Dvorak Keyboard

Drew Ott

Drew Ott

Wish I were banned.
6 months ago I switched to the "Dvorak Simplified Keyboard."

Anybody else type on one of these?


Before the switch I typed 132 words per minute. I now only type 108, but I think this is good for just 6 months. I hardly ever make mistakes anymore, and I don't get any typing fatigue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard

I don't have a Dvorak keyboard, I just taped letters over my current keyboard. Seems to work well enough.
 
Been a while since I've dealt with these. A couple of former clients (law office & title company) "did the switch" one winter. As I recall, it was about 3 weeks of incredible frustration for all involved which was why they chose December - their slowest month.

Average speed going in was somewhere around 110, by mid-January almost all were doing 200 and swore they'd never go back . . .

For those who wonder what the ???? this is about . . . .

The standard "QWERTY" keyboard layout was specifically designed to limit a typist's speed in order to minimize the jambing of the levers of a mechanical typewriter.

The "DVORAK" keyboard is laid out by assigning keyboard positions according to their frequency of use in common english. The 10 most commonly used characters reside on the "home" row directly under the typists fingers.

It's like speed reading or the piano - well worth learning but hardly anyone ever does . . . .
 
ok, this is a test of how many words I can type in a minute.
i just atasrted a stopwatch and i'm just typing whatever comes int o my head and seeing how many words I can type before the timer goes off and beeps at me. this would be so much better if I had somethign to say but that's ok. i'm makign only minor corrections in what I tuype, so there are probabaly quite a few typos in all this, but that's not the point it ois? I mean do you get docked points in teh test or som [time]

120.5 wpm there .. with 7 typoes .. so I guees that's then 113 wpm? How does that work anyway? do you get docked points in the WPM test for all the typos you make? :)

EDIT: reading back up the thread, I guess that's not actually too shabby if my random test is anywhere near acurate.


- Mikko ... had to slow down to think about what to type next.
 
I'm holding out for a unifon keyboard. As it is, I have to put up with lots of ctrl+ and alt+, etc, just to use it as a font...
 
I remember seeing one of these when I was working in a hospital for people with brain injuries. It's very good for people who have learning disabilities and such and is easier to use

BUT (and there's a big but):

If you get used to this keyboard you can't use any other keyboards efficiently. You are forced to carry yours around with you all the time.

there are several keyboard technologies and layouts out there that are far better than qwerty but diverting from the standard causes a LOT of difficulty. That's why qwerty has stuck so well.

that said, if Dvorak works for you by all means keep it. it is easier to use.

Just because I'm curious: how does it work with hotkey combinations like Ctrl+C and such?


mor10
 
www.typingtest.com


I think I should program my copy paste to different spots.

Possible reasons I typed 132 wpm: I had an obsessive compulsive thing where I would twitch my fingers along as I spoke (to how they would twitch if I was typing). I've also been on a computer since about 3 years old. Lots of time to type.

I don't carry my keyboard with me. When I go to other places, it's a 15-second process to set their keyboard to Dvorak; I can't look down, but I don't need to anymore. :)

Also: I can still type about 50 words per minute on a qwerty. It's funny typing "qwerty" on a Dvorak because it's actually pretty tough to type, while for you Qwerty users... well...
 
For people who take the test on typingtest.com:

Let's all take "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," and tell your Net Speed.

The gross speed doesn't take into account mistakes.
 
bballplaya283 said:
www.typingtest.com
Click to expand...

Ok, now I'm down to around 40. Lame.

EDIT: Net for Wizard of Oz was 46wpm.

It's much harder to type fast when you are having to read while typing. I'm one of those people that looks at the keyboard as I type, and I keep track of the cursor in my head. It works just fine when I'm thinking for myself what I'm typing, but transcription (like that test) obviouslly is slow going.

- Mikko
 
Last edited:
I showed

Accuracy:91%Gross Speed: 44 WPM
(words/minute)

Okay BBALL player. GIve us a SCREENSHOT of your final results.

Betch
 
suck%20on%20that%20HUDSON.jpg
 
Net Speed: 78 WPM
(words/minute) Accuracy: 95%
haha I actually went into my settings and changed my keyboard to dvorak, and tried it for 20 minutes. I was only going like 10 wpm. It's kind of weird, but I see how it would be so much more efficient. I just don't want to take the time to relearn typing all over again.

I just took it again:
Net Speed: 82 WPM
(words/minute) Accuracy: 93% Gross Speed: 88 WPM
(words/minute)
 
pfista said:
Net Speed: 78 WPM
(words/minute) Accuracy: 95%
haha I actually went into my settings and changed my keyboard to dvorak, and tried it for 20 minutes. I was only going like 10 wpm. It's kind of weird, but I see how it would be so much more efficient. I just don't want to take the time to relearn typing all over again.
Click to expand...

It took me two weeks of a lot of annoying typing to switch to Dvorak. To me, it was worth it.


edit - I would have expected Brice to type a good bit faster.
 
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