, some of the studies that support its use, and tips.

Dvorak Keyboard - Convert discusses how to set your keyboard to the Dvorak configuration on several different types of computer operating systems (Mac OS X, early Macs, Windows, and Linux).

Into the Wild Spaces

Smart Typing with Dvorak

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