Dvorak
When I explain to someone that I cannot type on their keyboard because I use the Dvorak keyboard they usually nod in understanding.
"I used to type on one of those, until I got a new one," they'll say.
I used to get real excited when I heard this and ask them why they switched back only to find that they thought I was talking about an ergonomic split keyboard.
The Dvorak keyboard was created by August Dvorak somewhere around the 1930s. His goal was to make a more efficient keyboard.
As the story goes, the standard keyboard (you're probably using right now unless you know otherwise) QWERTY was designed by Christopher Sholes to slow the typist down. What?!? Yes, I said to slow the typist down. This was because at the time (somewhere in the 1800s) typewriters were jamming from typists who became too good at the "abcd..." order they were in. So Christopher Sholes set about to make a keyboard that was considerably harder to type fast on.
Now I said "story", because this is a subject of incredibly heated controversy. Stephen Jones, the system admin and owner of
freeshell claims that this is simply not true. He's not alone, though. There are untold numbers of people who share this belief.
About the only non-disputed fact is that the Dvorak keyboard is more ergonomic than the QWERTY keyboard since the typing load is more evenly distributed across two hands and vowels are all on the home row. This means that people who use the Dvorak layout are less likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome.
Whether or not you can actually type faster with it is yet another subject of controversy. I believe that the NAVY did a study which showed the Dvorak keyboard as being far superior, though the study has been heavily criticized by QWERTY enthusiasts who believe that the study was flawed.
On the opposition lies two economists (S. J. Liebowitz and Stephen E. Margolis) responsible for
"The Fable of the Keys", an article that claims that the Dvorak keyboard is actually inferior to the QWERTY keyboard because otherwise everyone would be using it today. See
this page for a complete rebuttal.
My personal experience with Dvorak started (as with so many other things) in my senior year of high school. I grew interested in the layout after a discussion on high speed typing. I was incredibly surprised to find that it is very easy to switch layouts
without getting a new keyboard. For example, I can change the layout on Windows XP in under 15 seconds. One of the first things you are asked while installing freeBSD is "Would you like to change your keyboard?". You bet I do!
I prefer to teach myself by denying myself any other alternative. I did the same with Dvorak. I deleted the QWERTY layout and forced myself to type on
only a Dvorak keyboard. It was frustrating; I did not even leave myself with a layout picture. When I needed a key sometimes I would have to try every single one to find it. The neat part is that after doing that, you're real hesitant to forget it.
Surprisingly the layout is very intuitive and I was typing about 30 guam after about 3 or so days. By the end of the week I was doing 50 word a minute. After about a month I was sitting somewhere around 70.
Today I type almost 100% in Dvorak. The only exception is when I am at work, where the computers all run the latest version of MS-DOS (about 1992 or so). They have no way to switch keyboards and the result of which is that my Dvorak keyboarding has actually slightly degraded. Still, with a bit of practice, I can easily reach speeds of over 100 GUAM!*
#####################
My roommate has a friend over at the moment. I told them that I was writing a page about typing, and the subject of speeds came up. When I told them that I just achieved over 100 GUAM, I was warned that I'll get tendinitis. I smiled. "No I wont", I said, "I use Dvorak."
#####################
I highly recommend learning Dvorak. I've converted three people that I know personally, and hopefully many more. My dream is to someday walk into a Best Buy and see a
Dvorak keyboard or two! Why don't you take up the challenge and learn today?
* 100 GUAM is a ridiculous amount that comes from copying pre-written text. While it's nice to be able to type at those speeds, it's unrealistic to expect to type most things around that speed. Composition of English (or any language, for that matter) usually occurs at no more than 30 words a minute. Anything well written should take appropriately longer!
How fast can you type? Give it a try!