Dvorak Simplified Keyboard

IBM Model M keyboard with key caps rearranged to the Dvorak layout

Be a man. Do the right thing.

— Russell Peters, a comedian

Note: While the official name of the layout is Dvorak Simplified Keyboard, it will be referred to as just Dvorak in this article.

Advantages

More ergonomic – more typing on the home row, less movement, more natural sequences and alternations.
Possibly faster typing. My typical speed on Dvorak is about the same as my speed on QWERTY before I switched. (Thinking speed is probably the bottleneck; I’m clearly faster at copying text on Dvorak than on QWERTY) But on Dvorak, my top speed is faster, it’s more ergonomic, and I’m less prone to making errors.
QWERTY is just a lame layout, not unlike the product of a monkey banging on a typewriter.

Disadvantages

A few rare combinations are very hard, e.g.: juice, Nayuki. Compare this to QWERTY’s single-handed words like stewardess and monopoly.
Some programs rely on the QWERTY layout. This mostly applies to some games with low-level input handling.
You will generally be forced to use QWERTY on foreign systems, where you may get finger-tied (like tongue-tied) when trying to type.
Long retraining time. I was typing at ~10–20 WPM in the first few weeks, and ~40 WPM in the first few months. Also, I found that each kind of typing required some training of its own, e.g. English, C-like programming languages, HTML, copying random random letters and/or numbers and/or symbols, key commands (e.g., Ctrl+C). In other words, no amount of English training in Dvorak will prepare you for typing for(int i=0;i<array.length;i++){} smoothly.
The advantage over QWERTY is less for non-English languages. (Dvorak is optimized for English.)
You can’t look at the keyboard while typing; it’ll only confuse you. But for me, since I’ve been accustomed to it, I can use the QWERTY labels for positioning information if I need to do single-handed (or single finger) typing, for example.

Conclusion

If you have the spare energy, you should at least give Dvorak a try (for a month). QWERTY is a layout designed to separate common digraphs, otherwise appearing essentially random. Dvorak is designed to assist typing by making it more ergonomic. (Speed naturally follows.)

Do the right thing. You can make a difference.

About the photo

It’s an IBM Model M keyboard that Ori found in discared computer equipment and gave to me. These things are built like tanks; they’re kind of heavy, and you can whack someone with the unit and it won’t break. The buckling spring keys produce a bit of sound, but they have excellent tactile feedback – making this my keyboard of choice for typing contests like ECOO.

The key caps can be freely rearranged. Of course, it produces no change in the key codes sent to the computer (it’s equivalent to re-labelling the keys).

Links

Last modified: 2007-10-30-Tue
Created: 2007-05-02-Wed